baby with the runs

[cmjust0]

I was told by some goat people in my area to never, ever, ever go to the vets we go to because they're terribly expensive and they don't have a clue as to what they're doing when it comes to goats.

False, false, and false.

Wait, no, false, and false...I only made two points.

Anyway, they're not that expensive with large animals, and they seem to know more about goats than I'd frankly expect a vet to know.

One of the docs is kind of a 'sleeper' when it comes to goats, I think... I got in a conversation with her about copper a while back and she told me to be extra careful with it and how it's much preferred to have a copper deficiency situation than a copper toxicity situation in goats and how it's stored in the liver and can be released quickly and precipitate a hemolytic crisis, etc...

I was like...wow, you know goats, huh!?

She sorta brushed that off, going on to say that she'd simply spent a great deal of time working with a really good goat vet -- can't remember the name -- but that this other vet was widely considered to be one of the most knowledgeable goat vets in the nation..

I'm not sure if she just doesn't want to work with goats anymore so she typically keeps that little nugget of info to herself around here, or if she just doesn't really consider that the level of understanding among vets is so low where goats are concerned that she's probably already learned more about goats through pure osmosis than most others learn in a lifetime..

I'm thinking I'm going to request her instead of one of my other two go-to guys at some point...just to see what happens.

 

[animalcrazy31]

i like the idea about stop and ask actualy did that a few times to see if the sold goats lol. when i asked about a vet they looked at me like i was crazy and asked whats a vet we do everything ourselves. got to love being in the middle of no where

 

[Roll farms]

If it's EARLY stage cocci, it sometimes doesn't affect how they act so much. I'd still get a fecal ran (just take in the fresh poo and ask for a cocci check...) and make sure. If he had a bloom hard enough to make him have gray poo, I'd worry about the next 'wave' to hit.
The only time I've seen poo that color was in a new kid infested w/ a high cocci count.
Good luck!

 

[kimmyh]

Grey poop generally means the animal is not getting the benefit of the nutrition that is going in the front end.

I would call the vet, and/or take the goat in. There are just way too many reasons for poop changes to try to cover on a forum like this. Each herd is different, and each location may present challenges none of us would have considered. Sorry, I'd love to tell you I gave the magic bullet, but it just wouldn't be fair to your goat.