SICK AGAIN! My baby was vomiting, coccidia tx dosage needed...

[freemotion]

Thank you, Kate. There are so few goats in my suburban area that no one has heard of the anti-toxin at any TSC within an hour's drive. I called them all. No DiMethox either. I could only get the powdered CoRid for calves. I can make a drench with it but need the goat dosage. The label gives proportions based on 100 lbs body weight in calves and a five day treatment protocol.

What strength for the ammonia solution? And when should I wash things down? After the five day treatment or today and again in five days?

Do I need to treat my adults, who have normal poo but who mingle with the doelings? And the buckling, who finally has normal poo after his barberpole treatment and is isolated from all the other goats (until planned conjugal visits in December )

I threw the doelings' soiled bedding into the woods, where no one has access but the occasional hen escapee, rather than on the compost pile. But they have been turned out with the rest of the herd, so it was probably futile. Made me feel better, though.

 

[ksalvagno]

PBS Animal Health is usually pretty quick with mailing out orders. If you order before 3pm, they get it on a UPS truck that day. You can order online at www.pbsanimalhealth.com 24/7 or call 800-321-0235 during the week. I got DiMethox 40% from them not too long ago. You can also order the CD Antitoxin.

 

[Henrietta23]

 

[freemotion]

Help! I called everywhere and couldn't find anything other than the Corid powder. In searching online for dosage info (labeled for calves) all I found was "don't use Corid, it doesn't work!" Sheesh.

So what I need to know it....what is the dosage for goats for Corid, or should I just wait and try to get something else tomorrow? I found a reference to Albon for dogs and cats (dimethox) that I might get from a vet, although it is somewhat doubtful in this area that one would sell it to me...or I could check at feedstores, but again, in this urban/suburban area, not too many places likely carry large animal meds.

Frustrated! Worried!!!!!

 

[Beekissed]

Thirty-five years ago my family kept a few dairy goats. No one ever got sick and died. No one got minerals or dewormed or medicated feed. One baby broke her leg and that was the only premature death. My ideal is to get back to that. Not that I wouldn't feed minerals or deworm my goats....just sayin'.

Now, don't lop off my head for asking you goat folks a few questions, as I sincerely want to know and am not trying to stir a pot.... just have been concerned for some time and it would ease my mind if I could know the answers to these questions.

But the above observation is my general experience also...my family had goats over a couple of generations and they were tough, hardy, easy care things that wouldn't have died if they ate rat poison.

Most of the threads on this forum are about goats, so I'm aware that the goat folks outnumber all the rest and its just a matter of averages....but there seems to be an extreme amount of health problems with all these goats!

Having said that, I guess my questions are these:

Why in the world would anyone want to keep an animal that is so fraught with health issues resulting in constant worry and financial loss?

And, if you are trying to improve the strain of goat genetics, why not eliminate the goats that cannot thrive without constant intervention?

I know that goat people develop a personal relationship with their goats, as do sheeple....but its sheer agony to watch you all go through this time and again.

 

[ksalvagno]

Can you place an order online from some place? You can get the DiMethox from various online stores.

Bee - I think things have changed drastically over the years with parasites. I think in general all the chemical dewormers have created super parasites that now affect animals much more than it did even 20 years ago. Also, many people are keeping larger herds than people did long ago on smaller acreage (or just keeping animals in general on smaller acreage even if it is a small herd) and that also has changed the dynamics of things. Not to mention that all the chemicals that we have put on our soil has probably done something for this too. Not sure what the answer is. I guess goat people are no different than sheep people and just keep going. Honestly, I wonder why anyone stays in any type of livestock business but I have to admit that I love my animals and enjoy having them.

Look at how unhealthy people are and look today. My DH and I were looking at pictures from the early 40's. While faces looked tired, people looked healthy. Not a fat person in any picture. Kids knew how to garden and knew where their meat and vegetables came from. Look at our lifestyle. Kids don't even know where their food comes from. I think that spills into everything including animals. Just give a pill to get rid of/hide the symptoms of things and build up super bacteria, viruses and parasites.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

and to be fair....

my good neighbors are having TERRIBLE problems with their goats - first time in years of having them. and their 4H leader (had goats for years and years) is also having a terrible time with them....as well as other folks in their club.

we all think it has to do with the weather. and cocci tends to bloom in hot and wet which we have all been dealing with.

so as always.. we are all in this together.

