# Baby goat help



## Brandi (Dec 20, 2013)

I have never had a goat before today. But it needed help and I knew I could learn fast and help her out. Here are more detail if anyone is interested. She has been away from her mother for 3 days, the mother had 4 babies 1 died and 3 remained so the lady gave this little girl to a friend of mine, and she had a death in the family and was unable to care for her, she called me knowing I was a vet tech for awhile. I agreed to try my best, but I have only expertise with dogs cats and chickens. The baby has not pooed all day today and does NOT want the bottle. I bought milk replacer and soon read this may not be the best option, I did do an enema with no luck, not horribly dehydrated at this point, but assume this will come with out more drinking. I did force her to eat about 2 hours ago, give some goat probiotics, small dose of pepto bismal, and then bathed her because i noticed a pretty good infestation of lice, i just used a natural dog shampoo, NO pesticides. Any info would be appreciated. Can a young goat eat hay? I have heard NO, and yea it is fine. She was grinding her teeth when I got her and now is not doing it as much. Please anyone, I am willing to learn and not grossed out by much.


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## elevan (Dec 20, 2013)

Grinding teeth is a sign of pain.

How old is she?  You said 3 days away from mom but does that mean that she is weaned or not?

Pepto could be the reason that she hasn't pooped today.  IMO you shouldn't give a goat pepto, it causes them to bind up.

Goats as young as a day old will start mouthing at hay, but when they start eating it regularly is usually just before weaning.

I'd give a dose of Vitamin B to get the appetite going.

Whole cow's milk is generally considered a better solution than milk replacer.


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## Brandi (Dec 20, 2013)

Sorry she is 10 days old. I gave the pepto 3 hours ago, she was bound before that, I was told by another person to give her pepto, now I feel bad. I knew teeth grinding is a sign of pain. I went and bought nipples, probiotics and milk replacer a little while ago, and then did read that whole milk was probably better than milk replacer. Is there anything I can do for her? to help her a little. I don't have any vitamins on hand, just poultry nutri drench, and the probiotics


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## Brandi (Dec 20, 2013)

She is a pygmy goat.


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## MissFitFarm (Dec 20, 2013)

I had a bottle baby that did the same thing, my vet told me to give 1cc veg oil and 1 hr latter do the same if no bowel movement. make a sugar water mix thick enough to put on the nipple and let her taste it might get her started eating. you can offer her some hay but she is too young to actually eat it, but I have found that some times it will make them hungry enough to take a bottle. Have you tried putting some milk on your finger and rubbing is on her gums or on her toung if you can?
 Get you some goat drench as soon as you can, it has been a fix all (almost) for me.
 Hope something helps. good luck keep us posted please.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 20, 2013)

Great job on getting her de-loused as that can cause anemia. It may be that she hasn't pooped simply because she is not eating. 

The other posters have given great advice already. 
Some nutri-drench and B-vitamins probios are all great!

I would recommend taking her temperature and if at all possible get her to a vet in the morning.
The grinding of teeth is a real concern.
Heep trying the bottle. 

...and welcome to BYH!


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## elevan (Dec 21, 2013)

How is your kid doing today @Brandi ?


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## goatboy1973 (Dec 22, 2013)

I would get the goat a B-12 shot and some Nutridrench. I also use about 3cc of warm strong coffee mixed with a drop or 2 of honey or something sweet as an oral drench. The caffeine will perk them up a little and possibly get the little fella moving which will help get the GI system moving and the warmth will help raise the temp a bit.


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## goatboy1973 (Dec 22, 2013)

Definitely keep the little guy in an inside environment and wrap the baby in fluffy old towels or similar material to help prevent loss of body heat.


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## goatboy1973 (Dec 22, 2013)

BTW, welcome to BYH!


