# Sick Newborn Goat Doeling!



## SkyWarrior (Apr 19, 2015)

I haven't been on the forums in a while, shame on me!  But I have a real issue I need help with.

One of my milk goats, Heidi, kidded yesterday.  

Her first kid, a doeling we named Honey, was on the ground when I came into the barn. She seemed healthy enough and we got her dried off, but she was pretty dirty. I tied her umbilical and dipped it in iodine. The second kid, a doeling, proved to be a difficult birth. Not only was she backwards, her stomach was inflated with fluids to a point where I had to really pull to get her out. It was a lot of pain and a lot of tugging, but the doeling did come out alive for short while. The matter how hard I try to get all the fluid out of her, she still had more, and she ended up dying.

Honey tried to nurse yesterday, but I'm not sure how successful she was. Her mom, Heidi, ended up bleeding quite a bit from the other doeling. I gave her a shot of penicillin last night and she seems to be doing fine. We decided to take Honey inside last night to avoid having problems with the rest of the herd. We returned her in the morning and Heidi seem to be attentive.

We got home later today, Heidi wasn't doing much with her baby and simple llama was protecting Honey. It's been warm, but she's listless and her suckling response is down. I've managed to give her a small amount of milk. I'm wondering if were dealing with naval ill. At this stage, I've given her oxytetracycline and I have her in a crate with the towel. I'm not sure if she really got enough colostrum, so I'll be milking her mom giving her some tonight. At this stage I'm pretty sure she has a fever. Her poop is runny and brown. It's not commonly like the poop from a newborn.

What should I be doing? Any suggestions?


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## Goat Whisperer (Apr 19, 2015)

Take her temp (both momma & kid), I wouldn't be guessing on this. Do you have any jumpstart plus paste? That really helped when doe had had quads. It was a very rough birth and I didn't think one of my boys would make it.

Check Heidi's milk- If momma is having an issue with her milk it will cause issues with the kids.

Keep dipping the navel in iodine. Seems pretty fast for navel ill to be setting in but I don't know much about it. 

You can also give some karo syrup mixed with water to help the kid perk up, it may help with the suck reflex one the sugar gets into the system. However I wouldn't give it if the kid has a temp.

Can you call your vet?


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## SkyWarrior (Apr 19, 2015)

Goat Whisperer said:


> Take her temp (both momma & kid), I wouldn't be guessing on this. Do you have any jumpstart plus paste? That really helped when doe had had quads. It was a very rough birth and I didn't think one of my boys would make it.
> 
> Check Heidi's milk- If momma is having an issue with her milk it will cause issues with the kids.
> 
> ...



She perked up a bit with the shot (yay!)  I'm giving her milk from Belle at the moment (Belle's kids are doing fine).  I don't have jumpstart.  Not sure if I could get it out here.

I'll call the vet tomorrow (it IS Sunday) but I don't know what a long trip into town would do.  I'm going to try a little Karo syrup in the milk and maybe she'll like that.  I'll dip the naval in iodine.  This is very scary.


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## Goat Whisperer (Apr 19, 2015)

Glad she is perking up 

You can get Jumpstart from most feed stores. I got mine from TSC.

I hope your kid starts feeling better soon, it is scary. I love em so much and hate to see them ill


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## SkyWarrior (Apr 19, 2015)

So do I. It was heartbreaking losing her sister, but the girl had such a distended abdomen, it was surprising she came out still alive.  What would cause that?  I can't imagine her breathing in that much amniotic fluid.


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## BlessedWithGoats (Apr 20, 2015)

Sorry for your loss SkyWarrior!  Glad you were there to help Heidi, even though the little one didn't make it. 
Is Honey doing better?


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## SkyWarrior (Apr 20, 2015)

BlessedWithGoats said:


> Sorry for your loss SkyWarrior!  Glad you were there to help Heidi, even though the little one didn't make it.
> Is Honey doing better?



Thanks.  Yeah, it was pretty sad.  Honey is iffy at the moment.  Gave her some milk doctored with colostrum, but she doesn't want to eat much. I had given her a bit of water and Karo syrup earlier and she showed signs of maybe wanting to eat (small head butt) but then acted not that interested.  She isn't as listless as earlier, which is good.  We're keeping her in the house.  Her mom is getting more antibiotics and she'll be getting some again tomorrow.    Here's her picture.


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## BlessedWithGoats (Apr 20, 2015)

SkyWarrior said:


> Thanks.  Yeah, it was pretty sad.  Honey is iffy at the moment.  Gave her some milk doctored with colostrum, but she doesn't want to eat much. I had given her a bit of water and Karo syrup earlier and she showed signs of maybe wanting to eat (small head butt) but then acted not that interested.  She isn't as listless as earlier, which is good.  We're keeping her in the house.  Her mom is getting more antibiotics and she'll be getting some again tomorrow.    Here's her picture.


 
Aww!! Prayers that she continues to improve! (And momma too!)


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## SkyWarrior (Apr 20, 2015)

BlessedWithGoats said:


> Aww!! Prayers that she continues to improve! (And momma too!)


Thanks.  I'll let you know how she's doing in the morning.


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## Hens and Roos (Apr 20, 2015)

Hope she continues to improve and sorry about the other one


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## Pearce Pastures (Apr 20, 2015)

Hope all is well this morning.  That would be fast for navel ill to set in.  If I read the timeline right, she developed the runny poo after a dose of antibiotics.Karo can also cause scouring.  I don't know that she needs them so maybe consider not doing another dose/stopping the karo and continue with the colostrum and probios.


