Help !! Abbie isn't eating today after kidding on Wed

[Bonner family farm]

Abbie kidded with trips on Mon with the placenta seen and no retained kids upon bouce test (not sure if i did it right). All were doing well, but yesterday my husband accidentally left he pen door open and she jumped over the boards that were up and got into the feed bucket. She ate this morn but seems to not have lost her fullness after kidding. Tonight she won't eat feed or hay and isn't really drinking. her stool is coming out clupmy but no diarreah. Is this bloat and what should we do? And if she is bloated or sick should we pull the kids? Should we call the vet?

 

[cmjust0]

I'd probably give her baking soda just in case she's too acidic or maybe still slightly bloated...but if this happened yesterday and she was OK this morning...makes me wonder if the way she's acting today is even related to the feed bucket incident. Usually a feed-room break in type situation is pretty acute..

How much feed did she eat? Like, in pounds? Is she UTD on her C/D-T vaccinations? Is her left side humped up...like, if you view her from behind, is there kind of a bubble on her left side that's standing higher than her spine?

I'd probably also check her temp, just to do what I could to ferret out whether or not the feed incident was throwing me off the trail of some kind of infection setting up..


So besides not wanting to eat her hay or grain, how else is she acting.. Normally? Or is she standing around kinda humped up? Head hanging? Grinding her teeth? Depressed? Is she kicking at her belly or anything like that? Breathing sound good? Eyelids look good? Is she trembling, or having difficulty walking or standing? Are her pupils blown?

 

[Bonner family farm]

i sya would maybe 1-2 lbs of grain her left side seems no more bloated then her right. She was acting depressed and laying alot. While waiting for a response we brough her and babies in the house while we threw a pen up in the garage so we could keep a good eye on them without trudging through the snow. While she was in here she had a large poop that was clumpy and not pellet formed, after this I offered her a cracker and she gobbled it down ( her fav), her energy seems to be going back up now and I got her munching on hay in the garage. I will watch for all those symptoms but so far she doesn't have them. She was vaccinated for CD-T about 2-3 weeks before she kidded so yes she is UTD. If there any changes I will post them, we are ready to take action if necessary.

 

[cmjust0]

i sya would maybe 1-2 lbs of grain her left side seems no more bloated then her right. She was acting depressed and laying alot. While waiting for a response we brough her and babies in the house while we threw a pen up in the garage so we could keep a good eye on them without trudging through the snow. While she was in here she had a large poop that was clumpy and not pellet formed, after this I offered her a cracker and she gobbled it down ( her fav), her energy seems to be going back up now and I got her munching on hay in the garage. I will watch for all those symptoms but so far she doesn't have them. She was vaccinated for CD-T about 2-3 weeks before she kidded so yes she is UTD. If there any changes I will post them, we are ready to take action if necessary.

I'm surprised nobody else chimed in.. I usually stay away from computers at all costs on the weekends, since I make my living with them during the week.

Anyway, if they're not used to getting very much, 1-2lbs of grain all of a sudden might be enough to cause one to get a little clumpy...but I doubt it to be enough to cause one to bloat or develop full-blown ruminal acidosis. And I usually don't worry too much about clumpiness unless it's persistent or if they continually go clumpy->pellets->clumpy->pellets........

So, how's she doing now?

 

[Ariel301]

Sounds like she's just got a bit of a tummyache from getting into the grain. Make sure she's drinking plenty of water, keep a close eye on her, and if you can get some baking soda into her that can help. If she starts acting really bad like she's bloated, a good home remedy is to make her stand 'uphill' with her front higher than her rear to help the gas get released, and also give her some liquid dish soap. It sounds gross, probably tastes terrible, and it's a fight to get it down their throat, (I use a stomach tube to do it) but it has always worked for me with a bloated goat. Also, if you can get her to walk around, it will be good, as exercise helps to keep the gut moving, and can help her to burp out any gas making her uncomfortable. Don't overdo it so you wear her out though. As long as she is producing milk, there should not be a reason to pull the kids from her.

 

[Bonner family farm]

Abbie is eating again and doing great. the babies are running around playing and growing well. even if she escapes now she cant get into the grain again.

 

[Ariel301]

Good to hear she's feeling better! It can be hard to keep goats from getting in the grain sometimes, they're so good at escaping and getting into everything they shouldn't. I have to keep mine locked in the garage and carry individual servings out to them at feeding time.

 

[ksalvagno]

Great to hear that everything is ok now. I guess just like people, they can have some off days too!