Lactose intolerant bottle baby

[Wehner Homestead]

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!

 

[babsbag]

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.

 

[Donna R. Raybon]

I agree with Babsbag! Time for a new vet!

 

[RathdrumGal]

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?

 

[Stephine]

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).

 

[Ridgetop]

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.

 

[Lizjax]

**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.

 

[Lizjax]

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.

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

 

[Ridgetop]

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.

 

[Lizjax]

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.