# not eating



## peachick (Aug 26, 2010)

my 6 month old buckling is not eating this afternoon.  He was fine last night.  and  when  I saw him briefly this morning he appeared fine.
I was gone a few hours today and after returning home, and offering treats  he was not interested in eating and went to lay down.  Totally not normal behavior for him.

Occasionally  I have noticed him shaking his head,  and  i dismissed it assuming flies were bothering him.  But the last few times  I saw him do it  I suspected an ear infection??  Looking in both ears today  they seem fine and not at all tender.

Any thoughts??


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## cmjust0 (Aug 26, 2010)

Fever?  Scouring?  Nasal discharge?  

Anything else like that out of the ordinary?


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## peachick (Aug 26, 2010)

I gave him some fresh hay a few minutes ago...  he pushed it around a little but didnt eat anything.

no nasal discharge.  
no sign of diarrhea
I dont know what scouring is  - Im a total newbie.  
Fever.  Hmm  ok.  I can take that...  what is normal temp for a goat??

and THANK YOU for the reply!!


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## peachick (Aug 26, 2010)

)  I looked up temp and scouring in my storeys book 

no scouring  and temp is in the normal range = 102.1


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## cmjust0 (Aug 26, 2010)

peachick said:
			
		

> I gave him some fresh hay a few minutes ago...  he pushed it around a little but didnt eat anything.
> 
> no nasal discharge.
> no sign of diarrhea
> ...


Scouring = diarrhea.

Normal temp would be like 101-103, give or take.  If the temp's 104 or more and it's not super hot outside, I consider it a fever and start them on some kind of antibiotic..  The antibiotic would depend on what kind of infection I suspect we're talking about.  My usual "I dunno what this is yet" antibiotic in anything over 6mo's and/or about 75lbs is Bio-Mycin 200...oxytetracycline hydrochloride.  I'll give about 3ml/100lbs, SQ, once a day for about 5 days.

If the goat's under that weight/age, my go-to is PenG..  That's 1ml/15lbs 2x/day through an 18ga needle...20ga will work if you wuss out on the friggin' stovepipe that _is_ an 18ga needle.

If his temp's less than 100, call a vet.  

If his temp's in the normal range, it's probably not an infection.

EDIT -- Just read that his temp's good...that's good.    Kinda almost wish it would have been as simple as an infection somewhere, but this might mean it turns out to be nothing.


Is he peeing OK?...a 6mo buckling might be a candidate for urinary calculi.  Make sure he's peeing.

Also, has he been dewormed?  If not, check the color of the mucous membranes of his inner eyelids.  If they're pale pink or white, he's probably got a heavy worm load.  That can *sometimes* lead them to be depressed, just from weakness and anemia...usually not, though.  If he's pink, or pale pink, I'd probably look for another problem.  If he's whited out, though...that could be it.

Has he been on any kind of coccidia preventative?  If not, a 6mo goat isn't out of the woods.  If he's on some kind of coccidiostatic grain (w/ deccox, rumensen, monensen, etc) that's *probably* not it...but if he hasn't, and if you haven't ever done any kind of preventative (DiMethox, Sulmet, etc)...consider coccidia.  Without a scour, it would be a "chronic" or "subclinical" or "subacute" case, depending on what terminology you want to use.  Basically, would just mean he's suffering from a heavy coccidia load -- but not heavy enough to make him scour.

So that's infection...worms...coccidia...urinary calculi...I'm trying to think of what else we could be looking at, but given his age and gender, those are the things I would look at _first._

ANOTHER EDIT:  If he were here, I'd just keep watching him closely.  If he didn't perk up, I'd probably use some fortified b-complex to see if I could perk him up and get him to eat a little bit.


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## cmjust0 (Aug 26, 2010)

Hopefully someone else will chime in here, for I have to go home and take care of my own stupid goats.


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## peachick (Aug 26, 2010)

))))
Hugs to you cmjust0   thank you thank you!!

I have LA-200 on hand and can give him that  if anything (fever) changes.
I'll worm him tonight...  just because it hasn't been done since the day I got him.

I agree  I almost with it was a fever...  that might have made things easy.
I'll offer him food again in a few minutes  and hope he takes it.

Ohhh  I'll watch for the peeing too.


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## Ariel301 (Aug 26, 2010)

Could he be bloated? If his tummy hurts, he wouldn't want to eat. Watch to see if he is chewing his cud and if you can, listen on his left side for rumen sounds, you should hear at  least 1-2 in a minute, gurgling sounds from his left flank area. If there's no sound, nothing is moving and that's bad. Also, if he is bloated, his left side in particular will be big like a balloon and feel abnormal. You can offer him some baking soda, if he's got a mild case that can help.


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## warthog (Aug 26, 2010)

Make sure he is drinking.

Even if he his not eating keep fluids in him.


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## PJisaMom (Aug 26, 2010)

How's he doing now?


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## peachick (Aug 27, 2010)

I was trying to see if he looked bloated last night  but I didnt see anything off.  Today,  he looks the same,  and  I did hear gurgling.  Last night a couple time he was moving his mouth funny  so  I looked in to see if maybe he had a stick or something lodged....... it was too dark to see.  LOL  But that may still have been the problem.

last night around 8pm  I put him in a pen by himself  with grain,hay and water.  he had a big drink and then started  rooting around on the hay...  not really eating anything.

This morning  the hay is gone  and most of the grain was still there.
I let him out and he was quite happy and FRISKY to be out.  but still not eating the grain.  The other 2 goats and lamb are eating and doing great.  (I think they are happy he's not pushing them out of the food!!)

