New goats with scours and I am a newbie

[Lhartje77]

Got my first 3 new goats on Thursday of last week. One doeling who is 4.5 months old had a bit of mushy poop when I got her home, but I figured it was from stress, so I didn't do anything. Also, her feed was switched cold turkey. (Newbie mistake) yesterday it was runny, so I pulled the grain, gave fresh grass hay and for lack of anything else on hand, gave her some milk with kefir in it. This morning, I gave her another bottle of pasteurized goats milk (which she was getting at the breeders) with half a packet of gelatin. Her poop is dark greenish (normal colored really) and runny, but not stinky.

Anything else I can do for now until I can get a stool sample to the vet tomorrow? I have not taken her temperature, but she doesn't act like she feels poorly at all.

Thank you!

 

[elevan]

Sounds like it's due to the stress of changes made (moving, food, etc). Definitely get that fecal to the vet tomorrow though as stress can bring on a parasite bloom.

Also at 4.5 months, I would be weaning her from the bottle. But wait till you get this cleared up first.

You can give a full packet of gelatin every 4-6 hours until the scours firm up....usually takes 2 doses to get them to dog log stage.

Welcome to BYH and to goats.

eta: if the kefir is for probiotics then keep that up as well.

 

[Lhartje77]

Thank you so much, I agree I think it is from the stress too, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything!

Yes, kefir is for probiotics, so I will continue that!

She was only on milk bc she was in a pen with another who still needed it, but since she is used to it and I had it on hand, I thought that would be a good method of delivery for the gelatin and the kefir.

 

[elevan]

Your welcome. Do keep us posted on how your goat is doing

 

[daisyjack]

I would also give electrolytes

 

[Lhartje77]

She has a dry butt! I haven't actually seen her poop to know if they are completely normal or not, but it's definitely an improvement over what it was...thank you for all the help!

 

[elevan]

A dry butt is good news indeed!