Goat kid with bloated belly?

[Lrm93]

my bottle fed kid is a little over a week old? Not sure, got him from an auction with no info on him. First several days he was doing great. Drinking 6-7 ounces every 6 or so hours. He sleeps in a dog kennel in the house at night. This morning I woke up and he had diarrhea all over his kennel. I fed him like normal since he was hungry. His lunch feeding I skipped and replaced with an electrolyte bottle because his belly is a little round.

What else should I be doing for him? When should I give him milk replacer again? This is my first bottle goat.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You may be feeding too much. Cut back and see. I would go 4 ounces and see. Better to be a bit hungry. If it's bloated feed it some baking soda in water. Hopefully it will burp and stop the bloat.

Is this a miniature or a big breed?

I have raised all my kids on milk replacer. It's important to follow the directions for mixing and to feed at a good temperature.

 

[Lrm93]

You may be feeding too much. Cut back and see. I would go 4 ounces and see. Better to be a bit hungry. If it's bloated feed it some baking soda in water. Hopefully it will burp and stop the bloat.

Is this a miniature or a big breed?

I have raised all my kids on milk replacer. It's important to follow the directions for mixing and to feed at a good temperature.

He’s a Nigerian dwarf. Should I replace all milk bottles with electrolytes until it clears up?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I haven't. I generally back off on the amount a bit. Usually it clears up within a day. For a mini I would give 4 oz. The first week 4x a day. Than the second I slowly increase the amount and go down to 3 feeding a day. I give 4-8 ounces depending on the kid.

Week 5 I go to 2x day. I would probably give 8-10 ounces each feeding. You want to start to encourage some eating of hay, and perhaps a handful of ration. Most won't. You also can add a chaser bottle of water of a few ounces.

Here's some good information.

http://goatspots.com/articles/bottle-feeding/

I generally wean between 8-12 weeks by decreasing amounts and upping water.

 

[RustyBucketFarmGirl]

It could be too much milk. I was told when i first got my Nigerians to be carful they don’t eat themselves to death. And no joke they always act starving when none of them are so it was very difficult to monitor at first.

I would monitor for dehydration. Week old kids are so fragile at first. If the belly is still bloated i would offer baking soda. She will take it if she needs it and leave it if she doesn’t.

Other than that i would continue to offer the milk replacer as recommended by previous poster.

Good luck!

 

[cassie]

First of all, QUIT FEEDING REPLACER!! Some kids do fine on replacer but others can't tolerate the stuff and that includes the expensive replacers made especially for kids. They can get the scours or worse, bloat and die very suddenly. You are so much better off to feed plain old cow milk from the store. If you want to get fancy, here is a formula made for kids, especially Boers and mini goats. Take a gallon jug of store milk and pour off about a quart. Add to the jug a can of evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed) and a cup of buttermilk. Fill the jug back up with some of the milk you poured off. Shake to mix and that's it. Take the kid's temperature. If he has a fever he most likely has pneumonia and he will need antibiotics. Kaopectate is helpful for simple diarrhea. Not that it matters, but just so you know, I didn't just fall off the turnip truck. I had a commercial goat dairy for many years and I have raised a LOT of kids.

 

[Lrm93]

So to update this morning, he still has the runs. He got a 4os bottle of milk. I’ll go out in about 2 hours an give him more electrolytes.

He’s full of energy and still extremely playful so I’m not really sure where to go from here. I do believe he just got milk overloaded. When should I start to see an improvement? I thought with the amount of diarrhea he’s had that he would be weak, but he’s as lively as ever.

I will try switching to the home made milk recipe that you provided once I can get to the store later.

 

[cassie]

Get some kaopectate if you haven't done so already. My vet had me give it to both kids and calves. I am not sure how much to give, but you ought to be able to figure it out. You can add it to the bottle. It is good that you are feeding the electrolytes and the milk separately. I would imagine you should see some improvement very shortly. The fact that he is playful and has a good appetite is a good sign. It is important to keep him hydrated, but it sounds like you are doing that.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

So to update this morning, he still has the runs. He got a 4os bottle of milk. I’ll go out in about 2 hours an give him more electrolytes.

He’s full of energy and still extremely playful so I’m not really sure where to go from here. I do believe he just got milk overloaded. When should I start to see an improvement? I thought with the amount of diarrhea he’s had that he would be weak, but he’s as lively as ever.

I will try switching to the home made milk recipe that you provided once I can get to the store later.

Generally within 24 hours the diarrhea should stop. I know me and @cassie have back and forth about using milk replacer. I have raised all my kids on it without problems, but do what makes you comfortable. For me it was more cost effective because I was feeding a bunch of large breed kids, and I can't buy that much milk and store it so milk replacer was my choice, and would be my choice again if I got more kids. Feeding milk is definitely easier.

 

[RustyBucketFarmGirl]

How’s the kid? It’s been a few days so i was hoping she’s on the up and up now.