Belle, (she was my first ND) had a bit of a rough start to life with coccidosis and I'm wondering if it had a lasting effect on her. She never showed signs of heat (she's now 18 months old) but I thought I saw a little flagging on September 10th and put her in with the buck. I was positive she was bred and planned to send a blood test in to confirm on November 16th when I send it tests for 2 of my other does. Well over the weekend she lost the pregnancy. I saw bloody discharge but that's it; I'm sure my chickens probably ate anything else that she passed.
I am really sad and wondering if I should just call it quits on this doe. She seems to have trouble keeping weight on and I'm wondering if that can go back to the coccidosis she had as a baby.
I introduced Throvin Kelp to them in the very beginning of September and was thinking that may have been what helped her fertility. I put out 2 cups a day for my 5 does and they quickly eat it all. I'm also wondering if that could have caused her to miscarry from over-consumption if she got extra greedy.
I have two other does that I'm positive are pregnant (will know for sure next week after I submit their blood samples) and they seem perfectly fine.
They have free-choice Sweetlix, Selenium/E powder, baking soda and now 1 cup of kelp a day between the 5. They get peanut and coastal hay and as the pasture starts to die back I will start them on some alfalfa pellets too until they freshen in early spring. They also get copasure every 3-4 months and no one has any worm issues.
Could she have poor nutrient absorption be the cause, or is kelp over consumption more likely? Can they just lose a pregnancy sometimes for no visible reason? How soon after the miscarriage is it safe to try breeding her again since it was still early in the pregnancy? She looks like she's in heat again today and my buck seems to think she is. This is only the second time I've ever seen signs of heat from her, could she really be in heat this soon or is it just residual pregnancy hormones? Also, is it possible for a doe to miscarry one kid and finish the pregnancy with others if there are multiple, or do they lost all of them? This turned into a much longer post than I intended but it seems each new challenge/problem brings tons of new questions.
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She's at a fine weight now (if she weren't I wouldn't have bred her). She just seems to have a harder time than my other does with keeping weight on. I would rate her body score at a 3 right now. I have a doe that is half pygmy and I swear she can get fat from just looking at hay, but this doe just needs extra attention or she starts dropping weight.
I'll call around and see what the local vets would charge for a blood test.
If all else has been done with feeding/parasites and she still is not gaining weight, I have found that they are usually having malabsorption issues from a lack of B vitamins. Simple blood test will tell you if so. Just a thought.
I tested her for toxoplasmosis before breeding and she came up positive for antibodies so it wasn't toxoplasmosis that caused the abortion. At least I know that much. I have not had her blood tested for B vitamins, is that something that's normally done?
If she has malabsorption issues, have you had her blood checked for B vitamins and/or lack of ?
The jury is out on what to do in that situation. A couple years ago a woman at the ADGA conference talked about all of her does aborting (about 15 of them) because they all got toxoplasmosis. She re-bred all of them immediately, and it worked fine. Many years ago, I had a doe abort, and I rebred her, and she died a month later. Now I realize it was probably because she was copper deficient, but I didn't know that at the time, but it makes me wary of re-breeding too soon. You might want to watch her for a month or so and see if you find anything else abnormal. If she is coming into heat more often than every three weeks, she might have some hormonal issues.
I was putting out 2 cups a day of kelp but lowered to 1 cup when I was worried that over-consumption of kelp may have caused her to lose the pregnancy. She's the queen so she tends to push everyone out of the way and eat most of the kelp herself. If you don't think that was an issue then I'll try to leave it free choice again. It's hard with it being $70 a bag though.
It's hard because I just wish I had answers. I know it would be mostly guessing at this point. I'm pretty positive it was a miscarriage with the way she was standing (hunching the way my other doe did when she was in labor and laying down/getting up a lot) and how much discharge there was. She was acting like she was in heat again today too.
Do you think it would be safe to try and breed her again this soon after a miscarriage, or should I wait longer?
I'm sorry for your loss. I know what it's like, and I understand your desire for answers. Unfortunately anything that anyone says will just be a guess. Many times when a doe loses a pregnancy, we don't know why, and in fact, if they lose a pregnancy early, many times the owner doesn't even know the doe was pregnant. We just assume she didn't get pregnant.
Nutrition is absolutely vital. If a goat has coccidiosis severely as a kid, it can permanently impair their ability to absorb nutrients. It sounds like you're doing everything you can to ensure that they're getting the nutrients they need. A cup of kelp a day for five goats is not that much. I leave kelp out free choice for my goats, as do many cattle producers, which is why I adopted the practice.
At this point she's lost one pregnancy, so I wouldn't get too worried yet. If you breed her repeatedly, and she repeatedly loses the pregnancy, then I'd give up. I should say that it SOUNDS like she lost the pregnancy. Seeing blood and then her acting like she's in heat does sound like she's miscarried. I have had goats show a little blood and go on to deliver healthy kids. I've also had goats come into heat when they were pregnant. However, I've never had both of those things happen together. I always mark all possible due dates on the calendar and pay attention as it gets close so that I don't get surprised by kids.