7 wk old doeling having "doggie" poops, took in sample for fecal & vet came out asking "is this goat still alive" my heart sank! We got her (and 2 others) 8/25. Per vet giving dose of pancur for next 3 days,as well as albon for 10 days. He said to be on "death watch" she is overloaded w/worms. I know now she was weaned way to early, which I'm sure increased her susceptibility. The other two are 3 wks older and are fine. To look at her you wouldn't think anything was wrong - eating, etc just as well as the others; however they climb on a dog house to sleep leaving her by herself - she's too small to jump up there- ? more stress? My plan is to bring her inside - we're still having heat & suffocating humidity & storms - so thought less stress, better her chances, and it will also make sure she gets her full share of feed. Anything else I can/should do?
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WOW, I can't believe it, never seen anyone else with that problem cept mine! I am so happy you found your vet and that your baby is doing well. Did he not advice using milk for such a young baby to keep that sugar up?
Soooo happy you found a goat vet!!! Keep us updated!
UPDATE Sweet Pea is doing much better. Had a terrible scare Thursday - almost lost her; couldn't stand up, started seizing, spent 2 hours trying to find a vet to help, called a vet from our church to get a referral & found out this is his specialty! While she may very well have worms - that wasn't what was causing all of her problems, she was hypoglycemic. I knew the two older goats would try to keep her away from the grain now and then, but apparently the same was happening w/the hay in the barn at night & she hasn't been getting any roughage. The "prescription" was gatorade (she like the red kind;), Tums & honeysuckle - all to get her sugar up & electrolytes back in order & calcium to help even out her "tummy" issues - every 2 hrs through the night Thurs, by 8 pm no more seizures - not even little one & by Friday morning good as new!! I have separated their pens because they were really beating her down & now I know she's getting her fair share of grain AND hay. Now that I have found a "goat doctor" we will be getting another fecal tomorrow & hopefully a definitive on the worm situation.
Milk replacer would at least have more protein and calcium, so might help with her growth. The trick is going to be getting it into her. I'm assuming she was dam raised? Getting a kid that age to take a bottle or drink milk from a bowl is tough. You could even try cow milk.
Deborah knows way more than I, so we will see what she says about that, but I would never want a 7 week old that is not getting milk of some kind. Even if it is a replacer.
I just posted a story recently about a doeling and 2 bucklings that I lost a few years back, who were about 10/11 weeks. They had grown big, fat healthy w/ fecals that showed no worm problems, no symptoms, fine looking goatlings that just started dropping dead. Vet said: low blood sugar and blamed it on their being weaned to early. They were over 2 months old! I have no desire to ever wean anything again before 3 months.
That's a decent amount of grain, but there is nothing that will provide her with the protein, calcium, and antibodies that are in milk. No wonder this person thinks it's "normal" for them to be sick the first six months. As you said, she was weaned way too early. Without proper nutrition, you will just have to keep throwing drugs at her and pray or cross your fingers or something.
If she was given Panacur when she left the breeder, and she had a big load of worms at the vet, then clearly there is a resistance to Panacur, so it's pointless to use it or any of the other white dewormers (Safeguard, Valbazen) because they all work the same way. If you did not see improvement with ivomec, then you would need to try Cydectin or Levasole, which are basically the big guns that people use when they have resistance to the other dewormers.
Keep checking the eyelids to see if they are getting darker. You will see an improvement within 2-3 days after successful deworming in an otherwise healthy goat. However, I have to add that I have never had a weaned kid that age, so I'm not entirely sure how fast her body will recover. The poop should be changing back to berries if you're on the right track with the drugs.
She started breeding/selling in 2008. Sweet Pea was born 7/6 and we got her 8/25. looking back through e-mails weaning started 8/13. Breeder said to give them 1 cup each per day until they reach 6 months; They all eat from same bowl, so they share 1.5 cup in am and same in pm.
SMZ-TMP is an antibiotic. It wouldn't do anything for worms or coccidia. Is this person new to goats? How long exactly have you had Sweet Pea? In other words, how old was she when she was weaned?
How much Purina Goat Chow are you feeding?
@margaret - got it, chew cud ;). They are all eating purina goat chow (not the medicated one), hay, & dry leaves and pine needles when they find them.
@deborah - when I contacted the breeder asking for information/guidance, she said she uses SMZ-TMP (not sure what that stands for) and had used albon in the past for the herd, & told me to "hang in there, it gets better after they're six months). These specific goats, she gave them all panacur the day we picked them up. As far as pasture goes, I am using the moveable pens, moving every week, during the day; they go to the barn each night.
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