Red Urine In Goat!!!!

GuineaFowling

Songster
Oct 3, 2013
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California
My buck peed red urine. Today was the first day I noticed it, though he was penned up all day yesterday due to a heavy rainfall and I cant really see the color of the urine in the pen because of the hay on the bottom.He is about 3.5 to 4 months old. He gets bottle fed milk once a day now. We are in the process of weaning. He also eats alfalfa hay and a little bit of grain. He is not a fan of the grain. They also free range out and eat leaves and some plants. I noticed his red urine today. He doesnt seem to be having difficulty urinating but he did strain a bit when he pooed and his poo is clumped together. I did feed him water through the bottle today and last night. Could that be the cause of his red urine. I will stop feeding water from a bottle. HE doent seem to be drinking on his own from the bucket though. I pulled his skin and it snapped back so he isnt dehydrated? Might he have a urinary stone? OR is it the bottle? How can I treat this? I put some acv with the mother in the bucket of water but I dont know if he will drink it. Oh he also had a few oranges yesterday. I know oranges are not bad but when they are free ranging they have access to an orange tree and he ate quite a few. How many oranges is too many.
Any advice or suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Thank you.
 
It looks kind of orangish to me. Here is a pic
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The worst thing to feed a male goat is rations and alfalfa, too much calcium and they end up with stones and blockages. Grass hay, and enough ration to help them grow but not too much. Make sure he's drinking enough water and get him weaned, he's too old to still be getting milk, switch to water in his bottle until he no longer wants it.
 
I'm not saying he does have stones, you don't want that to happen. Sometimes smaller ones will pass, others will require surgery, or putting the goat down as sometimes the bladder can rupture, that's why it's important to feed them correctly. Hopefully yours will be better in a day or so, keep watching to see that he's urinating. Years ago a bought a four month old boy, within two weeks he was dead from his bladder rupturing, I learned quickly about correct diets, the place I had gotten him from fed him rations and alfalfa, a good diet for a milk goat, but not for the boys.

Make all dietary changes slowly, and I always have goat mineral and baking soda available free choice.

The oranges he ate could have caused a darkening of his urine, all that vitamin C.
 
Thanks for the advice! I'll see if his urine is different tomorrow. No more oranges for him either. Also what is the baking soda for? And do they eat it freely?
 
I've always heard not to give water in bottles due to the risk of water intoxication and subsequent hemoglobinuria (bloody urine) and I found this article to support that:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9470167/

I'm not saying that it is for sure what is going on with your goat, as I cannot diagnose without seeing him. My disclaimer is always to consult your trusted veterinarian. There are other possibilities for red urine, such as urinary stones, kidney/bladder infections, or even as a side effect from oranges, among a range of other things. However, my "online" advice would be to stop the water in bottles and transition him another way. Goats can be finicky (one poop ball in their water and they will not drink) so maybe try skipping the ACV until you know he is drinking. I know we have lots of goat experts here that know more about transitioning from a bottle than me, so I will leave that to them!

Also consult your vet or another trusted resource to get him on a good diet for male goats. They are especially prone to stones, but there are good ways to help prevent them.
 
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I've always followed up their bottles with a bottle of water and have never experienced any trouble.
 
I have known people to give a bottle of warm water after the bottle. I never did but I never heard of any trouble from doing so. If alfalfa caused stones in bucks all of my bucks over the years would have had them. They didn't. Neither did the bucks of my neighbors and they fed alfalfa to their bucks, too. Whether alfalfa causes a problem in bucks may depend on where you are and the mineral content of your water.The only time any of my bucks ever got stones was once when the automatic waterer failed and I didn't notice it until some time had passed. One of the bucklings in that pen got stones and the vet told me the lack of water was likely the cause. Made sure that didn't happen again. Some people put ACV in their buck's water to prevent stones. Don't know if it helps but it can't hurt. If your buck had stones he would most likely be straining and show signs of pain. Red urine can be caused by a number of things. There is a condition called red water in cattle but I wouldn't think he would have that. See how he is tomorrow. Is he droopy? Does he have a fever? Could he have received a blow from another goat? If that red urine continues you need to talk to your vet. See how he is tomorrow and go from there.
 

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