# 3 day old bottle kid with diarrhea



## MelMitchell (Feb 16, 2011)

I have a three day old kid that the mother rejected immediately after birth. I gave him colostrum the first day, then switched to kid milk replacer on day two. The first day, his poop was somewhat formed, dark in color and sticky. Yesterday and today, it has become pudding-like and brownish orange. He is eating really well, about 4-6 ounces per feeding. He acts normally otherwise; very active and playful. Is the replacer causing the diarrhea? Should I deworm him? This is my first bottle kid, so I would really appreciate some guidance.


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 16, 2011)

No to the deworming.

Prabably the replacer, I have had luck with Land 0'lakes kid replacer but I had tried another brand and not so much luck with that.

regular old whole cows milk from the store works well,also. I would be giving him atleast 3 feedings a day, and 4 would be better, evenly spaced out would be good for him also.


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## MelMitchell (Feb 16, 2011)

Thanks! I had a feeling that the milk was the culprit. I bought Manna Pro because it seems to be the only thing available in my area (there's $20 out the window). I will try the cow's milk and see if that helps.
Thanks again for the advice!


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## Ariel301 (Feb 16, 2011)

It could be a lot of things, but the first thing I would try is putting him on real milk instead of the replacer. Ideally raw goat milk, but whole storebought cow's milk will work if that's not available. 

It could be a number of things...the milk replacer, overeating, stress, or a bug like E. coli. Switch him to real milk, make sure he doesn't get dehydrated (give him bottles with electrolyes, children's pedialyte works well and be sure he's getting enough fluids). Check his temperature if you can, and be sure he's not too high, if he has a fever it is probably an infection. If his problem is overeating (some kids are super greedy and will eat themselves sick at every feeding!), try giving him his bottles room temperature or cool instead of hot to slow him down.


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 16, 2011)

MelMitchell said:
			
		

> Thanks! I had a feeling that the milk was the culprit. I bought Manna Pro because it seems to be the only thing available in my area (there's $20 out the window). I will try the cow's milk and see if that helps.
> Thanks again for the advice!


You are the 2nd person that was on here in the last month or two that was using Mana Pro and had a scouring kid.  Very interesting.


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## helmstead (Feb 16, 2011)

Yep, that milk replacer is especially high in sugar.  Sugar = scours.  But it's not money wasted, just mix it maybe half and half with store bought cow's milk til it's gone...or switch the kid to store milk and feed the replacer to your chickens if you have any LOL.


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## Roll farms (Feb 17, 2011)

Someone 'left' me a bag of MP replacer at the store (TSC) where I work.  Seems they bought some kids, fed them that, and they later died (who knows why, they bought day olds at the sale barn after telling me mine 'cost too much' ....)

Since they didn't need it they dropped it by the store and said, "Give that to Kim, maybe she can use it."

Thanks...:/  
I hadn't used replacer in years b/c I had better luck w/ cow milk.  

BUT....I hate, hate, hate waste so....

I mixed 25% replacer milk w/ 75% whole milk and fed it to my older kids I was getting ready to wean.  They did ok on it.

I never recommend replacer on itty bitty kids, but I do think, rather than waste it, you could wait til he's straightened out / older and then give him a mix of the replacer and 'real' milk.


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## MelMitchell (Feb 17, 2011)

Wow! Thanks for all the input guys! I switched him over to cow's milk last night and he's only had one bowel movement today thus far. He was having diarrhea almost immediately after each feeding. His stool looks like it's on it's way to becoming firm again. Yay!

It's so frustrating that they make and sell a product that is supposed to keep an animal alive and it ends up doing more harm than good. Kinda makes me think the government created it.  

 I really like the idea of mixing the replacer and real milk once he gets settled, I'd hate to waste the whole bag. 

I will also keep an eye on how much he eats. If he had it his way, he'd eat every hour on the hour. Instead he just tries to eat my pants when I won't give up the milk. I don't know how I ever survived all these years without a goat living in my house. He's so much fun!


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## Roll farms (Feb 17, 2011)

I've heard some folks say that have a lot of luck w/ GOAT replacer.  Anything that says, "Multi Species" I'd be leery of, simply b/c there's too broad a range there....cows and dogs and goats and horses make different milk, need different milk, etc.  
I don't believe there's a 'one size fits all' milk.


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## MelMitchell (Feb 17, 2011)

Thanks Roll. What I got was goat milk replacer. I have seen the multi-species before and thought it was a terrible idea too. I can't imagine many people having success raising that wide of a variety of animals on it.


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 18, 2011)

MelMitchell said:
			
		

> Thanks! I had a feeling that the milk was the culprit. I bought Manna Pro because it seems to be the only thing available in my area (there's $20 out the window). I will try the cow's milk and see if that helps.
> Thanks again for the advice!


Take it back to them.  If enough people returned the product they would have to improve it.


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## Greendecember (Feb 18, 2011)

helmstead said:
			
		

> Yep, that milk replacer is especially high in sugar.  Sugar = scours.  But it's not money wasted, just mix it maybe half and half with store bought cow's milk til it's gone...or switch the kid to store milk and feed the replacer to your chickens if you have any LOL.


It won't harm the chickens? Interesting LOL I dono why I didn't think of that they can eat ANYTHING it seems the little garbage disposals!!!

Good idea I was wondering what I was going to do with the rest of the HUGE bag of this Kid replacer I bought.


