I feel awful Update and Sick Goat

[SkyWarrior]

The entire two weeks have been just terrible. I lost a bunch of turkey poults to an unknown disease despite all I did right, and now I screwed up and killed some chicks I just hatched because I was paranoid and cleaned out the brooder with a small amount of bleach.

Either that or they got too warm or too cold. Never have I ever had that happen.

What a crummy week. I hate myself.

 

[kathyinmo]

I always clean my plastic tubs (for temporary brooding) with bleach water..... alot of bleach, actually. I use bleach water to clean their feeders and waterers, too.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[redhen]

Oh darn,sorry.
I also use bleach and have never had a problem...
Unless you didnt rinse it well?

 

[SkyWarrior]

Oh darn,sorry.

I also use bleach and have never had a problem...
Unless you didnt rinse it well?

I don't know. I feel so sick about it. Maybe it was too cold? Maybe too warm? I have no idea.

I have two more left hatching. I'm so upset about losing the five.

 

[SkyWarrior]

I can't catch a break, it seems. Now Heidi, one of my goats, is off her feed and she has diarrhea. I've got a call into two veterinarians.

 

[cassie]

Have you treated her for entertoxemia? That is the first step. Entero is a major major killer of goats, and surprisingly a lot of vets know little or nothing about it. The treatment for entero is some Clostridium perfingens antitoxin and a shot of penicillin.

 

[redhen]

Oh man,..

 

[SkyWarrior]

Have you treated her for entertoxemia? That is the first step. Entero is a major major killer of goats, and surprisingly a lot of vets know little or nothing about it. The treatment for entero is some Clostridium perfingens antitoxin and a shot of penicillin.

The vet recommended injectable antibiotics. We have NO goat vets in the area--lucky me. I'll look for Clostridium perfingens antitoxin.

Added: I do know she was vaccinated for all the goat illnesses, which most likely included this.

 

[cassie]

All goat owners should always have GasX and clostridium perfingens antitoxin on hand. Bloat and entero are true emergencies and strike without warning.They can kill in a very short period of time. Gas X is the very best thing I have found for relieving bloat. Much better than the traditional remedies. Entero can strike any goat at any time, vaccinated or not. Vaccination lessens the probability but does not eliminate it. Entero is most commonly seen in the acute form where there is some bloating a lot of pain and screaming, and the goat is dead in a very short time. It can also appear in the so called chronic form where the goat has diarrhea and is off feed. Sometimes these animals recover, but most of the time they die within a few days. Penicillin is the drug of choice for clostridial infections. There are many things other than entero that can cause the symptoms you mention and most of the time antibiotics will fix it. Hopefully your goat has one of those. Keep us posted.