# Lactose intolerant bottle baby



## Lizjax (Jun 8, 2018)

My 3 week old Nigerian Dwarf bottle baby is not digesting the lactose in the milk replacer ( whole milk, buttermilk, and evaporated milk) we have two right now and the other is doing great. We are trying to find raw goats milk for her but in our area (South Tennessee/ North Alabama) it's hard to find without doing a lot of traveling. Does anyone have any suggestions about formula?


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## Goat Whisperer (Jun 8, 2018)

How long has the kid been on this mixture? Was it a gradual change?

I’d stop The buttermilk and evaporated milk. Just do whole milk with a pinch of goats prefer brand probiotics (from TSC) 

I don’t like formula at all. I raise 20-40 bottle kids a year (had 42 this year). If you can’t get (clean!) goats milk, whole cows milk seems to be best. If your kid is having a hard time with this, formula will (most likely) be worse.


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## Lizjax (Jun 8, 2018)

We were at the get this morning getting their check up. The vet suggested no cows milk at all. I guess I should have been more specific. Would using a lactose free milk be safe for her? We will not use bagged milk replacer at all.


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## Donna R. Raybon (Jun 8, 2018)

Lactose intolerant?  What makes vet think this is what is wrong?  I have raised a world of kids on replacer with no problems.  Use quality product formulated for goats.  And, best if lambar, cold, all they want 24/7 until weaned at 10 to 12 weeks.
Years ago had a friend whose husband delivered dairy products to stores.  The out of date milk, buttermilk, cottage cheese and yogurt they raised kids on as they were on CAE prevention.


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## Donna R. Raybon (Jun 8, 2018)

Just remembered...  some kids can have hemolytic allergic reaction to cow colostrum.  Don't know if any problem with milk?  This was researched and reported upon decades ago when CAE prevention protocols became widespread.


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## Lizjax (Jun 8, 2018)

We had them both on bagged milk replacer and it made both of them sick. We started using the cows milk replacer formula and one is doing great the other not so much. Her poop today was all foam he ran a fecal and didn't find any issues as far as parasites and bacteria. He said some goats can be lactose intolerant. We starting her on powdered goat milk today by I'd just prefer raw.


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## OneFineAcre (Jun 8, 2018)

I've never heard of a goat being lactose intolerant 
All milk replacer is not created equal
I can't imagine why a vet would say that whole cows milk should not be used


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## Southern by choice (Jun 8, 2018)

We have never found any replacers to be very good. Seems like lambs do ok but not goats. When we send off bottle kids that are not going to homes with goats milk we transition them for a bout 10 days to straight whole cows milk from the grocery store. Never had a goat get ill, diarrhea, or any other issue. The down side like they have found in replacers as well is even with pasteurization of whole milk MAP disease may not be killed. Any changes should be made slowly.  

How much are you feeding at a time? What is the weight of the goat?


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## Wehner Homestead (Jun 8, 2018)

Just raised two bottle goats from Southern and GW on whole milk and they’ve thrived! 

I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if I don’t have access to goat milk from my own herd that has been tested.


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## Southern by choice (Jun 8, 2018)

Wehner Homestead said:


> Just raised two bottle goats from Southern and GW on whole milk and they’ve thrived!
> 
> I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if I don’t have access to goat milk from my own herd that has been tested.


I need pic updates.  Just sayin'  
I think Poppy and the Raina twins have grown in the last week like crazy. I cannot believe they are babies!


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## Wehner Homestead (Jun 9, 2018)

Southern by choice said:


> I need pic updates.  Just sayin'
> I think Poppy and the Raina twins have grown in the last week like crazy. I cannot believe they are babies!



I’ll try to get them out and get pics today. I need to anyway!


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## babsbag (Jun 10, 2018)

There is a much lactose in goat's milk as there is in cows milk. People can drink goat's milk and not cow's  because of the protein and the size of the fat globules not the lactose. I am going to be very blunt...find a new vet.


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## Donna R. Raybon (Jun 10, 2018)

I agree with Babsbag!  Time for a new vet!


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## RathdrumGal (Jun 13, 2018)

A lactose-intolerant baby mammal does not make sense.  All mammals are created to drink milk as a newborn.  Lactose intolerance only starts as we wean off milk.  If your kid truly is lactose intolerant, I suspect this kid will have other metabolic problems throughout its life.  All milk -- cow, goat, human-- has lactose.

