not eating

[peachick]

my 6 month old buckling is not eating this afternoon. He was fine last night. and when I saw him briefly this morning he appeared fine.
I was gone a few hours today and after returning home, and offering treats he was not interested in eating and went to lay down. Totally not normal behavior for him.

Occasionally I have noticed him shaking his head, and i dismissed it assuming flies were bothering him. But the last few times I saw him do it I suspected an ear infection?? Looking in both ears today they seem fine and not at all tender.

Any thoughts??

 

[cmjust0]

Fever? Scouring? Nasal discharge?

Anything else like that out of the ordinary?

 

[peachick]

I gave him some fresh hay a few minutes ago... he pushed it around a little but didnt eat anything.

no nasal discharge.
no sign of diarrhea
I dont know what scouring is - Im a total newbie.
Fever. Hmm ok. I can take that... what is normal temp for a goat??

and THANK YOU for the reply!!

 

[peachick]

) I looked up temp and scouring in my storeys book

no scouring and temp is in the normal range = 102.1

 

[cmjust0]

I gave him some fresh hay a few minutes ago... he pushed it around a little but didnt eat anything.

no nasal discharge.
no sign of diarrhea
I dont know what scouring is - Im a total newbie.
Fever. Hmm ok. I can take that... what is normal temp for a goat??

and THANK YOU for the reply!!

Scouring = diarrhea.

Normal temp would be like 101-103, give or take. If the temp's 104 or more and it's not super hot outside, I consider it a fever and start them on some kind of antibiotic.. The antibiotic would depend on what kind of infection I suspect we're talking about. My usual "I dunno what this is yet" antibiotic in anything over 6mo's and/or about 75lbs is Bio-Mycin 200...oxytetracycline hydrochloride. I'll give about 3ml/100lbs, SQ, once a day for about 5 days.

If the goat's under that weight/age, my go-to is PenG.. That's 1ml/15lbs 2x/day through an 18ga needle...20ga will work if you wuss out on the friggin' stovepipe that is an 18ga needle.

If his temp's less than 100, call a vet.

If his temp's in the normal range, it's probably not an infection.

EDIT -- Just read that his temp's good...that's good. Kinda almost wish it would have been as simple as an infection somewhere, but this might mean it turns out to be nothing.


Is he peeing OK?...a 6mo buckling might be a candidate for urinary calculi. Make sure he's peeing.

Also, has he been dewormed? If not, check the color of the mucous membranes of his inner eyelids. If they're pale pink or white, he's probably got a heavy worm load. That can *sometimes* lead them to be depressed, just from weakness and anemia...usually not, though. If he's pink, or pale pink, I'd probably look for another problem. If he's whited out, though...that could be it.

Has he been on any kind of coccidia preventative? If not, a 6mo goat isn't out of the woods. If he's on some kind of coccidiostatic grain (w/ deccox, rumensen, monensen, etc) that's *probably* not it...but if he hasn't, and if you haven't ever done any kind of preventative (DiMethox, Sulmet, etc)...consider coccidia. Without a scour, it would be a "chronic" or "subclinical" or "subacute" case, depending on what terminology you want to use. Basically, would just mean he's suffering from a heavy coccidia load -- but not heavy enough to make him scour.

So that's infection...worms...coccidia...urinary calculi...I'm trying to think of what else we could be looking at, but given his age and gender, those are the things I would look at first.

ANOTHER EDIT: If he were here, I'd just keep watching him closely. If he didn't perk up, I'd probably use some fortified b-complex to see if I could perk him up and get him to eat a little bit.

 

[cmjust0]

Hopefully someone else will chime in here, for I have to go home and take care of my own stupid goats.

 

[peachick]

))))
Hugs to you cmjust0 thank you thank you!!

I have LA-200 on hand and can give him that if anything (fever) changes.
I'll worm him tonight... just because it hasn't been done since the day I got him.

I agree I almost with it was a fever... that might have made things easy.
I'll offer him food again in a few minutes and hope he takes it.

Ohhh I'll watch for the peeing too.

 

[Ariel301]

Could he be bloated? If his tummy hurts, he wouldn't want to eat. Watch to see if he is chewing his cud and if you can, listen on his left side for rumen sounds, you should hear at least 1-2 in a minute, gurgling sounds from his left flank area. If there's no sound, nothing is moving and that's bad. Also, if he is bloated, his left side in particular will be big like a balloon and feel abnormal. You can offer him some baking soda, if he's got a mild case that can help.

 

[warthog]

Make sure he is drinking.

Even if he his not eating keep fluids in him.

 

[PJisaMom]

How's he doing now?