# Dark Green Scours in Goat



## heatherlynnky (Jul 5, 2012)

Ok well I am in email talks with my gals previous owner but i want to make sure I get all the info I can. Here is the timeline. 

Monday I picked up 2 young weaned goats. They were pooping pebbles. bright eyes and bushy tailed. Got them home, they were playful and active. Ok Tuesday one of the goats who I believe is the only dam raised one had a bowel change. Poo came out in little pebble clumps. A dose of preventive dimethox was given as part of the previous owner prevention program. Probiotics given by me because I am paranoid. Ok Wed i give the last dimethox treatment. Her  poo is like dog poo though. she is still active, still eating. Its very dark green and we are both thinking its pasture related. I have kept them confined from the pasture but there is still some browse in the pen. lots of green on this farm and its hard to escape. I give probios morning and night. Minerals stay out but i added baking soda on top of the minderal block just in case someone had an upset tummy. She was still eating at this point, still drinking, still active. That night the poo is almost liquid. A bit worried but i give her the probios but still holding off because its only a little runny. Like A runny paste. This morning  it looks better. Firmer, more like a pebble log again. stickier and pebbles are bigger but still its an improvement. She eats her horse hay ( I held back the alfalfa in case its too much)  and I withheld the grain based on vet info. More probios. She eats all day but is not playful and alone alot. Stand, drinks, eats, might wander about the pen but not active. Granted it was 107 so that very well could be part of it. Tonight its runny dark green paste again. More probios and a nutridrench. 

I have scours meds. I have dimethox on the way. I need to get antitoxin still. I have a goat vet 2 hours away.     Not sure if I am just freaking out because I lost my Minka or if I am not reacting fast enough because I don't want to do too much and mess her up.  Advice would be great.


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## Roll farms (Jul 5, 2012)

My guess would be stress or dietary or a combo, but I can't swear to it.

Keep up the probios.  Did she have her CD/T and booster shots?


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## heatherlynnky (Jul 5, 2012)

Oh I didn't mention that. Yes their previous goat mom took care of all that. they both had the vaccine and the booster and regular cocci prevention. The big difference is I have massive amount of green and she said theirs is mostly dry stuff. I have green forage coming out my ears seriously. There is green, green and a bit more green.  They are kept from most of it but there is some green in their pen. Lots of fresh hay too though. They nibble on both but she probably eats more green than the others. They spend more time at the hay manger than she does. Would a day without green if i could manage that do anything for this? It would take some extensive work but I can wear my hubby out and make it happen.


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## DonnaBelle (Jul 6, 2012)

Changes in food can cause runny poop.  Keep up with the probios, it can't hurt if you give it to her twice a day.

Good luck.

DonnaBelle


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## lilhill (Jul 6, 2012)

Roll farms said:
			
		

> My guess would be stress or dietary or a combo, but I can't swear to it.
> 
> Keep up the probios.  Did she have her CD/T and booster shots?


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## daisyjack (Jul 6, 2012)

One of my goats did that when I first got her. Dont forget the electrolytes if she gets dehydrated you are going to have problems. I was feeding mine Gatorade every 2 to 3 hour along with revitilyte-gelling to help stop diarrhea, and nuttri-drench.


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## heatherlynnky (Jul 6, 2012)

how do you get yours to drink when you want it too. I took all the water away and left the electrolytes out for an hour and just watched to make sure she drank some.


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## daisyjack (Jul 7, 2012)

I got my doe to take a bottle but you could put it in their drinking water. I got  revitilyte-gelling at tractor supply company. I mix it up with water and slowly squirted it in her mouth with a syringe with out the needle top. Do it slowly for it goes down the right pipe.   I also used scour halt also called spectogard scour chek it is for pigs or You could also pepto 

The goal is to get her to stop scouring because that will cause dehydration.


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## Roll farms (Jul 7, 2012)

Sometimes (as with E Coli or Salmonella or coccidia) stopping the scours w/ pepto isn't a good thing...they need to poop that bacteria out....the body knows that, hence they scour.  Scour check works by killing the bacteria that causes the scours.

It's better to find / treat the CAUSE of the scours, and offer supportive therapy (electrolytes / revitalyte) than to just stop them up, unless you're 100 % sure it's dietary.

It's like putting a bandaid on a bad wound that needs stitches....yeah, it'll cover it up / soak up some blood, but it won't sew it shut.


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## bjjohns (Jul 7, 2012)

What you are doing should fix the problem, but I'd like to add another slant. We have both milk & meat goats, as well as a calf here. We make kiefer, and from that we also have kefier whey. I gotts say, mild scours the keifer whey is like magic. Heavy scours the regular keifer seems to work quite well.


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## Roll farms (Jul 7, 2012)

Yes, Kefir has the probiotics in it that we're recommending....most folks don't have kefir on hand, though....so it's easier to recommend probiotics / cultured yogurt.


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## bjjohns (Jul 7, 2012)

Roll farms said:
			
		

> Yes, Kefir has the probiotics in it that we're recommending....most folks don't have kefir on hand, though....so it's easier to recommend probiotics / cultured yogurt.


I understand. A little background: I am (in my spare time HAH!) an endurance rider. Endurance riding is a sport that forces you to pay amazing attention to how your horse is eating/drinking/pooping. I have used probiotics for years, but we have only had the keifer around for about a year. With half a gallon or so of keifer whey available to us every day, we've been using it with MUCH better success than the Probios ever gave us. We've not tried it on a ride yet, but for every opportunity on the farm that has needed it, the bio-availability seems much higher than the commercial products.  I'm not sure if it's because we are talking unpasteurized goats milk, incredible freshness, or just still happy live cultures, but something makes it much more available.


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## heatherlynnky (Jul 7, 2012)

i have store bought kefir on hand. Someday I will make my own. I may have to give up sleeping to find the time for all those healthy things on my list but giving kefir from our own milk is on there. For now though I would rather not give my strawberry kefir away. The kids would be very upset. I have been doing probios twice a day. I also started cutting down tree branches for the goats after I removed a fair portion of the grass from their pen. Well she attacked those tree leaves and tender stems. Today we are pooping berries again. They are small again but still a bit sticky. I am keeping a very close eye on these girls so the slightest thing is off and I am on it like a flash.  Thanks guys for the suggestions and for those of you who gave me a bit extra reassurance and guidance.


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## Roll farms (Jul 7, 2012)




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