I need help with an age and much more...

[cmjust0]

I had a rabbit with mites and gave them Ivermectin Paste 0.21 oz (6.08 grams) it is a horse meds that is flavored like apple. Is this something to use? My feed store told me to use Safe-gaurd for worms. Can they be used together?

Ivomec is OK for her, though I'm not terribly familiar with the paste forms for a horse. I can tell you that the dosage I personally use (I give the injectable form orally) comes out to be 10mg of ivermectin per 25lbs of bodyweight. If you feel confident that you can dose the horse paste out correctly to hit somewhere around that dosage level, I would *think* it would be OK to use.

There's a bit of debate on whether oral ivermectin works on external parasites. I dunno for sure what the answer is, and if I'm treating strictly for externals, I usually inject it...but I will say that I'm inclined to believe that at a high enough dose (and 10mg/25lbs is a high dose), it will at least work on lice.

Mites? I'm up in the air on that...but lice, I'd say it probably will.

And, she'll most likely get a mild to moderate deworming out of the deal, which she probably needs anyway.


Oh, and here's something I hadn't thought of to ask, though it seems a patently obvious question in terms of age determination now that it's finally popped into my apparently tiny peabrain....how much does she weigh?

She was one of twins (not trips, nor a single), and was on her mama's side right up until you got ahold of her, so she should have been growing appropriately up until that point...knowing her weight would almost certainly give us a MUCH better idea of how old she actually is. Since they look pretty much like smaller versions of adults from the time they're maybe a week old, pictures -- unfortunately -- are rarely helpful with the age guessing game.. :/

And, of course, if we can approximate her age a bit better, we can almost certainly get a MUCH better idea of how much milk she should be taking right now, plus when she might need C/D-T, coccidia prevention, etc..

Seriously...I dunno why I didn't think to ask that, but I totally flaked on it.

Also the older one. I think she might need her feet done but she is so freaked out. How long should I let her settle down before I get someone to look at them?

Well, some of mine freak out WHEN I try to look at their feet, sooooo.. I'd say just whenever she's being a normal goat...eating, drinking, peeing, and pooing ok, etc...I'd say she's ready to be tortured a bit.

I also have names. The small on is Winnie and the big one is Poo. So Winnie and Poo

 

[punkgirrl]

She was just under 5lbs on the 12th.
But now I have a new worry. Can I pick her up to much? I do not want to hurt her ribs.
She was a twin I was told at the auction house her mom and sister had been killed. But that is all the info I had on her.
If it is ok to keep picking her up I can see is she put on any weight.

 

[jodief100]

5 lbs on the 12th, my guess is less than a week old. I have boer's bigger than that on their birthday. I doubt you can pick her up too much if you do it gently.

 

[cmjust0]

FIVE POUNDS?!? WOW...

She's a baby baby...the smallest kid we had born this year was 5.5lbs at birth, and she was one of triplets -- and a dairy breed at that. Normally, you're looking at the 7-8lb range for twins, at birth. We've had two that were in the 10lb range this year, straight out of mama.

I wouldn't doubt this one has actually lost weight since birth, given she's obviously a boer cross. Mama must have died right away.

Ok, so...we're proceeding with a newborn, basically.. Possibly a newborn who got no colostrum...that's not optimal, but it happens sometimes. I have a couple that got no colostrum, and they're A-OK.

At 5lbs, for her to have taken 6oz of milk at lunch today was absolutely, positively AWESOME. That's about all one could be expected to take in a single feeding at that age/weight, so you're doing great.

Ok, so...the plan from here on out, now that we have a better idea of what we're dealing with..

As for feeding volumes, Roll Farms can probably give you a better estimate on what to offer her.. Thankfully, I haven't bottle fed in a while now and I'm blessedly fuzzy on the feeding amounts. She bottlefeeds everything, though...about as expert at it as a person gets.

As for meds/shots/worming/etc...if I were you, I'd wait maybe another week and give her a first C/D-T shot, and booster with another shot about 4wks after that. In about 2-1/2 weeks, I'd start her on a week of DiMethox as a preventative for coccidia.