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## Brandi (Dec 23, 2013)

Thank you everyone for the comments, sorry I didn't get back.....Update, and new questions today. Ok I went and got her Manna pro electrolytes, Nutri Drench for Goats, molasses, and Karo syrup, oh and Jump-Start Plus Oral Microbial Gel. So Sat I mixed up the milk, molasses and Karo and in a seperate bottle the electrolytes, Then I gave her a squirt of nutri drench and she actually drank from the bottle about an oz of the electrolytes, and really got excited about the milk and molasses! Drank about 2 ounces of that. Then she was up and at em all day, BUT still no poop, so I gave her a warm soapy water enema and got just a small amount of poop that was pellets, and some yellow stringy stuff. Been feeding her about every hour or 2 since, she only drinks about 2 to 3 ounces each time. Now I fed her last at 3:30am and left her in my small bathroom and at 10 this morning she had pooped everywhere BUT it was very dark and diarrhea, ughhhh but she is very active this morning!! A crazy nut!! But I haven't fed her yet waiting on response from you fine people, What do I do now that she has runny poop???? Oh and she has lice yuck I need them gone ASAP cuz she is in my house!


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## Brandi (Dec 23, 2013)

I have not gotten a B-12 shot? Not sure how I would obtain one. I am unable to pay for an appointment for a vet. And before I get crucified for that, lets remember I was given this baby to see if I could help her not because she is my pet. Because if I could I would take her.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 23, 2013)

Please get a fecal run. That is going to be a very valuable piece of information. You don't need to take her in for that.


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## Brandi (Dec 23, 2013)

ok how and what is that


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## Southern by choice (Dec 23, 2013)

Gather the poop and the stringy stuff put it in a ziplock or dixie cup and run it to your vets ask them for a fecal. I don't think Mc Masters is nec. just a regular float. Get the info from them. 
They should be looking for blood and any possible parasites, cocci etc.


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## Brandi (Dec 23, 2013)

oh ok


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## Brandi (Dec 23, 2013)

so i feed her as usual today?


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## MissFitFarm (Dec 23, 2013)

feed normal... leave out the karo and the molasses. I would give a shot of drench if you haven't already today, and a dose of electrolytes, the  electrolytes will help keep her up and hydrated and the drench should help with the poop's, it helps mine but feed as usual. and get the fecal and then go from there. good luck hope it turns out well for the both of you.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 23, 2013)

MissFitFarm said:


> feed normal... leave out the karo and the molasses. I would give a shot of drench if you haven't already today, and a dose of electrolytes, the  electrolytes will help keep her up and hydrated and the drench should help with the poop's, it helps mine but feed as usual. and get the fecal and then go from there. good luck hope it turns out well for the both of you.


*x2*


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## jodief100 (Dec 23, 2013)

Baby goats do not need to be fed every two hours.  3 x a day is fine.   All they will eat, without forcing them 3 x a day.  B-12 you can get from a feed store.  I would pick up some Scour Halt (also called Scour Chek or SpectoGard), chemical name is Spectinomycin.  It is labeled for pigs but does wonders for baby goat scours.  Give her 1-2 ml 3 x day for 3 days.    Go very light light on the molasses.  There are some recent studies out that link too much molasses to Goat polio.  Not a definitive causation but a correlation.  Since it isn't needed I would keep it to a minimum, just enough to flavor her bottle until she takes it willingly.

Good luck!  Glad she is doing better.


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## Brandi (Dec 23, 2013)

Ughhhh thank you again for all the answers, no fecal today, could get the vet on the phone. I also am not able to buy the B-12 just yet either as I am broke from my christmas shopping for my 2 boys. I have give the drench and she will not take the bottle today at all, even when I force her she throw one hell of a fit. She drank fine yesterday well 2 ounces about every 2 or 3 hours. I was feeding her that many times because she acted hungry and was only eating 2 ounces? How much chould she be eating at a feeding at her age? She is a pygmy and 12 days old and weighs 6 pounds, or so says my bathroom scales. She is sleeping now and grinding her teeth again, so frustrating and disappointed, on a better note she is very active when awake and not dehydrated at all at this point. Again thanks again for you guys time and thank you in advance for any other words of wisdom. I will get the scour stuff soon as I can prob tomorrow I can dig up some more money.


