AboutGoatlady Expertise Specializing in New Goat Owner understanding of goat physiology, goat anatomy, goat care and herd management. *I am not a veterinarian, any advice and information should be verified by your veterinarian before administering to your goats.
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Note: Keep in mind, the goat expert is volunteering her time to help other goat owners, she also runs her farm with her own herd of 100 goats and may not be at her computer at all hours. Questions are answered as soon as she can possibly read and answer them, usually within 24 hours.
Experience 18 years experience of raising goats and herd management. Active hands on experience with goat herd and research with various Caprine University Research and Extension Centers nationwide. 15 years dedicated to helping other goat breeders/owners with goat anatomy, goat disease and goat health care issues via phone, published goat care articles and internet interaction. The information I have to offer is not only from personal experience and years of research updated often as new information is made available to me, but supported by many Veterinary Research colleges and all medications and information I have to offer on how the medications work and what dosages "I" use, is information I have acquired by discussing directly with the company's veterinarians and staff research experts.
Organizations 5 year active member of International Veterinary Information Service
Publications United Caprine News, Homesteaders Magazine, Columnist for Goat Magazine, Owner and Author of GoatPedia™
Education/Credentials Graduate Programs in Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University
Question hi im sandi and i live in australia. i have just rescued a kid from tourture and not being fed i have had her on calf pab witch is i think is the reason of her getting floppy kid syndrome. can i feed her normal people drinking powdered milk
Answer HI Sandi,
You are better off feeding her whole people milk from the grocery store - whole cows milk that is- or you can use canned milk and dilute it half and half with water- but I would not mess with the powdered milk- add some molasses or corn syrup to the bottles for extra energy for the baby- a tsp per bottle is plenty.
Article on feeding bottle baby goats: http://goat-link.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=76
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.
If this baby has true floppy kid syndrome, get a tsp of baking soda and wet it slightly, give this to the baby orally right from the spoon, this for some reason seems to help FKS- it balances the pH in the gut:
snippet from http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2/healthproblemsKids06.html:
FKS usually doesn't occur until the kid is seven to ten days old. (An exception to this time frame -- bottle babies -- is cited later in this article.) The kid literally overeats on milk on a repeated basis and is unable to fully digest the milk before it refills its stomach by nursing again, creating a toxic condition like Enterotoxemia (Overeating Disease). Untreated, a painful and rapid death occurs. Treatment must be swift to save the kid.
The solution is startlingly simple -- and usually the precise opposite of what producers probably think should be done. Take the kid off milk completely for at least 36 hours. Substitute ReSorb or equivalent electrolytes in place of milk and add baking soda to neutralize the conditions in the kid's stomach. Administer C&D anti-toxin (*not* the toxoid) immediately. Use Milk of Magnesia to push the partially-digested milk through the kid's system and out of the kid's body. Prescription Banamine, given injectably, will calm the gut; dosage is 2/10th's of a cc given IM for a young kid of a medium-sized breed. Because most FKS kids are wobbly-legged and stagger like they are drunk, tube feeding may be necessary.
Dissolve one teaspoon of ordinary baking soda in eight (8) ounces of warmed ReSorb electrolytes and mix thoroughly. If the kid will not suck a bottle, stomach tube two ounces (60 cc's) of this solution into the kid's stomach. Wait about an hour and tube feed another two ounces. Don't bloat the kid's stomach; use common sense about how much it can hold. Administer a SQ injection of six (6) to eight (8) cc's of C&D anti-toxin wherever loose skin can be found. SQ injection over the ribs is a good location. C&D anti-toxin helps counteract the toxic effect of the undigested milk in the kid's stomach and can be used every twelve (12) hours. If the kid is old enough to have already had its two-injection series of CD/T vaccinations, the producer will have to wait at least five days and start the CD/T series over again. However, a very young kid should not have received its first and second CD/T injections before one month and two months of age respectively. The dam's immunities passed to the kid via mother's milk are supposed to protect the kid during its first month of life, at which time the kid's own immune system starts developing.
Because Floppy Kid Syndrome is accompanied by a bacterial infection in the kid's gut, antibiotic therapy is advisable. Obtain a vet prescription for Primor or Sulfadimethoxazine with Trimethoprim and orally medicate for five consecutive days. Dose the kid with Milk of Magnesia orally (five cc's per 20 pounds bodyweight) to speed the elimination of the undigested milk from its body. Mineral oil can be effective but must be stomach-tubed into the goat. Because mineral oil has no taste, the goat may not identify it as a substance to be swallowed and it can be aspirated into the lungs instead. A warm soapy enema can be given to remove hard-packed feces from the lower intestinal tract via the anus; however, an enema will not move undigested milk from the stomach.
Bottle babies require special comments. During the first two weeks of life, bottle babies should be fed with individual bottles to control the amount of milk that they receive. Producers should mimic the dam, who feeds small amounts of milk very frequently to her kids to avoid stomach upset. Folks new to bottle babies can cause Floppy Kid Syndrome by overfeeding milk. A kid will drink as much as you will let it drink; the sucking response makes it feel safe.
