Baby goat down not eating

[mrsdove]

I have a 3 day old baby goat that I found this morning completely down. He's too weak to even get up and has white, sticky poop. I'm about to load him up for the vet but wanted to pick your brains. I'm finding very little on the sticky white poop. I was able to easily milk mom and I've seen him up and nursing before.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm not positive, and I'm mostly theorizing, but I believe baby goat poop is yellow because of bile. I would suspect there something wrong with one of his internal organs which would take a few days to show up, and start to cause troubles. Otherwise things like white muscle disease comes to mind. Hopefully the vet can figure it out. Are you bottle feeding or is it nursing?

 

[cassie]

Is he limp and lacking in muscle tone? Could be floppy kid. Floppy kids need fluids with some baking soda added. I forget exactly what the formula for the treatment for floppy is but your vet should be able to help. If he is unfamiliar with floppy he can look it up. For your own information try googling floppy kid syndrome and see if it fits what your kid looks and acts like.

 

[mrsdove]

He didn't make it through the night. He had some muscle tone so I was fairly sure it wasn't floppy kid. Honestly I think the milk somehow got into the rumen instead of the stomach and was poisoning him. I really think he had something wrong internally. We tubed him and were getting milk into him and that seemed to almost make him worse. I'm sorry to lose him but glad he's not suffering. Mama is upset but she will be fine.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sorry to hear, not every critter is made right, and any problems that are from malformations will show up usually in the first week or two. He was cute.

 

[cassie]

If you tube a kid it is my understanding the milk ends up in the rumen rather than the abomasum where it belongs. That in itself won't poison a kid.

Without seeing your kid it is impossible for me to know for sure whether or not your kid had floppy. There are a lot of things that can cause the symptoms you mention, but his age and the sudden onset makes me suspicious. Giving milk to a kid with floppy makes things worse and it can be fatal. I just threw this last in for your information.

I am very sorry for your loss. It is a sad fact of life that not all babies of whatever species are going to make it.