The DiMethox I use is the 40% injectable...I would say order it from Jeffers, but they're on indefinite backorder right now. I actually just ordered another bottle of it from PBS animal health, but Valley Vet carries it too...and Hoegger Goat Supply...

Dosage I use for it is 1ml/15lbs 1x/day for 5 days, with the treatment started at 3wks and repeated every 3wks until 9wks of age. Some folks start at 3wks and go for 7 days, then give 1ml/wk after that until weaning -- I personally don't like that protocol since dimethox is technically an antibiotic and I don't want to underdose and select for resistant bugs, etc...but whatever.

Bottom line, though -- you'll want to get her on a coccidia prevention program.

As for deworming...at 5lbs...she's almost certainly too young to need deworming right now, as I doubt she's done much grazing at this point. And what grazing she has done was probably on the clean grass in your backyard.

WORM THE 5MO OLD, though!! She's almost certainly shedding barberpole eggs in your backyard as we speak, so when the kid starts grazing...they'll be there waiting for her to get infested. But again, I doubt the baby's done much in the way of grazing, and that's how they pick up worms. Seriously, if I were you, I'd give the older doe the ivermectin paste if you're unsure at all about her worm status...or even if you are sure about it!

Speaking of dewormers, though, something else to think about right now is possibly going ahead and ordering a dewormer....and needles, syringes, and stuff like that to come in with your DiMethox. Perhaps some good fortified b-complex, which is sometimes hard to find locally.. Stuff like that..

I'm sitting here trying to think of the stuff we routinely recommend people "go get" DESPITE the fact that it almost always has to be ordered...like DiMethox. I know there's other stuff like that....BioMycin comes to mind, but she's a baby so regular ol' Penicillin would be better anyway and can be found locally....

Maybe someone will help me out and give you some good suggestions...I'm never good at filling out orders to livestock supply houses.



But...just WOW...5lbs...I woulda guessed way bigger from the pictures!

Oh...as for picking her up.. Go for it. They're physically tough. Physiologically, perhaps not so much...kinda fragile in the 'innards' department with respect to parasites and bacteria and protozoans and so forth...but their bodies are tough and rugged and quite durable. You're not going to hurt her by picking her up.

 

[punkgirrl]

So up to 8.2lbs today!!

I have a table and chairs set up by places she likes to eat grass. I hope it makes her feel like legs.
I can pick the baby up so I can get on a scale with her but how do I find out how much the bigger one weighs?

 

[cmjust0]

With dairy goats, you can get a 'weight tape' that works reasonably well by measuring around the heart girth and then comparing it to an inches-to-pounds chart. That's only for dairies, though, and it's by no means an accurate reading.

Meat goats, and dairy/meat crosses...if you don't have a scale thats practical, you usually just have to guestimate. We guestimate, as does our vet for the most part.

Awesome that the baby's gaining well already! Those are HUGE GAINS for just a few days...she's probably making up for a little lost time.

I have a table and chairs set up by places she likes to eat grass. I hope it makes her feel like legs.

I love this idea, btw..

Kids like going under stuff anyway, so even if it doesn't make her feel like she's out with the adults, she'll appreciate the cover...and the shade, too, if it's hot.

Really neat idea.

 

[punkgirrl]

She woke up just so cute this morning.

 

[Calliopia]

She's adorable! Just wanted to chime in and say that she's lucky to have found you.

 

[glenolam]

You're doing a great job! How 'bout Poo? Is she doing better?

 

[punkgirrl]

Thanks for the support! It means so much. I feel so out of my element. I am used to having information before getting a new pet. I hope I do right by them!

As for Poo I got her some Ivermectin and trying to find a friend to do the shoot for the CD&T. I am such a wuss. I have not been able to pet her yet but she thought about eating food out of my hand. I am not going to push her. She has had a bad few days with the move and all. I think she is bounding with my chickens. Who by the way are having a field day in my flowers. I am getting the ginger snap cookies for a bribe today.

Question about Winnie's food in take: She is still not loving the bottle only the one big feeding the rest have been around 3ozs. Should I limit her water or hard food intake to make more room for milk? Right now she gets both goat food and water freely.