Baby goat shivering after bottle, crying weakly, injured

[pdxgoaties]

Two-week old mini nubian was possibly attacked last Wed. but not noticed until this week. Mom stopped feeding her and we've been bottle feeding since the weekend. Baby was hollow-sided, obviously had missed some meals. Took her to the vet yesterday, he thinks the swelling, raw skin and scabs on her butt are due to bacterial or fungal infection from scours. We haven't seen any signs of scours. Vet gave her a broad-spectrum antibiotic injection yesterday and silver sulfadiazine 1% salve to apply to her butt. She has been active and behaving normally until today.

She had CD&T vax last Monday before disbudding/tattooing. I cannot get CD antitoxin; none of the local stores carries it. Gave her a bit of probios yesterday.

This morning she came looking for a bottle while I was milking mom for it. Milking took awhile. Finally gave baby 10-12 oz of milk and she started shivering immediately after and whimpering. She has had that much milk before, but not regularly. I'm concerned about enterotoxemia because she'd been eating irregularly until we started bottle feeding and while we got mom's milk up.

This morning, I couldn't warm her up so brought her in the house and wrapped her in a blanket. Gave molasses, corn syrup, and pedialyte. Added half a baby aspirin. Her eyes are not glazed, I keep checking her for shock but she's looking alert enough. She's not a snuggly baby but isn't protesting being held and swaddled for several hours. Has taken the drenches without trouble. Still whimpering periodically. And she keeps flapping her ears and shaking her head.

What should I be doing for her now? She was doing okay through the worst of it and now she's worse today.

Re: the possible attack - I found her cold, hoarse, and scared with a horned yearling in the baby stall one morning last week. She seemed like she might be going into shock - shivering, looking glazed, weak. I warmed her up, gave Nutridrench and got her on mom's teat. She seemed okay after that. Until today.

 

[20kidsonhill]

1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and repeat in a couple hours or in her next bottle.

You need to get her on a regular schedule for bottle feeding and a regular amount of milk, it is better to under feed her at this point, than over feed her. But she needs bottles on a regular basis. Maybe you are doign that, just unclear form your discription as to what is goign on.

AS she is transitioning to a bottle, I put 1/4 cc baking soda in almost every bottle and then cut back to one time a day.

The rash sounds like a staph infection.

Check her body temp.
Above 104 she is running a high temp. They will run a high fever with entorotoxemia.

what about constipation? did she seem bloated after the bottle? Did you see her poop after the bottle?

Certainly sounds like stomach upset.

When was the last time she had a bottle, before this mornings 10 to 12 ounces?
how many times a day are you feeding her?

 

[pdxgoaties]

Thank you for the reply. I'll give her some baking soda asap. I'm new to goats and couldn't find anything on the shivering. It hasn't happened before and scared the heck out of me!

Her previous feeding was last night around 7 pm. We've been trying to keep her on mother's milk in hopes of getting mom to start feeding her again. We weren't milking previously, so struggled to get enough milk out of the mom and finally started adding milk from our other (also not being milked) mama goat. The schedule has become predictable enough that the baby came looking for her bottle today (nice, because she still runs away when I try to catch her!). Morning feeding is a charm - I can always get at least 8 oz from mom, yesterday and today it's been enough for a 10 oz morning bottle and most of the lunch bottle. Lunch and dinner have been inconsistent as we get the milking up to quantity, break in the milkers, and, yesterday, decided to add cow's milk as needed. I'll set her schedule in stone going forward. The last couple days, I've been doing 4 feedings because I don't know how long mom was withholding milk and I didn't want to overfeed - but baby looks pitiful when she's begging for more.

The vet took her temp and it was a little high, he didn't say what it was. I didn't want to take it until I had an expert check for internal damage. I'll take it again.

Her butt doesn't look rashy, it's bigger and crumply-er than her sister's, so I guess swollen. There are 4 distinct marks, two that feel like deep scabs and two that look like skin rubbed off. But the goat vet thought infection.

I have not seen her poop, but she's walking fine. Her tummy doesn't feel hard, but she seemed flinchy when I rubbed it (but she's also not used to being handled). I gave her a couple ccs of olive oil.

 

[pdxgoaties]

Put her back with her siblings, she was running and jumping. Grabbed her again, gave her baking soda (had to go down to the barn to get it), she started grinding her teeth, burped a little, tummy rumbling. I rubbed her tummy a bit then put her back in the pasture with the family. Sibs are sleeping, baby is grazing with mom. Temp is 102.5. Saw her poop this afternoon, a small amount of little pellets.

 

[Egg_Newton]

Put her back with her siblings, she was running and jumping. Grabbed her again, gave her baking soda (had to go down to the barn to get it), she started grinding her teeth, burped a little, tummy rumbling. I rubbed her tummy a bit then put her back in the pasture with the family. Sibs are sleeping, baby is grazing with mom. Temp is 102.5. Saw her poop this afternoon, a small amount of little pellets.

 

[pdxgoaties]

Thank you for the help. Lunch was uneventful. Evening feeding was small, but baby was flipping ears and flinching sides after 8 oz. (w/baking soda) so I decided to stop there. Little bugger seems to go to helenbach as a hobby. I got 3 oz. between two goats for dinner, rounded out with morning milk and store cow's milk.

Her mom went off the day after the apparent attack and baby seemed fine, so attention was focused on the previously VERY devoted mom. The whole thing has been a lot for a newbie. And the vet seems clueless. His answer to whether we should be watching for signs of enterotoxemia was "you can't do anything about it, anyway." Then why is there an antitoxin?? So today's episode was kind of terrifying and overwhelming. Thank you for being there with help and support.

If anybody is still reading - any tips for scaling up to full feedings? I don't want to lose her now. She's survived whatever happened to her - and then abandonment and missed feedings - with energy and strength. I would be devestated if I killed her by overfeeding after all that. But I've got to get her up to a full belly, and I'm scared after this morning's episode. She's still wary of me (her siblings aren't, but they haven't had temps taken, butts examined, lotion smeared, etc.) but she'll literally climb gates to reach me at feeding time, so I think she's coming around. She's a beautiful little trooper.

 

[CritterZone]

Just my opinion, but if you are going to have to bottle feed until weaning, you might want to consider a goat-specific milk replacer rather than store bought cows milk.