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## Brandi (Dec 23, 2013)

ok how bout this one. I also am babying a rooster in my 2nd bathroom, so I am in there cleaning up and the baby goat comes in and I turn around and she is going to town in the chickens food dish!!! She won't eat from the bottle but she ate the chickens food!!! Is that bad for her!!? I am so stressed over this little baby she is driving me crazy....still will not take anything out of the bottle today, been having to fight with her to eat.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 23, 2013)

I think *Rolls Farm* has a good bottle feeding schedule. You can search the name and look up articles. I think *Jodief* and *20kids* has bottle fed and they have lots of experience here for everything goats along with Rolls. 
I have never bottle fed so not much help there. Sorry.
As far as the chicken feed. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! This can cause her to bloat and make her very sick. 
Hang in there. It is a lot for you to take on.


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## MissFitFarm (Dec 23, 2013)

If she wont take a bottle then get a bowel and put a little bit of milk into it and see if she will drink it that way some of my bottle babies wanted it out of a bucket rather then a bottle. have you tried dipping the nipple in a sugar water mix yet? how big is the nipple make sure you got a goat nipple, I agree with southern, chicken feed not good.... will she drink water out of a bowel? I have had some very stubborn babies, it sometimes can take allot of work to get them going. can you ask the person you got her from how she was doing it?   Some people may have a stroke over this but take a VERY small amount of sweet grain and offer it to her, maybe her age is wrong or she could have been started on it with her mother??? It has happened with a few of mine. DON'T  let her pig on it. see what happens. in case of bloating.... take a tums chew-able grind it into as close as a powder as you can, warm water mix well, take a eye dropper or anything like that and slowly force feed it if you have to, not allot at once, you don't want to drown her and it is not that hard to do if your not careful. and rub the tummy from head to back, my vet is an old farmer and has told me lots of little tricks... they have never failed me yet. hope this helps.


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## Brandi (Dec 23, 2013)

ok, here we go very weird little animal here, she only ate a small little bit of the chicken food but right after that she took the bottle of electrolytes and just now drank two ounces of plain whole cow milk. and acting like she wants to chew on everthing


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## Brandi (Dec 23, 2013)

i did try to get her to drink from a dish she wasnt excited about that. could i give her small pieces of hay to chew on? maybe tomorrow?  sorry for all the questions just using her actions as to what to do. seems like chewing that chicken food stimulated herappetite


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## Brandi (Dec 23, 2013)

idk ha ha but thanks you all have been helpful and lots of ideas very much appreciated. and sorry for the broken up posts my phone is acting a fool.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 23, 2013)

oh and I though that was just added suspense 

JK!


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## goatboy1973 (Dec 24, 2013)

X2


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## jodief100 (Dec 24, 2013)

at 12 days she can start eating grain and hay.  Giver her some in small amounts and let her try it.  At first she will just taste it and she isn't getting any nutrients but after a few days she will be able to digest it.  This is NOT a replacement to the bottle, she still needs milk.  It will suppliment her.  A study done with bottle raised dairy bucks showed they can start eating and utilizing solid foods as a suppliment to a bottle as young as 3 days if it is offered to them.

Not sure about pigmys since I raise big goats but it is roughly 10%-12% of body weight in milk.  She is 6 lbs, that is 96 ounces.  So 9.5 to 11 ounces per day.  Offer her 4 ounces 3 times a day.  If she eats 3 you are fine.  Do not force her, she will only learn to hate the bottle.  If she doesn't eat at one feeding, she will at the next.  It won't hurt her to go half a day without it.

Do not offer the bottle more than four times a day, three is fine.  Overeating and FKS are very real possibilities with too many feedings.


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## elevan (Dec 25, 2013)

Here is Roll farms baby goat article:  http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=586-baby-goat-info


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## Southern by choice (Dec 25, 2013)

Thanks Elevan.


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## Pioneer Chicken (Dec 27, 2013)

How's your little goat doing?


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## taylorm17 (Jan 10, 2014)

My goat rolled under something when she was born and the mom ditched her so she was bottle raised...but we had no problems with her. For some things I don't know about I go to fiascofarms.com. They are a great resource and everything I have used on their has always worked!!!!


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