I don't normally post on here about my goats - just stick to answering questions and replying to topics, but I thought some people might get some useful information out of my experience this weekend. I know there's conversations about this stuff on BYH, but also know that not everyone on BYC who has goats goes over to BYH.
My yearling doe, Caramel, was pregnant; however I did not have a certain due date. She wasn't intended to be bred, but the buck did what bucks do and slipped into the other pen quite a few times. He ended up getting her and her twin sister, Vanilla. Being that they are yearlings, 1/2 nigerian, 1/4 alpine and 1/4 nubian and the buck is a teeny tiny nigerian (35# at 9 mos old) I wasn't overly concerned. Not optimal, but not the end of the world.
Caramel started bagging up about 2-3 weeks ago. Teeny tiny udder, probably less than 1/2 a cup in there. Her sister started bagging up earlier and had a nice first freshener sized udder as of Friday. I don't have all the experience in the world and know some does bag up early, some late and some not until after they kid so I guesstimated Vanilla would kid anywhere from now until 3 weeks later and Caramel had a few weeks, if not months to go. Caramel was also smaller than Vanilla; I was convinced Vanilla would have multiples and wasn't sure about Caramel.
Now, I was actually trading Caramel and Vanilla for 2 Saanans Saturday morning, so on Thursday I went through the goat barn, picked it up, put all my kidding supplies away since my kidding season was over for a few months, and put the baby monitor away.
Saturday morning I went out about 8:30am to start the outside chores and noticed Caramel sitting on what looked like a red bucket; however, I didn't have the red bucket in their pen and after I looked closer I realized she had a uterine prolapse. I looked around to make sure everyone else was OK and saw this little white goat by her face trying to bump it to nurse.
I immediately called the vet and within 1/2 hr she was there. We estimated she gave birth and prolapsed about 5-6 hours earlier since the little buckling was already dry and by looking at the state of her uterus. After about an hour the vet had pushed her uterus back in. She ended up having to give Caramel an epidural because every time she got a section in, Caramel would cry and it would come back out. She wasn't pushing the uterus out on purpose, but when she would cry out her muscle contractions would force the uterus back out. She said she does not like giving goats an epidural because there's so much room for error, but it was either try that or put her down. I couldn't give up just yet so I told her to go ahead.
The vet stitched Caramel back up, gave her some IV fluids, pen-g, banamine, b12, you name it. We put Caramel and her little buckling in a secured area, but still where she could see her herd mates and I let her rest. I bottle fed the kid some colostrum since Caramel was not able to nurse him. I was able to get a little colostrum from her, but given her condition I decided to let her rest and milk her laying down as opposed to forcing her up for him to nurse.
Her sister, Vanilla, ended up going to her new home later that day as planned. Obviously, the people didn't want Caramel after this and I didn't blame them for that. However, as the day went on I noticed Vanilla was pawing the ground and circling so I told the people "Have Fun!" They knew she was pregnant and were prepared for her to kid as they have many other goats, so I wasn't concerned about her leaving. (I received a call Sunday afternoon that Vanilla had just delivered a beautiful healthy and small doeling without any problems what so ever. Much to my relief, needless to say.)
I gave Caramel her second round of meds later Saturday night as scheduled. At 1am I went back out to check on her and give her more electrolytes and noticed she was bleeding from her nose. Not streaming, but not little teeny drops. I called the vet and she said it could be anything from bonking her nose to something very serious. I could drive her 1/2 hr away for a vitamin K shot, but there's no guarantee that would work. I opted to keep Caramel home and comfortable and slept out there with her buckling nestled between the two of us. She was hurting, that's for sure, so I did my best to comfort her.
About 3am I went back inside because I had to get some sleep and went back out at 6:30am Sunday. Caramel was still the same. I forced electrolytes in her, gave her more banamine, more pen g, more b12, more calcium fluids and hoped for the best. All the while I'm bottle feeding her buckling every three-four hours since she was not getting up.
She passed away about 8am Sunday. The vet said that even if I heard her go into labor if she was going to prolapse she was going to prolapse and there's little I could do to avoid that. She said that, of course, it would have been optimal had I caught the prolapse as it happened. She explained that the longer the uterus sits outside the body the more it swells and the greater chance you'll loose the doe. She reassured me you can't be there 100% of the time and given that I honestly thought she had more time before she kid it wasn't my fault this happened. The vet and I did what we could to try and save her, but unfortunately it wasn't enough.
I gave Caramel's buckling to a family who is able to give him the care and attention he needs as I am not able to bottle feed a new kid at the moment. Rather than keep him and force him to adjust to my work schedule I decided he'd be better with a family that can be with him 24/7. It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make since I had just lost his mother too.
I'm not sure what people can take out of this experience, but just realize it does happen and no matter how prepared you think you are sometimes stuff just happens.
