Sick goat, ideas?

[CarolinaGirl]

This morning, when I let my little 5-6 month old buckling out for the day, he acted very strange.

He vomited a bit or at least I classify it as vomiting. He spit out a gob of chewed on hay/cud and refused to eat for a good while... He's eating now but being very finicky. He's usually into *everything* food wise and well, Mr. Hyper in general.

He did get into a big no-no plant last night... He ran to the front yard and I followed him, however, I'm not as fast as him and he grabbed himself a mouthful of azalea and gobbled it down before I could get there. He's also been picking up dead mimosa tree blooms off the ground and eating red bud tree leaves but by what I gather, they're not toxic... they're just new to his diet, I suppose.

Oh, and he's also got hay that is new to him... The rest of my herd is fine with it but I'm wondering if he's not... It's high quality Coastal Bermuda. I give him a handful of alfalfa but it's not his basic diet due to the fact that my vet doesn't recommend it for bucks because of urinary stones.

When I checked on him just now, he's lying down in the shade and while I know rumen noises are normal, his tummy seems unusually rumbly and he's very burpy. He will eat his favorite foods when offered, just not with the usual eunthusiasm.

Both of my vets that treat farm animals are at the cattle sale and won't be in til' 6:30 pm so that's why I'm asking here in case I can do something in advance or see if I need to drive my boy 2 hours to the other vet. I feel like if he's eating, he's okay... but then, he is my spoiled boy so I don't want to just let something go.

 

[Davaroo]

See, when I saw the title of this post I missed the comma. I thought it was:
"Sick goat ideas."

I won't say where that took my mind......

 

[Chatychick]

I would drench him with some baking soda water in a syringe...sounds like he has a upset tummy...does he have a temp? If not give him the baking soda and watch him to see if it helps. You might have to give it to him again later. If he develops the trots let them be as he needs to get the bad stuff out and you dont want to plug him up. This is his way of getting rid of it. The vets are wrong I would give alfafa instead of grass hay ...they need it and it dont cause stones like they are saying. The only time I had trouble with stones was when I gave grass hay, never any trouble with alfafa hay. I would use about 1/2 teasspoon of BS to about 6 cc's of water.

 

[goatkeepers]

As you said, azaleas are BAD for goats. They get poisoned by them.
If he's burping that's a good thing! When the rumen shuts down, that's when you will lose him!
Make a marble sized ball out of baking soda and just enough water and stuff that in his mouth. Make sure he gets as much as possible of it.

Alfalfa hay is too high in protein, grass hay is a lot better! We feed orchard/timothy mix. I wouldn't give him any grain right now, just hay and water! Make sure he has lots of fresh water available.

Good luck!

 

[helmstead]

I'm with Chaty - sounds like a light bloat. Have to disagree with GoatKeeper, alfalfa is great goat feed, esp with bucks and wethers.

Hope he gets to feeling better quickly!

 

[goatkeepers]

Well, I have heard different from basically everyone I have been around that has goats. For pregnant and nursing nannies, maybe. But IMO it's too rich for wethers. Unnecessary calories...

 

[helmstead]

Calories, sure...if your wether is fine on grass hay and no grain. But some wethers do need that extra umph, and that is when alfalfa is great for them. The calcium/phosphorus ratio is good to avoid UC, unlike feeding mature wethers grain and grass hay which can lead to UC.

You'll get a thousand differing opinions!

 

[CarolinaGirl]

Thanks so much, he's back to his little evil self tonight.

I gave him the baking soda mixture which ticked him off horribly and this evening, he was back to his antics of flips, jumps and sillyness.

I have 5 more goats, all whom I love, that are much older (ranging from 11 years old to 6 years old) but I really "connect" with this little guy so I tend to notice if he's the least bit different even if it's just something mild. Probably because I spend on average, 2-3 hours a day with him, because when I'm outside, he's out with me, even when I'm going for a walk, I leash him up and take him with.

As for the hay, I've heard different things from everyone in the 10 years that I've had goats.

After losing my first goat whom I connected to much like this little guy to UC after spending almost $2,000 on treatment, I changed vets... The new vet claimed the alfalfa was part of the problem along with grain. My 2 wethers I've had for 9 years and 6 years have been fed all grass hay with some grain and I've had no problems so I stick with that.

However, I don't truly believe alfalfa was the sole cause of Baa-Ram's UC. His previous owner fed him chicken feed much of his young life

along with bread... and that was it other than the grass and brush he consumed in the field. It does tend to be a huge debate between goat owners, though...

Again, thanks for the help, I was a bit panicked this morning

 

[goatkeepers]

So glad to hear this!!

I know the feeling, I get panicked at the slightest bit of behavioral change in my goats.