SuburbanFarmChic
Overrun with beasties
I have a friend who is new to goats. I've been helping her but ... I need back up on this one. BTW... these are her first baby goats.
The crisis case is next to me in a box with a heating pad.
On Tuesday morning she checked the barn and the doe had a set of twins. One was hyperflexing his legs and was wobbly and since the doe hadn't had bose and we are deficient I suggested a selenium supplement when she could get out to pick one up and to splint his back legs since he was trying to walk on the front of his feet. ie completely folding his feet backwards to walk on the top of them. Not just up on his toes. His sister was just fine.
She went to work and the day went on.
About 6-8 hrs later her tenant went out to the barn (he'd been checking every hour since it was 7* that day) he found 2 more babies. So she had a set of quads with 2 born several hours later. The female of this set of twins was similarly Se deficient and was dosed as well.
The SE supplement was from a kid booster type mix that was available at SS. I don't know which one. It came in a pump. Each weak kid got 3 doses over 12 hrs at .1 ppm SE per dose. Leg function improves in all. The weak girl also has her legs splinted. The girl was also given a supplement mix of 1 egg yolk, 1 oz milk, 1 tbsp molasses, 1 tbsp coffee because she was rather weak. This sugar, fat, caffeine cocktail kicks in and she's ready to go. Her back legs are still wonky but we'll deal with that later.
Forward 2 days. The boy has major issues controlling his temperature. It keeps dropping into the low 90s which results in him being pulled, bathed, dried off and stuck on a heating pad until he normalized and can hold his own. She was giving him milk, thinking that he was not getting enough from the doe since he was a quad. He was then getting lethargic and weak and dropping in temp.
To make life easier ( 3 other babies and 3 small children and she's a single mom) I have the "I'm trying to die" bottle boy. I got him today at about 10am and he hadn't eaten since about 4am. He did not want to even pick his head up.
I did a test bottle just to see how he did and he had maybe 8 sips of milk and corn syrup. I then kept him warm and quiet and checked on him through out the day. When I got home from work I made a bottle with electrolytes and have him 1 oz with goat electrolytes in it and injected 1/2 cc thiamine. That was at about 4pm. Before the electrolytes and injection he was up and standing and walkign around and acting like a hungry baby goat. Now he's completely passed out and not wanting to even move his head again. His temp was was 100.3 at 4pm which is a little low but we'd just come in from the car. I had him tucked in my shirt for the ride home.
Help! Is this FKS? Do I keep doing what I'm doing? When can I switch him back to milk? I have colostrum and goat milk in the freezer and whole cow milk as well.
What am I missing? or do I just have a failure to thrive boy? He was part of the first set of twins so he didn't even have the crazy stressful birth.
The crisis case is next to me in a box with a heating pad.
On Tuesday morning she checked the barn and the doe had a set of twins. One was hyperflexing his legs and was wobbly and since the doe hadn't had bose and we are deficient I suggested a selenium supplement when she could get out to pick one up and to splint his back legs since he was trying to walk on the front of his feet. ie completely folding his feet backwards to walk on the top of them. Not just up on his toes. His sister was just fine.
She went to work and the day went on.
About 6-8 hrs later her tenant went out to the barn (he'd been checking every hour since it was 7* that day) he found 2 more babies. So she had a set of quads with 2 born several hours later. The female of this set of twins was similarly Se deficient and was dosed as well.
The SE supplement was from a kid booster type mix that was available at SS. I don't know which one. It came in a pump. Each weak kid got 3 doses over 12 hrs at .1 ppm SE per dose. Leg function improves in all. The weak girl also has her legs splinted. The girl was also given a supplement mix of 1 egg yolk, 1 oz milk, 1 tbsp molasses, 1 tbsp coffee because she was rather weak. This sugar, fat, caffeine cocktail kicks in and she's ready to go. Her back legs are still wonky but we'll deal with that later.
Forward 2 days. The boy has major issues controlling his temperature. It keeps dropping into the low 90s which results in him being pulled, bathed, dried off and stuck on a heating pad until he normalized and can hold his own. She was giving him milk, thinking that he was not getting enough from the doe since he was a quad. He was then getting lethargic and weak and dropping in temp.
To make life easier ( 3 other babies and 3 small children and she's a single mom) I have the "I'm trying to die" bottle boy. I got him today at about 10am and he hadn't eaten since about 4am. He did not want to even pick his head up.
I did a test bottle just to see how he did and he had maybe 8 sips of milk and corn syrup. I then kept him warm and quiet and checked on him through out the day. When I got home from work I made a bottle with electrolytes and have him 1 oz with goat electrolytes in it and injected 1/2 cc thiamine. That was at about 4pm. Before the electrolytes and injection he was up and standing and walkign around and acting like a hungry baby goat. Now he's completely passed out and not wanting to even move his head again. His temp was was 100.3 at 4pm which is a little low but we'd just come in from the car. I had him tucked in my shirt for the ride home.
Help! Is this FKS? Do I keep doing what I'm doing? When can I switch him back to milk? I have colostrum and goat milk in the freezer and whole cow milk as well.
What am I missing? or do I just have a failure to thrive boy? He was part of the first set of twins so he didn't even have the crazy stressful birth.
)