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## Greendecember (Feb 18, 2011)

Thanks for posting this 

I was JUST coming to post the same thing when I thought I would scan the forum first. Rala was orphaned by her Mom at birth on 2/ 9/11 in favor of her larger brother. I fed her Manapro Kid Colostrum because I couldn't milk Mom. Then I switched her to whole cows milk from the grocery store. She was doing FINE active, ornery, and well formed yellowish poops. When I took another kid to the vet Monday who is on his Mom's milk for an unrelated issue the Vet told me I should be feeding my 2 bottle babies Kid replacer. 

I had bought a bag of Advance Kid Milk Replacer when I bought the Colostrum just in case but the more I read the more I thought I'd be better off with cows milk. I didn't even mix in the butter milk and corn syrup like many suggest. I just warmed straight from the gallon jug enough for each feeding and she gobbled it down. Same with Abe when his Mom stopped feeding him. 

But I thought the vet knew best, silly me,  I did what he said. 

Fast forward to the 14th. Vet said get them on replacer so I started mixing in replacer with the milk and we were ok until this morning. Last night they got their first bottle of all replacer. 

This morning 2/18/11 Rala's bum is covered in what I assume are her diarrhea.  


So this is my plan. 

#1 Slap my Vet (not physically but it sounds good LOL) 
#2 Go buy another gallon of whole cows milk
#3 go back to mostly a bottle of cows milk with a little replacer mixed in and some pedialyte for a couple days 
#4 ease back to mostly cows milk and continue with just a little replacer in her bottle.

Any suggestions to this plan are welcome! 


EDIT: Just got off the phone with the Vet hospital (My vets office has several vets). I didn't mention #1 but the rest of my plan they thought was the best course of action. They suggested also some pepto and if it did not clear up to come get some meds for scours.


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## getchasome (Feb 18, 2011)

Based on my experience, its the replacer.  When we got our ND, he was 6 days old.  The lady we got him from was bottle feeding him (his mama died when he was 3 days old) as well as bottle feeding a lamb (his mama rejected him).  She was using a multi-species milk replacer and gave me a bag of it.  She'd mentioned that the lamb had diarrhea, but didn't say anything about the goat having it.

When we brought home our newest baby, she was a day old (another mama rejection) and initially her poops were solid.  Then after a day on the milk replacer, the diarrhea started.

I switched them both over to whole cows milk.  I also did a bottle with probios & cows milk in it and the following afternoon, both of their poops were almost solid again.  The following day, solid and now they are both gaining weight and healthy 

I kept reading about replacer vs goats milk or cows milk and I wasn't finding any good things being said about it and that worried me!  When I'd asked the breeder about it she'd said that diarrhea was normal in the babies until they started eating hay.  All I could think was diarrhea in any baby, animal or human, is NOT ok.


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## Greendecember (Feb 18, 2011)

getchasome said:
			
		

> I kept reading about replacer vs goats milk or cows milk and I wasn't finding any good things being said about it and that worried me!  When I'd asked the breeder about it she'd said that diarrhea was normal in the babies until they started eating hay.  All I could think was diarrhea in any baby, animal or human, is NOT ok.


I agree!! diarrhea in any baby, animal or human, is NOT ok!!!


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## chicks & ducks (Mar 10, 2011)

Just wanted to say to everyone that chimed in-this is a great thread! I'm having the same issues and using the manna pro goat replacer, just posted a 'loose stools' post and now find this. I'm thinking whole milk might with a little replacer mixed in might be the way to go(I hate to waste-who was it that mentioned feeding it to the chickens? I have chickens but the thought of giving them milk never even occurred to me! Food for thought, that's for sure!

Anyway thanks all-everybody here is so helpful!


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## Greendecember (Mar 10, 2011)

chicks & ducks said:
			
		

> Just wanted to say to everyone that chimed in-this is a great thread! I'm having the same issues and using the manna pro goat replacer, just posted a 'loose stools' post and now find this. I'm thinking whole milk might with a little replacer mixed in might be the way to go(I hate to waste-who was it that mentioned feeding it to the chickens? I have chickens but the thought of giving them milk never even occurred to me! Food for thought, that's for sure!
> 
> Anyway thanks all-everybody here is so helpful!


My bottle babies are doing fine now that I ditched the milk replacer. Hungry little buggers but doing fine on cows milk. It seems to cost a bit more than the replacer but not if you factor in dead babies or vet bills and meds. I only have 2 on the bottle and go through a gallon about every 3 or 4 days. 

I had also heard you can feed dried milk to the chickens for extra calcium. My mom gave me a bunch of powdered milk. I just have not given it to them yet. Thanks for the reminder I'll put it in the chicken feed today and let ya know what if anything I notice


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## helmstead (Mar 10, 2011)

Chickens LOVE milk and milk replacer.  If I have any that goes a little 'off' I put it in a bowl for them and it's gone FAST.


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## Greendecember (Mar 10, 2011)

helmstead said:
			
		

> Chickens LOVE milk and milk replacer.  If I have any that goes a little 'off' I put it in a bowl for them and it's gone FAST.


Hi Your FB link in your sig doesn't work


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## helmstead (Mar 10, 2011)

Greendecember said:
			
		

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Try it now??  Did I fix it?


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## Greendecember (Mar 10, 2011)

helmstead said:
			
		

> Greendecember said:
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all better


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