droopy goat

[Catharina]

My buck escaped yesterday & came home 15-20 minutes later. He seemed fine & was eating while I repaired the fence for a few hours. This afternoon, though, when I brought out their goat chow he was not shoving the does out of his way & trying to hog all the food as he has done every single day in the 2+ years I've had him. I found him in his plastic lawn chair in the back of the pen. He got up & walked a few steps, slowly. Unlike his usual self, he let me look him over & feel & listen to his tummy as he just stood there.

He has no diarrhea, his tummy is small, eyes & nose look fine. I didn't know what I was actually supposed to hear from his rumen, but there were a couple quiet noises. He's just listless & not hungry. I want to help him & prevent him from getting worse, but the feed stores are all closed & I have no idea what's wrong. I'm just assuming he ate something he shouldn't have during yesterday's adventure. Any thoughts or advice welcome--soon!

 

[cassie]

I would give him some clostridium perfingens antitoxin. Where I used to live, entero was so common that when we had a goat that was "off" we treated it for entero first and then worried about what else may be wrong with it. Since the feed stores are closed I would give him a good dose of penicillin. If it is entero, it will help until you can get some antitoxin. At any rate, it can't hurt. See how he is tomorrow. If it is just simple indigestion, he should be better.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I always keep a feeder with baking soda free choice for my goats, it can help them regulate the acidity of their rumens and potentially prevent digestive troubles. It's a cheap insurance policy. Hopefully your goat is feeling better.