Update! Ana had babies! Need opinions ASAP! See page 3

[Picklestix7866]

Ana had triplets. One didn't make it, but the other two little girls did. One is doing fantastic, but the other isn't doing so hott. Izzabelle (the weaker one) can't really walk yet. One leg doesn't seem to want to work yet. They were born at 1:30 PM. She can kind of stand up but her leg doesn't want to cooperate. We went out and bought milk replacer and a nipple, but the nipple doesn't work very well. We ended up milking Ana so we could syringe-feed Izzabelle some colostrum.

Why isn't her leg acting right? What should we do? We still have them both out with Ana. Help please!

 

[ksalvagno]

Do you have a vet you could call? I'm new to goats and have no idea. My only experience is with alpacas. I use a Pritchard nipple for the alpacas. It is red with a yellow screw top. You have to cut off the tip. Works well with a Coke bottle or Mountain Dew bottle.

Did you see the birth? Was there any trauma during birth? Maybe that is why the leg isn't working ok. The only other thing I can think of is white muscle disease which is from a selenium deficiency but I really don't know when white muscle disease shows up in a kid. Also don't know if you are in a selenium deficient area.

Good luck with your little one. With alpacas, we feed small frequent feedings so we usually feed a couple ounces every 2 hours to start but I think it is different for goats.

 

[helmstead]

It's very likely a selenium deficiency. I would give both kids a dose of BoSe ASAP.

Congrats on the two doelings, sorry about the lost one. Pics?

 

[Picklestix7866]

Her right front leg just looks a lot bigger than the rest. Its so much bigger that she can't walk on it, but she can kind of stand on it. Why is that?

 

[Picklestix7866]

What would cause a selenium deficiency, because Ana had goat feed, hay, and a mineral block.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Most of this country is selenium deficient. If it's not in the soils then they don't get it in their hay/grass. You really need to be aware of it and make sure they get it in their grain or by shot.

If they were calves, I wouldn't hesitate to give the shot and from what you're being told here, if they were mine, I would give the BoSe.

 

[Picklestix7866]

The weaker baby is in the house now. How often do I have to feed her tonight? We milked the mama and have it in a bottle now, so we are going to try bottlefeeding her. We also went out and bought milk replacer (Unimilk). This will be an interesting night... Good thing school is out soon. Graduation is thursday!

 

[zatsenoughcritters4me]

is her leg swelled up? did you have to pull her or was she born naturally? they need to eat every hour or so at first, especially to get that colostrum. will she nurse her mother at all even if you hold her there?
we had one that was not doing great, I brought her in and she drank a bit from the bottle, and after a few hours we brought her back outside and she drank like she was starving!
sounds like the leg is an injury. I would definataly have someone look at it.

 

[zatsenoughcritters4me]

also we just use a regular baby bottle and make the hole bigger

 

[Picklestix7866]

We are using a regular baby bottle with her mommas milk. She will nurse if we hold the mom so she can't escape, but I'm not going to do that every two hours tonight in the dark alone.
They had to be pulled out when they were born. I guess there were three feet sticking out at one time. I wasn't there but my neighbor had to come over and help. He knows more about what he was doing. We don't think the leg is injured though. It is just really big. It is longer and thicker. It also doesn't seem to have enough muscle to hold herself up on that leg. I think it just developed like that because there wasn't enough room in there to grow right. I don't know...