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## SkyWarrior (Apr 20, 2015)

Pearce Pastures said:


> Hope all is well this morning.  That would be fast for navel ill to set in.  If I read the timeline right, she developed the runny poo after a dose of antibiotics.Karo can also cause scouring.  I don't know that she needs them so maybe consider not doing another dose/stopping the karo and continue with the colostrum and probios.



No, she had the runny poo before the antibiotics. She's iffy still, but I'm working to try to keep her alive.  Phone calls to vets have been fruitless.  Both vets (my goat and also my pet vet) up here are out of town. A friend of mine who is a vet didn't have any other advice.  Sigh.


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## BlessedWithGoats (Apr 20, 2015)

SkyWarrior said:


> No, she had the runny poo before the antibiotics. She's iffy still, but I'm working to try to keep her alive.  Phone calls to vets have been fruitless.  Both vets (my goat and also my pet vet) up here are out of town. A friend of mine who is a vet didn't have any other advice.  Sigh.


 Oh no! Prayers that she improves!! Great job doing all you can for her!


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## SkyWarrior (Apr 20, 2015)

BlessedWithGoats said:


> Oh no! Prayers that she improves!! Great job doing all you can for her!



Well, some guardedly good news.

Today after moving Nutmeg and Cinnamon, Belle's two doelings, back in with the herd,  (Belle is an awful mom so anything she throws are bottle babies), I went back to check on Honey.  Honey was complaining, so I mixed up a little yogurt and water and put it in a 3 cc syringe and squirted it in her mouth.  She liked that.  So, I gave her a bit of Karo water and she complained but drank a bit.  She peed and while it was yellow from dehydration, it wasn't brown.  Good.  So, after having her suck on my finger (yay!) we mixed up some colostrum powder and milk.  She was fussy with the nipple, so I used the syringe and started feeding her with it.

Well, that worked out well.  She started bumping and chewing on me for more and more food!   I happily gave her about 1/5th of a baby bottle (maybe 2-3 oz) and gave her rests between feeding. I made the decision to let her move around a bit and she's a lot less unsteady. I then put her back in her carrier and she's now asleep and no longer complaining.

So, right now I'm planning on 2-hour feedings for her with the syringe. Heidi (Honey's mom) had such swollen teats last night, I doubt this little one could get much in her. I'll be milking out Heidi and tossing it until the antibiotics have gone through her. I figure I'll keep her on antibiotics for three days total.  Maybe a bit longer.  Then, I won't be using the milk until the withdrawal time has past.  For your amusement, here are Honey's two healthy half sisters/cousins.


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## BlessedWithGoats (Apr 20, 2015)

Oh Yay!!! I'm glad that Honey is doing better!!!  Aww, her cousins are cute too!  Thanks for the update!


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## SkyWarrior (Apr 21, 2015)

Well, more good news.  Two more feedings.  The last one, she drank about 5-6 ounces of colostrum-powder spiked milk!  This time, I was able to feed her mostly with the bottle.  She doesn't quite have the hang of it yet.  She drinks for about 5 seconds once I get it into her mouth. Then she needs to take a breath so she stops.  I've had to give her a rest for a few seconds, then start the process again.

She hasn't pooped since the diarrhea yesterday, but to be fair, she hardly got anything into her until this afternoon.  She has been peeing okay and she's back to normal pee color.  Tonight she complained about the crate, which is infinitely better than having a baby that is ready to die.  She's grown a bit, too. I'll give her some more yogurt to keep her gut going.  She no longer feels like she has a fever (which is good) and her eyes aren't sunken in any longer from dehydration.

I'm seriously wondering if she and her dead littermate were preemies. I had their aunt, Belle in with Oreo, the buck, for three weeks and she delivered on April 11th.  Heidi, Honey's mom, delivered on the 18th, which means she got bred nearly the first day she was in the buck pen, or the kids came out early.  Either that or mom got some type of infection that screwed up everyone.


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## BlessedWithGoats (Apr 21, 2015)

Yay!!!! I'm so glad Honey is doing better!! You're doing such a wonderful job caring for her!! 
Maybe she wanted to stay with you rather than go into the crate? I'm guessing she will really bond with you because of all the extra time you've spent with her!  I'm sure it must bring happiness to your heart to see her improving like that!


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## SkyWarrior (Apr 21, 2015)

BlessedWithGoats said:


> Yay!!!! I'm so glad Honey is doing better!! You're doing such a wonderful job caring for her!!
> Maybe she wanted to stay with you rather than go into the crate? I'm guessing she will really bond with you because of all the extra time you've spent with her!  I'm sure it must bring happiness to your heart to see her improving like that!



It does.  A sick kid is worrisome.  An obnoxious kid means she's feeling better!  And I'm all for obnoxious kids, even if I now have THREE in my house.


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## Hens and Roos (Apr 21, 2015)

Glad she continues to improve, sounds like you are doing a great job!


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## elevan (Apr 21, 2015)

It sounds like you've got a good plan going right now.  I'd keep up the 2 hour feedings, she definitely sounds like she needs the closely timed approach.  As she gains ground then back it up by a half hour and continue to do so until you're on your regular bottle baby schedule and see how she does.


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## SkyWarrior (Apr 21, 2015)

I think I can safely say she's out of the woods now, so you can follow her progress and our kidding thread HERE.    Thanks everyone for your support and advice!


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## SkyWarrior (Apr 21, 2015)

elevan said:


> It sounds like you've got a good plan going right now.  I'd keep up the 2 hour feedings, she definitely sounds like she needs the closely timed approach.  As she gains ground then back it up by a half hour and continue to do so until you're on your regular bottle baby schedule and see how she does.




Thanks!  I was really freaked out I was going to lose her.  Yesterday morning was scary!


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## Goat Whisperer (Apr 21, 2015)

So happy she is doing better!  That ALWAYS makes me happy!


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