Suddenly"fat" goat?

[Lil-patch-of-heaven]

Hello all. Maybe I'm just being paranoid but I want to take good care of my girls and I don't want my ignorance to hurt them.

My alpine x Nubian yearling doe w/6-week old buckling nursing looked especially solid when I came home from running errands. I've looked at the pics of bloat (since I first thought was the probable cause) but she is not that lopsided and it's not that pronounced. She just suddenly looks a little fat? It's not fat though.

She's acting normally except still favoring a front leg slightly. We finished securing the big pasture yesterday and turned them into it for a few hours before putting them back in the yard at night and I noticed a limp when I brought her in. I felt the leg but couldn't find anything wrong and she won't let me check the hoof. It was a slight limp and not always there so I wasn't too worried.

She isn't acting distressed or abnormal in any way otherwise.

Am I just worrying for nothing? She did browse extra on green growth yesterday as well as on new plants. Oh, and dh cut tree limbs with new leaves and tossed them to the goats yesterday.

I'll keep an eye on her of course. Is there anything besides bloat it could be?

Thanks all!

 

[Roll farms]

It could just be she's got a full rumen full of fresh vegetation.

If she's not acting distressed, I probably wouldn't worry too much...but I always offer free choice baking soda in the spring, just in case on of my fat girls eats too much 'fresh green stuff' and gets an upset tummy.

I also top dress their feed w/ probiotic powder (opti zyme) and a little baking soda.

 

[Lil-patch-of-heaven]

Thank you so much. I'll put out some baking soda then. I hadn't realized they would eat it on their own. I'll see if she will let me do her foot. If nothing else she loves to eat so I'll have dh offer her a treat and I'll bet she'll stand then.

thanks so much!

 

[dhansen]

I always keep a bucket with baking soda for my goats. They eat a lot of fresh grass this time of year and eat the baking soda when they come in from the field. It's a cheap and easy preventative for bloat.