My baby has diarehea(sp) and gunky eyes...

[supermommy]

It started yesterday night with the runny poop, its black in color and very loose almost water consistancy. Eating about 16-20oz of milk replacer per feeding 3x a day. Eating hay, not to interested in water yet though. Acting fine otherwise. oh and he is just over a month old. He alsi has runny eyes...Not bad but noticable. Clear from what I can tell, eye is not red just like a runny eye?

An advice..I called the breeder and she suggested he be put on goats milk.. Do you think that might be the problem? He has been on the replacer for a week now...

Thanks

 

[Roll farms]

The replacer change could be responsible for the diarrhea, but I'd also be worried that it *might* be coccidiosis....or it could be e coli, for that matter.

If it was me, I'd treat him for coccidiosis for 5-7 days w/ DiMethox or Sulmet, give him Probios 1x a day for 3 days, and either switch to goats milk or whole milk (vitamin D) from the store but do it gradually, a sudden change in diet upsets anything's tummy.

 

[warthog]

Sorry can't be any help with your problem, don't have enough experience yet.

I gave my young buck who was bought has a bottle baby milk replacer, but after having read posts of this site and others, if I have any more bottle babies, it will be whole cows milk, can't get goats milk here.

 

[cmjust0]

It started yesterday night with the runny poop, its black in color and very loose almost water consistancy. Eating about 16-20oz of milk replacer per feeding 3x a day. Eating hay, not to interested in water yet though. Acting fine otherwise. oh and he is just over a month old. He alsi has runny eyes...Not bad but noticable. Clear from what I can tell, eye is not red just like a runny eye?

An advice..I called the breeder and she suggested he be put on goats milk.. Do you think that might be the problem? He has been on the replacer for a week now...

Thanks

Like Roll Said, it could be the replacer....could be coccidia....could be a bacterial gut infection like e.coli.

The fact that he's acting normally otherwise leads me to think it's probably a dietary scour, since the 'loose stool' from either acute coccidiosis or bacterial enteritis will usually be straight-up dysentary. There's usually pain, or at least depression and a general 'off'-ness with real dysentary.

If he were here, I'd probably hold him off the bottle for a day or so, give him some pepto and probios, and wait it out. If it improves or clears up, put him back on the bottle (I'd go smaller feedings at first) and start switching him gradually to goats' or cows' milk.

If the scour does not improve or continues getting worse after withholding the bottle, it's probably more than dietary and he'll probably go off his food anyhow. At that point, I'd start him on SMZ-TMP and work to keep him hydrated. SMZ-TMP is effective against coccidiosis and reasonably effective against bacterial enteritis, so you're working to cover both bases.

I'd personally probably also go ahead and start him on PenG injections, too, just in case something breaks through the gut and gets into the bloodstream...plus, well, he's got the junky eyes anyway. If that's an infection, you may end up killing two birds with one stone.

**PLEASE UNDERSTAND that I have no idea of PenG and SMZ-TMP counteract one another...I'm just saying that I would probably do it. Could be a bad call and he drops dead. Who knows.. I've certainly made my share of bad calls before.**

If and when he starts to come back around after the SMZ-TMP treatment and gets interested in taking a bottle again, I'd probably still go with smaller feedings and begin to switch him off the replacer and onto goats'/cows' milk....though, at that point, I guess that step's more or less optional.

 

[horsesrus]

you are giving this baby too much milk. cut the milk back to maybe 6 ounces per feeding. when baby is on mother they eat many times throughout the day. they never drink anywhere near 20 ounces in one feeding. It is just not natural. I disagree with cows milk. Did the diarrhea start as soon as you put him on milk replacer? If so, switch back to goats milk. If not, just feed less.

 

[cmjust0]

you are giving this baby too much milk. cut the milk back to maybe 6 ounces per feeding. when baby is on mother they eat many times throughout the day. they never drink anywhere near 20 ounces in one feeding. It is just not natural. I disagree with cows milk. Did the diarrhea start as soon as you put him on milk replacer? If so, switch back to goats milk. If not, just feed less.

Too much milk? Not at all. Unnatural? Perhaps... Intolerable? Absolutely not.

In fact, I disagree with pretty much everything you just wrote. Feeding 20oz 3x/day is pretty much a universally accepted method of bottle feeding baby goats. I've done it many, many times myself -- both with cows' milk and goats' milk -- and have never had a problem.

Begs the question...how many bottle baby goats have you raised?

 

[horsesrus]

I raised many kid goats on a bottle. I would have to say too many. You can not take a baby goat that is getting maybe an ounce or two from the mother and give it 20 ounces at a time. Will cause diarrhea every time. I've witnessed many people KILL their baby goat over feeding them.
Many goat breeds hardly make any milk at all. The babies do well and grow fast.

Say, are you the person who wants to wean the babies and feed them less times per day because it is better than heating milk, cleaning nipples, washing bottles?

First if one buys a bottle baby that is just how it is. They need to be fed several times per day and should not be weaned off milk until they are at least 8 weeks old.

With my feeding method I've never lost a bottle baby. I've raised hundreds of them that way.

To the new goat mommy that is having the diarrhea issue. Err on the side of caution. You've given 20 ounces at a time. You got diarrhea because of it. Now do it right and feed that baby as it's mother would. Small amounts several times per day.
If you have children, did you bottle feed them only 3 x per day large amounts. I hardly think so.

 

[jlbpooh]

Hmm, this thread may get interesting.

 

[Roll farms]

I have also raised hundreds of kids, around 50 per year in fact, on 3 - 20 - 24 oz bottles per day....goat milk usually, but when I don't have enough to go around, I use whole cow milk.

I suggest this method to folks who buy kids from me, or to beginners who contact me for advice...I've yet to hear of any of them having issues.
The person who 'taught' me about bottle raising, more than 10 years ago...raises 100 kids or so per year on 3 feedings per day.

Our kids start out getting 3-4 6 oz bottles of colostrum the first 24 hrs, and as they get older I give them as much milk as *they* want in a feeding, up to 24 oz per feeding.

It takes them a while to get up to that point, usually a few weeks. It's not as though I'm cramming 20 oz of milk into a newborn, or even a one week old, kid.
I wouldn't pull a kid who's been nursing off his dam and feed him 20 oz suddenly, either...it would have to be adjusted accordingly.

I never wean before 12 weeks, and in fact I have 2 - 15 week old kids who're still getting 20 oz. per day, because I have plenty of milk at the moment.

I do my best not to belittle other folk's methods and to point out that what I suggest or that any advice I offer is just how I do things....
and that it may not be the best way for everyone.

In a forum situation, you will see conflicting suggestions daily.
Diplomacy is key..."If you can't say something nice...." will go a long way.
If you feel you *must* say something that someone else might take offense to, well, that's what the "Private Message" button is for.

You feed your kids many times a day...it works for you...wonderful.

Please don't ASSume that because I choose a different path than you, that I'm either stupid or too lazy to wash bottles...I assure you I'm not.

And.....I haven't lost a kid in many years....so while I may not be "right" in your eyes, I'm not wrong in mine, either.

Different strokes.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I think we need a few more answers before we can figure out if it's too much milk or something else.

The kid is a month old. How long has the OP had him? Was he on his dam before she got him or was he being bottled? If he was being bottled, how much was he getting how many times a day? What breed is he?