# foaming mouth-not bloat-but abscess??



## rebecca100 (Sep 5, 2010)

I just got a nubian doe for milking and fil also got one.  Mine was in the process of being dried up-but not too far along fortunatly.  
problem 1  -  Anyway the one fil got had some dampness around it's mouth when he got it.  Now it is just flat out foaming, escpecially when chewing it's cud.  However it is always foamy.  She seems to be healthy otherwise and very alert and friendly.  No problems that I have seen with eating.  I noticed that some of her front teeth are sharp, but they don't seem to be cutting or irritating her.  I can't tell about her molars.
problem 2- bringing back the milk on my new doe.  I have heard this is possible.  She was not getting good dairy goat pellets and was down to only one milking.  Will good pellets and two or three milkings a day bring her milk back to a decent level?


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## ksalvagno (Sep 5, 2010)

Are the goats getting a lot of clover? Clover can cause a ruminant to foam at the mouth.

You can try to bring her back in milk with the multiple milkings and the good goat feed. It may or may not work but you can certainly try.


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## mistee (Sep 5, 2010)

i know when my horses get into some good clover the drool worse then my saint bernard,,lol.


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## Ariel301 (Sep 5, 2010)

I'd check her molars, especially if she is an older goat. She may have some sort of problem going on in her mouth...I had a cat with chronic gum disease/tooth decay problems and he would drool a lot because of it.


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## cmjust0 (Sep 7, 2010)

It's probably rabies.


Ok, not really.    Sorry.  

I have a foamer..  She just started it this year for some reason...never noticed it before that.  She'll be sitting with a cud, happily chomping along, with white foam at the corners of her mouth.

We basically just reset the baseline for what's "normal" with her, so now her foaming is something we consider "normal"...for her, anyway.


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## rebecca100 (Sep 7, 2010)

I called the guy we got her from and he said the same thing-that it was just normal for her.  However somethimes she will foam so much that it is dripping from her mouth while she is peacefully chewing- or when she is licking the loose mineral that I put out.  As long as it is not a sign of disease that my others can get, then I am not worried about it since she is kept with my goats too.


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## WallTenters (Sep 7, 2010)

As far as milking - probably. Our doe was way too thin (seeing each rib, vertebrae and hips/shoulders very prominent). We mixed equal parts of oats, barley, and purina goat chow. We used thick oats and rolled barley. We also added brewer's yeast, some wheat bran and loose mineral salt. We gave her baking soda free choice, and lots of quality hay. 

It's been two months and instead of being milked not at all (just her two four month old kids nursing off her, whom we weaned right away) and giving only about 1/4 quart of thin milk at each of those first few milkings after we started taping her teats, she is now giving 1.5quarts per milking, with loads of cream. We know that's probably not her peak performance capabilities, but she looks fantastic - slick and shiny and now she's on pasture and is getting a little chubby .


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## goatgirl4008 (Sep 8, 2010)

We also had a foamer once. When we first noticed it I was at work and my husband called me frantic about a foaming doe. I told him shee was probably just chewing her cud. And that I couldn't. Do anything cause I was at work. A little bout my husband he is a city boy I transplanted to the farm when we married 4 years ago. So he had seen anything like that before. So we where living in the basement and my mom lived upstairs so he came in and convinced mom to come out and look at her. They got out there and mom looked him straight in the eye and said she is chewing her cud she is fine.  I thought that was so funny. About your doe she might be a foamer or there might be something in her cheek inside a stem or beard from something if that's the case I would think there would be a lump or a hard spot on her face. But it might just be her. Has she done it since you got her?


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## Ariel301 (Sep 8, 2010)

It sounds like that's just how she is then. 

I've got a doe who foams at the mouth when we take her in the car. She apparently gets car sick lol, and starts flinging nasty green foam everywhere. We were pre-warned by her last owner though.


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## rebecca100 (Sep 9, 2010)

Welllll....  I finally got someone out to help look at her molars and they are bad.  Wore off at the gums and pitted looking.  Nothing abscessed though fortunately.  However she is having trouble grinding her food AND her front teeth are bucked and loose.  BIL noticed that.  The trouble grinding is what we think is causing the foaming.  Her weight was down when we got her, but we were told it was from worms and that she had been dewormed.  We know now that is not the whole case.  I have started lightly soaking a feedings worth of pellets for her to make it easier for her to eat.  She is browsing good so far and is very alert and friendly. So much for the 4 year old that she was supposed to be.  I guess that is what happens when you take someones word for something without checking!


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## cmjust0 (Sep 9, 2010)

Hmm...perhaps I need to check my "foamer's" molars.


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## Ariel301 (Sep 9, 2010)

Oh wow. I'm glad you found out the problem, poor girl. She must be in pain. I always like to check teeth now before buying...I had someone con me into a "two or three" (what they said when I asked her age at first) year old doe that when I got her home, just didn't seem right...looked at her teeth and she looked a good deal older...I called them up and said I was not happy with her, they let me take her back, and when I complained about how she really wasn't holding her weight well, they said "Well, you know, she's really old..." Grr. 

Hopefully you can get your girl's teeth fixed up and find a good feed for her.


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## rebecca100 (Sep 26, 2010)

Sheesh....  That sounds exactly like what has happened here.  This doe is having problems holding her weight also.  We have had to put her on a special diet with her teeth the way they are or she would just about starve.  She is gaining weight now though.


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## Renegade (Sep 27, 2010)

I'm never one to tell someone to use a feed that is not breed specific but I've had more then one goat person tell me they use Senior Horse feed on their senior goats. I have not tried it myself.
I use Purina Senior feed on an old horse. It is a soft pellet feed with a  small amount of molasses and a higher fat content. It has done wonders for my horse. I have a couple of goats that grab a few bites each day and they're fine.

Donna Finley
Finley Boers


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