Rest in peace my sweet Caramel.
Caramel and her sister, Vanilla
My yearling doe, Caramel, was pregnant; however I did not have a certain due date. She wasn't intended to be bred, but the buck did what bucks do and slipped into the other pen quite a few times. He ended up getting her and her twin sister, Vanilla. Being that they are yearlings, 1/2 nigerian, 1/4 alpine and 1/4 nubian and the buck is a teeny tiny nigerian (35# at 9 mos old) I wasn't overly concerned. Not optimal, but not the end of the world.
Caramel started bagging up about 2-3 weeks ago. Teeny tiny udder, probably less than 1/2 a cup in there. Her sister started bagging up earlier and had a nice first freshener sized udder as of Friday. I don't have all the experience in the world and know some does bag up early, some late and some not until after they kid so I guesstimated Vanilla would kid anywhere from now until 3 weeks later and Caramel had a few weeks, if not months to go. Caramel was also smaller than Vanilla; I was convinced Vanilla would have multiples and wasn't sure about Caramel.
Now, I was actually trading Caramel and Vanilla for 2 Saanans Saturday morning, so on Thursday I went through the goat barn, picked it up, put all my kidding supplies away since my kidding season was over for a few months, and put the baby monitor away.
Saturday morning I went out about 8:30am to start the outside chores and noticed Caramel sitting on what looked like a red bucket; however, I didn't have the red bucket in their pen and after I looked closer I realized she had a uterine prolapse. I looked around to make sure everyone else was OK and saw this little white goat by her face trying to bump it to nurse.
I immediately called the vet and within 1/2 hr she was there. We estimated she gave birth and prolapsed about 5-6 hours earlier since the little buckling was already dry and by looking at the state of her uterus. After about an hour the vet had pushed her uterus back in. She ended up having to give Caramel an epidural because every time she got a section in, Caramel would cry and it would come back out. She wasn't pushing the uterus out on purpose, but when she would cry out her muscle contractions would force the uterus back out. She said she does not like giving goats an epidural because there's so much room for error, but it was either try that or put her down. I couldn't give up just yet so I told her to go ahead.
The vet stitched Caramel back up, gave her some IV fluids, pen-g, banamine, b12, you name it. We put Caramel and her little buckling in a secured area, but still where she could see her herd mates and I let her rest. I bottle fed the kid some colostrum since Caramel was not able to nurse him. I was able to get a little colostrum from her, but given her condition I decided to let her rest and milk her laying down as opposed to forcing her up for him to nurse.
Her sister, Vanilla, ended up going to her new home later that day as planned. Obviously, the people didn't want Caramel after this and I didn't blame them for that. However, as the day went on I noticed Vanilla was pawing the ground and circling so I told the people "Have Fun!" They knew she was pregnant and were prepared for her to kid as they have many other goats, so I wasn't concerned about her leaving. (I received a call Sunday afternoon that Vanilla had just delivered a beautiful healthy and small doeling without any problems what so ever. Much to my relief, needless to say.)
I gave Caramel her second round of meds later Saturday night as scheduled. At 1am I went back out to check on her and give her more electrolytes and noticed she was bleeding from her nose. Not streaming, but not little teeny drops. I called the vet and she said it could be anything from bonking her nose to something very serious. I could drive her 1/2 hr away for a vitamin K shot, but there's no guarantee that would work. I opted to keep Caramel home and comfortable and slept out there with her buckling nestled between the two of us. She was hurting, that's for sure, so I did my best to comfort her.
About 3am I went back inside because I had to get some sleep and went back out at 6:30am Sunday. Caramel was still the same. I forced electrolytes in her, gave her more banamine, more pen g, more b12, more calcium fluids and hoped for the best. All the while I'm bottle feeding her buckling every three-four hours since she was not getting up.
She passed away about 8am Sunday. The vet said that even if I heard her go into labor if she was going to prolapse she was going to prolapse and there's little I could do to avoid that. She said that, of course, it would have been optimal had I caught the prolapse as it happened. She explained that the longer the uterus sits outside the body the more it swells and the greater chance you'll loose the doe. She reassured me you can't be there 100% of the time and given that I honestly thought she had more time before she kid it wasn't my fault this happened. The vet and I did what we could to try and save her, but unfortunately it wasn't enough.
I gave Caramel's buckling to a family who is able to give him the care and attention he needs as I am not able to bottle feed a new kid at the moment. Rather than keep him and force him to adjust to my work schedule I decided he'd be better with a family that can be with him 24/7. It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make since I had just lost his mother too.
I'm not sure what people can take out of this experience, but just realize it does happen and no matter how prepared you think you are sometimes stuff just happens.
Rest in peace my sweet Caramel.
Caramel and her sister, Vanilla
