# My new doeling has a swollen navel.....



## freemotion (Apr 24, 2010)

My doeling was born around 1:00 PM yesterday and the cord was VERY short.  I missed the birth.  She did not seem to bleed at all and seemed quite healthy.  I did dip the stump in a povidone or betadine solution (can't remember which I have.)  She is nursing fine and acting ok, but just now I lay down in the grass with her and saw the bit of swelling on her belly.

I did not take her temp.  I ran right in here to post this.  I have no goat vets, and lost a baby last year after hundreds in vet bills and I am convinced that no one knew what they were doing.  Two vets that I'd called even refused to see the goat.  So don't tell me to see a vet, please.

I can get to TSC in the next state (can't buy injectibles here without prescription) if someone tells me what to buy soon.  I'd need to leave in about an hour and a half, latest, maybe a few minutes more.  

I take it she will need antibiotics?  Anything you need to know?  I will need details!


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## ()relics (Apr 24, 2010)

Without seeing the swelling and the area around it , it is hard to say what you should do....It could be a navel rupture/hernia just No Way to be sure....You said the kid is eating and alert, not lethargic?.....When you touch/squeeze the swelling does the kid react?  Does it feel like some of its "inside stuff" may be hanging inside and when you squeeze it the "stuff" pushes back insidethe body cavity?  It could be an infection that it picked up at birth...Its just hard to say unless I could see/feel it.  I would try to get its temperature...If it is elevated you may very well have an infection that could be treated with an antibiotic...If its normal or close, you may be dealing with a hernia which will have to be addressed by , I hate to say this, a vet or a goat professional...Sometimes there is a little normal swelling after birth that will eventually shrink ....again too many variables....And I hate to medicate to make _Myself_ feel better.


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## freemotion (Apr 24, 2010)

Just came in from obsessing....I mean observing....the baby.  I washed it with the tamed iodine solution and it feels like a hernia to me.  We had a cat with a hernia when I was a kid, feels EXACTLY the same, and I can push it back in.  The cat lived with the hernia....anyone know how long  I can let it go?  I hate to sound cheap, but it is the mortgage or the goat right now.  I would prefer to make sure she survives through the infancy stage before putting a wad of cash on her.   I am willing to do it later, but not at a day old......I hate this.


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## ksalvagno (Apr 24, 2010)

You can try just popping it back in on a regular basis. The other thing you can try is wrapping it. Get something that would be like a tiny pillow and then use an ace bandage. Make sure the hernia is inside, place the "pillow" over it and then wrap with the ace bandage. Find a way to secure it. Check it every day or every other day to make sure it isn't getting infected or anything. We do that with alpacas. We even have a special hernia belt for alpaca crias that we use. I have had to keep it on a cria for up to 4 months but it worked. Better than surgery. I'm not sure how it would work for goats but don't see why it wouldn't work. Just be sure to check it and make sure the wrap isn't too tight.


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## freemotion (Apr 24, 2010)

So it is ok to do now, while the navel is fresh and all???  I'll do it!  Hope springs eternal!!!


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## ksalvagno (Apr 24, 2010)

http://rapidranchhand.com/index.php?page=ProductDetails&rowid=7162

Here is a link to the alpaca hernia belt to give you an idea. If you want to try just popping it back in, then do that. We go ahead and put this belt on as long as there is no infection, just a hernia.


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## ()relics (Apr 24, 2010)

if the hernia is not _horrible_ the goat can live with it....You can get it fixed which basically means they push  "the stuff" back inside and stitch the hole closed with a special kind of suture "vest coat suture" that in theory will heal and keep the hernia closed....I would guess this would be rather expensive and You would probably need a vet to do it if any would even dare..I have done it once on a pig,  Very traumatic and not worth the risk...usually a ruptured animal, regardless of species, is bound for slaughter...and usually ASAP to avoid any other issues that it may cause....
    Popping it back in is not a very good option...When you push the intestines back in, you force them through a small hole which can damage them, through this continued abrasion...Sooner or later it will rip or tear possibly causing bleeding, which is really not good, or at least cause Digestive tract irritation...If you were set on keeping the kid I would get her fixed asap...young kids heal very fast and exposing her to the added risk of not fixing it will not do her any good....JMO


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## Roll farms (Apr 24, 2010)

My buck Rider had a navel hernia as a kid, his dam had stepped on his umbilical cord and tugged it too hard....(According to the breeder).  I took him to the vet, she popped it back in, put a wad of gauze on his navel to keep pressure on it, we taped him up, and she told me to check it twice a day...if it was out, pop it back in...I don't recall now how many times it took but it eventually went in, stayed in, and he's now 2 and used for breeding.

Mind you, his wasn't a really bad hernia (I took him in b/c his navel was coming loose / bleeding, and she found the hernia when she was examining him).  Also, if I had thought it was genetic as opposed to being caused by an accident, I wouldn't have used him for breeding.

Looking back, I should have probably handed him back to the breeder when I met her in IL to pick him up at 2 days old, w/ a bleeding umbi...but I'd waited so long and put down a non-refundable deposit, and driven 300 miles.....and I was sure I could get him home and have my vet fix it.


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## freemotion (Apr 24, 2010)

Thanks, that is encouraging!

When I found Ginger with the new baby, the umbilical cord was barely there.  It wasn't bleeding, though.  Now that I think of it, there was some blood on the hair by one of Ginger's hooves, though.  Just a few drops that puzzled me.  There were a bunch of hens hanging around that I had to shoo off, one of them may actually have snipped it off.  

She is getting her fashion-trend-setting hernia belt tomorrow!  What did the vet tape him up with?  Vet-wrap?  And you unwrapped it twice a day?  It didn't slip?

Trying to picture exactly how I am going to do this.....I worked with horses professionally for years and years, and I could bandage anything and keep it on an active horse or foal!  So.....


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## Roll farms (Apr 24, 2010)

Well, she used gauze to make a belt and then put medical tape over it.  
I used.....duct tape.  Best darn thing I've found to hold something ON a kid....yes, it took some hair w/ it, but I kept putting the gauze belt over the bandage, then I'd put the duct tape over that, to hold everything in place.  Otherwise, he'd skip right out of the whole get up in 5 minutes...which wouldn't help anything.

I had to take it off 2x a day and let it get some air, otherwise the umbi stayed too wet / got mushy....not a good thing, either.  I'm thinking it was the 3rd or 4th morning (after he had it on all night) when I discovered it had 'worked'...it was still in from the night before.  I put the belt back on for 1 day after that to help KEEP it in.  

At least yours is a doe...imagine how fun it was w/ his winkie being 1.5" away from where the umbi was, always 'in the way'....one wrong pee and the whole shootin' match was soaked and I had to start over.

*sigh*


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## freemotion (Apr 25, 2010)

Ha-ha!  Thank goodness it is a doeling for so many other reasons, too.  I promised myself I would keep a doeling from each doe this time if they each had nice ones, and if Ginger had a nice udder and produced a reasonable amount.

Thanks for the details, I was wondering about the "skipping right out" bit and was going to make it from fabric.  Now I will have a use for all the colorful duct tape I bought to make agility jumps for my dog who then blew out his knee...maybe I shoulda taped that up, too! 

If it can't be fixed with duct tape or baling twine, it probably can't be fixed...


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## aggieterpkatie (Apr 26, 2010)

Hopefully it's just a hernia and not navel ill.  7% iodine is the best for dipping navels.  The povidone/betadine isn't strong enough.  Good luck with her!


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