We have raised kids on powdered goat milk replacer.  Just raised 2 on MannaPro's replacer and they thrived.  If you are truly convinced that this baby is lactose intolerant why not try unsweetened rice milk formula or human soy formula?


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## Stephine (Jun 13, 2018)

As someone who has no experience with goats whatsoever, beside helping a goat “mowing” business owner with a couple if rejected kids... 
Couldn’t you just buy fresh goats milk from the store? We got it at Trader Joe’s. Not perfect like clean raw milk, but better than processed powder or cow’s milk? These kids did great on that (got diarrhea on cow’s milk).


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## Ridgetop (Jun 13, 2018)

I do not think that the problem could be lactose intolerance, but then in the wild if a baby animal was lactose intolerant it would just die, right?  On the other hand, remember that while goat milk contains lactose (milk sugars) they are easier to digest because goat's milk is naturally homogenized and the protein molecules are different than cow's milk.  That is why people who cannot tolerate cow milk can drink goat milk. 

I would do what Stephine said and buy regular goat milk at the store - most grocery stores carry goat milk.  Even though it is pasteurized it will be better.  Dairy people who are on a CAE prevention regime always pasteurize goat milk before feeding the kids.  Put the kids on straight goat milk, but dilute it a little with water to make it less rich.  Then gradually reduce water to get them on whole goat milk.  Once they are stable you can gradually add in replacer if you want.

I would change vets.  There are other reasons for scours than worms.  Yellow foamy scours can also be a symptom of E. Coli.  I would also give a dose of probiotics - you can buy the paste from the feed store - to try to regularize the rumen.

We raised hundreds (not exaggerating!) of kids on half regular milk replacer and half goat milk and never had a problem. We were on a CAE prevention program and heat treated _all_ colostrum and pasteurized goat milk being fed to goat kids.  The trick is to change over gradually and increase amount of milk replacer slowly.  We needed the goat milk for our replacement doe kids, house, and calves.  Buck kids went to auction at 2 months without disbudding or castrating - ethnic market.

Hope thing go well.


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## Lizjax (Jun 18, 2018)

**UPDATE** My vet is the best in the area, we will not be changing vets because he was exactly right!!! After putting Meadow on powdered goats milk (Meyenbrg brand) she improved almost immediately. Her poops are exactly as it should be. After the research I've done goats milk is lower in lactose than cows milk, she is not completely lactose intolerant but she cannot handle the high amounts of lactose in cows milk. Which is why people who are Iactose intolerant can drink goats milk. I really wish people in the group were more open minded. Just because you haven't experienced issue like this doesn't mean that they don't exist. Out of the two bottle baby does we have one did just fine with the cows milk while the other was getting sick. It may be a rare occurrence to have one with a lactose issue but it does exist!!! With this post I have felt a little judged and talked down to which has never happened with this site at all. I raised my first bottle baby doe on multi species milk replacer with no issues, the next two we did the same way but they had a lot of problems. Going back and looking a lot of it was caused by the quality of milk replacer we used. With these two it was the same so we tried the cows milk replacer recipe which we saw one was good while the other not so much. Not all babies are the same and they have different needs.


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## Lizjax (Jun 18, 2018)

Ridgetop said:


> I do not think that the problem could be lactose intolerance, but then in the wild if a baby animal was lactose intolerant it would just die, right?  On the other hand, remember that while goat milk contains lactose (milk sugars) they are easier to digest because goat's milk is naturally homogenized and the protein molecules are different than cow's milk.  That is why people who cannot tolerate cow milk can drink goat milk.
> 
> I would do what Stephine said and buy regular goat milk at the store - most grocery stores carry goat milk.  Even though it is pasteurized it will be better.  Dairy people who are on a CAE prevention regime always pasteurize goat milk before feeding the kids.  Put the kids on straight goat milk, but dilute it a little with water to make it less rich.  Then gradually reduce water to get them on whole goat milk.  Once they are stable you can gradually add in replacer if you want.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the informed post. I can honestly say that your comment was by far the most informative and helpful. Thank you.


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## Ridgetop (Jun 18, 2018)

I hope the kid is doing better.  Keep us informed.  If you breed out of the kids that had a hard time with cow's milk, keep a stock of powdered goat's milk on hand for next time.  If you are prepared for the problem, in my experience LOL, it never happens again! 

