Lets talk about goats!

[Stacykins]

My babies have yellow diarrhea since we got them a week ago. I'm thinking e-coli. Is there a natural cure? They are 2 weeks old. Bottle fed.

They've been scouring for an entire week? First, I would suggest hopping over to Backyardherds.com, more goat folks over there to chime in.

Because they are bottle fed, I am asking some questions to see if the actual cause can be pinpointed. What breed are they are how much are they eating per feeding? How many feedings? Kids can get something called milk scours, from being fed too much milk. The problem is more common with bottle fed kids.

Have you taken their temperature? If not, do this ASAP, it is important to know if their temperature is not normal.

Are you sure it seems like e-coli? What symptoms led you to decide it is that, out of all the possible causes for a kid to scour? I am not saying it isn't, but I just want to hear how you reached that conclusion, because it could be spot on. If it is indeed ecoli, you will need something that can actually treat it aggressively. Tetracycline, neomycin, and sulfa drugs are all choices for treatment.

I'd suggest stopping all milk right now and getting them on electrolytes for at least 24 hours, and probiotics to start. You can make your own electrolyte solution, or buy a premade one. Probios gel, paste, or powder for ruminants is something all goat keepers should have on hand. Also, get in that kid some Clostridium perfringens C&D antitoxin (antitoxin is NOT the toxoid. Toxoid is the vaccine, antitoxin is to treat the potential disease RIGHT NOW.) C. perifringens is an anerobic, toxin producing bacteria that can infect a kid. Better to give the antitoxin and not need it, then need it and not give it. It cannot be overdosed, either.

A little note on 'natural' treatments. It is all fine and dandy to use something that is natural,but the cost might be dead kids. If the cause of the illness is an acute bacterial infection, then no herbs or potions will solve the problem quickly enough to make a difference in treating that kid. Use what tools are available. Just be sure to use any treatments properly. Antibiotics used properly are not the enemy. It is only when they are misused and abused that they are problematic.

 

[cassie]

What are you feeding them? Milk or milk replacer?

 

[oweirdo]

Mine are yellow too, but are a soft formed blob. Like a breast feed baby.

 

[Alwayswantchics]

They've been scouring for an entire week? [COLOR=FF0000]First, I would suggest hopping over to Backyardherds.com, more goat folks over there to chime in.[/COLOR]

Because they are bottle fed, I am asking some questions to see if the actual cause can be pinpointed. What breed are they are how much are they eating per feeding? How many feedings? Kids can get something called milk scours, from being fed too much milk. The problem is more common with bottle fed kids.

Have you taken their temperature? If not, do this ASAP, it is important to know if their temperature is not normal.

Are you sure it seems like e-coli? What symptoms led you to decide it is that, out of all the possible causes for a kid to scour? I am not saying it isn't, but I just want to hear how you reached that conclusion, because it could be spot on. If it is indeed ecoli, you will need something that can actually treat it aggressively. Tetracycline, neomycin, and sulfa drugs are all choices for treatment.

I'd suggest stopping all milk right now and getting them on electrolytes for at least 24 hours, and probiotics to start. You can make your own electrolyte solution, or buy a premade one. Probios gel, paste, or powder for ruminants is something all goat keepers should have on hand. Also, get in that kid some Clostridium perfringens C&D antitoxin (antitoxin is NOT the toxoid. Toxoid is the vaccine, antitoxin is to treat the potential disease RIGHT NOW.) C. perifringens is an anerobic, toxin producing bacteria that can infect a kid. Better to give the antitoxin and not need it, then need it and not give it. It cannot be overdosed, either.

A little note on 'natural' treatments. It is all fine and dandy to use something that is natural,but the cost might be dead kids. If the cause of the illness is an acute bacterial infection, then no herbs or potions will solve the problem quickly enough to make a difference in treating that kid. Use what tools are available. Just be sure to use any treatments properly. Antibiotics used properly are not the enemy. It is only when they are misused and abused that they are problematic.

I'm feeding them whole milk. Pretty sure Alpine. Feeding 4x a day about 7oz each time. She weighs 4.5 He weighs 7.6. What should their temp be? Can I use Gatorade with lactobacilis?. Where would I find antitoxins? Just the watery yellow diarrhea has lead me to think ecoli. They are acting normal.

 

[Alwayswantchics]

And they never seem full.

 

[TLWR]

If she is 4.5 pounds and he is a bit over 7.5 pounds, they shouldn't be drinking the same amount.
I think she is being overfed. Him too most likely.

She weighs 72oz
He weighs 120oz

What I've seen with my goat research says 10-11% of their body weight divided by 4 feedings a day. Not sure how correct that is, but I have seen it on several goat forums as the standard for determining how much to feed bottle kids.
So for her 72, * .11 = 7.92. Round up to 8. Divide that by 4 - 2 oz per feeding every 6 hours. That doesn't seem like a lot.
For him, 120 * .11 = 13.2. Round up to 14. Divided by 4 - about 4 oz per feeding every 6 hours.

 

[TLWR]

seem full or feel full?
Feel them when they are done feeding and see if they feel full.
Place a couple of fingers on their belly in front of the hip bones. They should feel full and firm, not hard and not squishy.

 

[Alwayswantchics]

Okay so now that I figured out we are over feeding. Now what do I do?

 

[Stacykins]

This chart here is handy. For the little girl, 2oz 4x per day does seem a little bit low. If it were me, I'd feed her 3oz four times a day. I'm usually a little generous, I calculate feedings based on 12% of their body weight, rather than 10% or 11%.

Their weights also seem a little low, especially if they are alpines. For example, my 6 day old Nigerian kids already outweigh your smaller two week old alpine. Though if she has been scouring since you got her, that could explain why she hasn't gained any weight.

To stop overfeeding the kids, it is easy, just cut down the amount per feeding to what it should be. As they grow and gain weight, the amount will gradually go up.

 

[cassie]

I have said this before. When I had my dairy I didn't fool with charts or anything else to figure how much to feed my kids. They got a 20 oz bottle of milk morning and night. They had access to a good calf starter grain and alfalfa hay starting when they were about a week old. They got weaned at eight weeks. They did fine.

If your kids are runny and not sick, you might try putting some kaopectate in their bottle for a couple days or so. You ought to be able to fine the clostridium perfingens toxoid at the feed store. Look for CD/T. It is for both entero and tetanus.