He is acting normal today, except for not being interested in grain.....  I'll update again in a few hours.  thanks to everyone for your advice.  I dont know what it was.  But  glad he's better today.


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## Roll farms (Aug 27, 2010)

Making funny movements w/ his mouth....was he by any chance grinding his teeth??  That's a sign of pain / discomfort / misery in goats.

It could be something as simple as a belly ache...we all have 'off' days.

I would probably give him a bit of probiotic paste and, if he still isn't interested in his grain by tonight, a shot of B vitamin (appetite stimulant and all around 'make 'em feel better' medicine).

Probably wouldn't hurt to have a fecal ran to check for cocci and worms.


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## cmjust0 (Aug 27, 2010)

Roll farms said:
			
		

> Making funny movements w/ his mouth....was he by any chance grinding his teeth??  That's a sign of pain / discomfort / misery in goats.
> 
> It could be something as simple as a belly ache...we all have 'off' days.
> 
> ...


x2

Glad to hear he's doing better.


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## peachick (Aug 27, 2010)

thanks    He might have been grinding his teeth, and what looked like yawning...  ?

He is eating better....  had a hand full of grain.  Still seems a little quiet,  but mostly he's back to his horney lil self...  and bodily functions are eliminating properly  
He has had valbazen, probiotics, minerals, plenty of water and hay.

This may or may not be a problem, but  Im new to goats  so ??
My goats share a yard with my sebastopol geese.  I give fresh water twice a day when  I can,  but geese can fowl up water quickly.  The goats inevitably end up drinking goose water.  98% of the geese diet is grass,  so how bad is a little goose pooh to a goat?


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## ksalvagno (Aug 27, 2010)

You are asking for a constant parasite problem if the goats are drinking water with goose poo in it. If you can separate the geese and the goats, that would probably be best. My chickens and goats do share the same field but the chickens don't poop in the water buckets. Plus goats really don't like to drink messy water so they may be drinking less water than they normally would if it were clean.

Do you have baking soda out for your goat? That would take care of any minor bloat problem.


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## cmjust0 (Aug 27, 2010)

peachick said:
			
		

> thanks    He might have been grinding his teeth, and what looked like yawning...  ?
> 
> He is eating better....  had a hand full of grain.  Still seems a little quiet,  but mostly he's back to his horney lil self...  and bodily functions are eliminating properly
> He has had valbazen, probiotics, minerals, plenty of water and hay.
> ...


The first danger of that situation that comes to my mind is Salmonellosis, which is a dangerous bacterial gut infection.  He'd likely have scoured if that was the culprit here, but it's liable to be the culprit someday if things stay the way they are.

Something else that comes to mind is the fact that goats are quick to ration themselves on water if it's not *clean* water...rationing oneself on water is very, very, very dangerous for young bucks and wethers, as it tends to make urine more concentrated..  Highly concentrated urine is absolutely, positively a risk-factor for urinary calculi.  A big risk factor, actually..

So even if it has nothing to do with what *just* happened, it's something to rectify ASAP.


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## peachick (Aug 27, 2010)

You guys are great.  thanks so much for the advice.  (im learning a lot)
I will put baking soda out....
and figure out a drinking water solution.  I have several pools out for the geese to play in.  but also have buckets of drinking water for the goats...  the geese cant poo in those,  but  they do like to make mud in them.  Either way  the goats have access to all of it.
Knowing  the goats wont drink dirty water helps a lot.   
I'll work soemthing out.


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## jodief100 (Aug 27, 2010)

Perhaps you could create some type of keyhole system for the water.  Something where the goats have to stick thier heads through to get the water and the geese couldn't get into it.  I was thinking surrounding the buckets with field fence too small for the geese to pass through and cutting out a section goat head high and size.  
I don't know if geese woudl be sble to get into a hole above their heads or not.
I don't like to use keyhole feeders with goats but in this case it might be "least bad" choice.


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## peachick (Aug 28, 2010)

Well,  he's fine.
eating and everything normally.
This weekends project is to work out better water management.
In the mean time,  I raised their water buckets up high and made them a platform to climb on to drink.....  geese are too clumsy to climb...  and the goats think its fun.


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## Roll farms (Aug 28, 2010)




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## MysticScorpio82 (Aug 28, 2010)

peachick said:
			
		

> Well,  he's fine.
> eating and everything normally.
> This weekends project is to work out better water management.
> In the mean time,  *I raised their water buckets up high and made them a platform to climb on to drink.....  geese are too clumsy to climb...  and the goats think its fun*.


What a clever solution! 

I am glad to hear the little guy is feeling better!!


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## Shiloh Acres (Aug 28, 2010)

Glad to hear he's better. I have the same situation -- geese in with my goats/llamas. One llama DOES like to lie by their swimming pool on hot days, and the goats will drink from it as I am refilling it. Their main water source is a trough for mixing concrete that I raised up on several pallets, cut to the size of the trough. When there was any kind of step/platform around it, the geese STILL managed to climb up on it. My geese seem pretty agile -- they hop too LOL. 

Hopefully that won't be a problem for you. I have two goats in the yard where the geese's night coop is, and they pass through briefly and get fed there. I have a watering tub there that is basically too small for the geese but they do step in it sometimes. You have to watch the smaller buckets as geese can get stuck in them and drown. I just empty and clean that one at least 2x a day, after the geese go through.


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