Bee - i haven't had one problem with the goats that the 4H kids couldnt solve. i dunno if i've just been lucking or if i've been doing something right. our motto around here is "get out there and free range or be hungry" and "if the 4H kids cant fix it then we'd better the gun and a shovel." if they cant make it then they cant make it.

so far so good and those silly goats have more than paid for themselves so we are totally on the upside as far as finances go. we also havent sunk a ton of money into them (we dont show or breed) so that helps.

maybe we are the exception but so far so good. and for us..

i think one thing that may be to your (very valid) point/ question is that goats seemed to have stopped being livestock and started being pets... and maybe thats why there is so much hubbub????

i dunno. hum. i'm gonna think on it while i go squeeze them goats.

 

[freemotion]

Bee, I hear ya. Believe me, I hear ya. I love goats, for some masochistic reason. Until this year's babies, I've had rescues in the past 8 years that survived neglect. When one had a baby (the one that died young due to pnumonia, born in the dead of winter to a starved doe) and I started milking her...at first to keep her production up while the baby was hanging on and fighting for life, and then because she was gaining weight nicely and I wanted to have the milk....I was thoroughly hooked. So I bred two, thinking I had some tough lines.

Well, I now think it has to do with the superbugs and the reduced nutrients in the soil and in the feed available for purchase. Weaker genetics may have a role, as my buck was purebred...but trouble-free for the months that I had him.

I would like to produce stronger goats ultimately, and probably will, but meanwhile, I have to help them through the troubles and trials until I figure it out. What is major drama for me is likely a blip on the radar for an experienced goat farmer. They probably see the signs, pull out the meds, dose, and go to bed and sleep soundly. I see gloppy poo and I panic, mostly from reading how they go from dog poo to dead it seems.

I suspect (hope is more like it) that I caught this episode much sooner than most inexperienced people like myself would because I have a microscope. The two doelings are eating, active, and back to almost pelleted poo. So I suspect that without the 'scope, I would not consider coccidia until they were very sick. Then I would post here and a few days later they would be dead.

Another problem is the lack of knowledgable goat vets. This makes me, and some others here, very reluctant to call the vet and spend hundreds of dollars ($250-300 is a minimum bill for anything around here) and still have no answers.

But I still don't know how much Corid to give them. So they still are untreated.

I guess I will see what I can order, but we are so far from all those companies, it will be a few days before I get anything. And most meds can't be shipped to MA, so that is why I try TSC, because I can pick stuff up in CT. That is how I get my vaccinations and injectible dewormers and needles and such. They won't ship to me. Sometimes an empoyee isn't paying attention and an order goes through. So I'll try.

 

[freemotion]

Oh, and financially, I am so sure I am ahead of the game, even with my pets/rescues who will be here until they die. Of course, they don't. They just eat and poop.

Just with the grocery savings on milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt, etc, we are ahead financially, in spite of the troubles. I even sold my buck last year for what I paid for him, so breeding the two does cost me a little hay and grain. And goats eat almost nothing (after owning horses for many, many years!)

I have some woods I hope to browse my girls in next year, but there is a lot of metal trash in there so it is not safe yet....old fencing, junk, etc. from previous owners with no respect for the earth. I have to clean it up in the spring before the undergrowth takes over, but you know what spring is like on a homestead!

 

[()relics]

And, if you are trying to improve the strain of goat genetics, why not eliminate the goats that cannot thrive without constant intervention?

that should be the ultimate goal of any breeder of any species of animal...A twofold problem exsists with goats...
1 people that have no business owning and breeding goats, do if fact, own and breed them....Because they are the cheapest "farm animal" to own.
2 responsible breeders, again of any species of animal, have the duty to harshly cull the weak and genetically inferior animals...and NOT USE THEM FOR BREEDING STOCK...again refer to problem #1...And by cull I mean SLAUGHTER....not sell them to your neighbor so they can use them as breeding stock...again refer to problem #1....
...many a full blooded billy has worn the wether's band around here and sub-par doelings face a similar end....If I wouldn't use them myself; they go to slaughter....PERIOD....BTW if you run across my tattoo be sure you are looking at a quality animal...A quality FARM animal...if you want a pet get a dog