We raised our calves on goats' milk with no problem, raised an orphan pig to weaning, and gave goats' milk to an acquaintance who had a mare die foaling.  The foal thrived on the milk until they could get the foal onto a mare's milk replacer.  I know several people who keep a dairy goat just in case they lose a ewe.  Everything seems to thrive on goats' milk.  I pasteurized the milk for the goat kids (CAE prevention), but nothing else.   We always drank it without the bother of pasteurization.  Our children never had teenage acne either which is strange since unseparated goat's milk is higher in butterfat than milk you buy in the store.


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## Lizjax (Jun 18, 2018)

Ridgetop said:


> I hope the kid is doing better.  Keep us informed.  If you breed out of the kids that had a hard time with cow's milk, keep a stock of powdered goat's milk on hand for next time.  If you are prepared for the problem, in my experience LOL, it never happens again!
> 
> We raised our calves on goats' milk with no problem, raised an orphan pig to weaning, and gave goats' milk to an acquaintance who had a mare die foaling.  The foal thrived on the milk until they could get the foal onto a mare's milk replacer.  I know several people who keep a dairy goat just in case they lose a ewe.  Everything seems to thrive on goats' milk.  I pasteurized the milk for the goat kids (CAE prevention), but nothing else.   We always drank it without the bother of pasteurization.  Our children never had teenage acne either which is strange since unseparated goat's milk is higher in butterfat than milk you buy in the store.


Thank you, it looks like all of her problems are resolved. We do plan on starting our own back yard farm we have 4 does and will be getting 2 bucks later in the year. Now we know what to look out for we will be better able to provide the nutrition they need.


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## Latestarter (Jun 18, 2018)

Glad to hear that the little one has come around and is now thriving. Please don't feel like folks are/were judging you... It's very rare to find a goat knowledgeable vet. Since you seem to have found one, I'm sure everyone here will readily tell you to keep him/her! The folks who were trying to help have decades of experience with goats and were sharing what they've experienced. Nobody here would willingly try to steer someone wrong. And I'm also pretty sure we'd all willingly admit we don't know it all and there's always a "one off" that has never been seen before. Just one more bit of knowledge for all of us to store in memory just in case.


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## Lizjax (Jun 18, 2018)

Latestarter said:


> Glad to hear that the little one has come around and is now thriving. Please don't feel like folks are/were judging you... It's very rare to find a goat knowledgeable vet. Since you seem to have found one, I'm sure everyone here will readily tell you to keep him/her! The folks who were trying to help have decades of experience with goats and were sharing what they've experienced. Nobody here would willingly try to steer someone wrong. And I'm also pretty sure we'd all willingly admit we don't know it all and there's always a "one off" that has never been seen before. Just one more bit of knowledge for all of us to store in memory just in case.


You are right. I really don't believe anyone here would knowingly steer me wrong, that's why I was surprised to see all the comments about how wrong or misinformed I was. My vet is amazing. He is constantly keeping up his education and requires his staff to do so. I was surprised to see one have a lactose issue. With every new baby we are learning more and more. I had the very first one we bought back in December die of a birth defect. She had a kidney that was enlarged and not attached. He could easily move it around her abdominal cavity. She only had a small amount of colostrum because she wouldn't eat due to her kidney. She died on Christmas eve. Our vet did everything he could to save her. He even came out to the office for us Christmas eve day but it was too late. That's when we found our about her kidney, she died later that afternoon. Ever since then we take all precautions.


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## Lizjax (Jun 18, 2018)

Does anyone here breed for specific colors or markings such as Moonspots or blue eyes? I think that may be the reason she has had so much trouble.


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## Latestarter (Jun 18, 2018)

Hated to "like" your last post for how it ended. Sorry you lost the doeling. Such a shame and what a lousy Christmas present.


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## babsbag (Jun 19, 2018)

@Lizjax  I am happy that your little goat is doing well.  For most people it isn't the lactose in cow's milk that they can't tolerate, it is the protein for some and the fat for others.  I have done my homework on this for marketing for my dairy. Goat milk dairy products will contain almost exactly the same amount of lactose as cow's milk dairy products. Goat's milk contains a different collection of proteins, which means that a small minority of those with cow's milk protein allergies can safely drink goat's milk. But that's simply not the case for those with lactose intolerance. You can have as much or as little goat's milk dairy as you can have cow's milk dairy ... or sheep's milk or camel's milk or horse's milk or whatever other kind of animal milk product you can find in a store. Many people that think that they are lactose intolerant really aren't.  

Perhaps you kid truly has an allergy to the protein in cow's milk. But glad that you found something that works.


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