Expert: Goatlady - 9/4/2008

Question
Hi- we have aquired a 2 week old boer doeling. She nursed from her recip mother for 2 weeks and the other kid pushed her off.the doe had a fish-tail teat and she wasn't getting the milk that she should have. we brought her home and put her on a bottle with milk replacer. She was doing fine, but layed down and flopped her head over that night. We brought her out of this and she now follows us around, but acts "droopy"-She will stand with her tail down-she doesn't holler like any other kids we have had.She drinks about 3 oz per feeding and we are feeding her about 8 times a day, when she acts like she is hungry. My question (finally) is- How can we get her to drink more per feeding? She drinks a little and stops-then a few minutes later wants a sip more.her stomach looks sunk in and not plump, but she does not have the scours, and her temp is normal-Should I add electrolytes to her milk? Thanks for any info on helping this lil girl!!

Answer
HI Heather,

Milk replacer is the culprit. Take her off the replacer and put her on whole regular cows milk from the grocery store. She is doing you a favor by not over eating on this - because if she did she would end up very ill. Read my article on feeding bottle baby goats:
http://goat-link.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=76

Here is schedule for starters-

Guideline for Bottle Baby Dairy Goat Feeding Schedule
Pygmy and Nigerian Goat Baby Amounts in []:

   * * Day one- 2-4oz. [1-3] (per feeding) colostrum, every 2-3 hours.
   * * Day two- 3 oz. [2-3] (per feeding) whole milk, 6 times a day
   * * Day three- 4 oz.[3] (per feeding) whole milk, 6 times a day
   * * Day four- 6oz. [4-5] (per feeding) whole milk, 5-6 times a day.
   * * For the next 2 weeks-6-8oz.[4-6] (per feeding) whole milk,5 times a day.
   * * For the next 2 months-10-12 oz.[6-8] (per feeding)whole milk, 4-5 times a day.
   * * For the next 1 month or 6 weeks-10-12 oz. [6-8] (per feeding)whole milk, 3 times a day.
   * * 10-12 oz. [8-10] (per feeding) once a day for the next 2 months.

This is JUST a guideline- Adjust as needed - start with the recommended amount and feel the baby's tummy- Stop when it feels full but not tight- measure what is left in the bottle and feed what the baby ate- as the baby grows add to that amount according to size.



More frequent feedings with less in each are best at this age too- as she gets older and beings to eat more you can allow her to level off a bit then start to increase the bottle amount and decrease on bottle at a time throughout the day.

You might start looking for CD ANTI toxin to have on hand in case she needs it-  she is in the beginning of having a toxic gut- most tractor supply stores will have it in stock- this is not the CDT toxoid vaccine, it is given at the rate of 2ccs minimum for very small kids- and kids over 10lbs at the rate of 1cc/5lbs (rounding up) injected SubQ every 6 hours.

The key is that it takes just a few days (maybe 5 or so at the most) for whatever stopped or slowed down the gut initially (like FKS, grain overload, too much milk replacer, grass bloat, severe coccidiosis, or whatever) to turn into full-blown enterotoxemia. You see, when the naturally occurring clostridial organisms stop passing routinely out of that now stopped or slowed rumen it takes that long for them to multiply within the rumen until they are in sufficient number to create Enterotoxemia in the gut.

Enterotoxemia is a disease caused by the overproduction of toxins by the Clostridium prefringens organisms that are found naturally in the goat’s rumen. As they multiply, which they’ll will do if the rumen is slowed or shut down for any reason, the toxins quickly reach the level where they start to destroy the intestinal walls, eventually passing through them into the peritoneal cavity where they systematically begin shutting the organs down, killing the host.  It’s a very painful way to die.

Remember that the CD Antitoxin has only one function, to destroy on contact any entero toxins detected in the gut.  So if the animal's own immune system has sufficient antibodies present, thus there are NO entero toxins developing in the stopped-up gut, it has no work to do and will just dissipate from the goat's system.

If you cannot find it locally I would order some from Valley Vet:

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e077e0-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204...

Clostridium Perfringens C & D Antitoxin 250 ml


goatlady
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