One of my kids, just over 2 months old now, woke with a runny hind end this morning and I'm wondering what type of action I should take. She is a bottle baby and came here with mom. I've kept her with mom and I think she may still try to nurse though I'm not sure how much mom allows it anymore because I do get quite a bit of milk when I put mom on the stand. She has been transitioning to hay really well and eats from the pastures too. Up until now I've noticed nice pellets except last night when there was a clumpy poop. Perhaps there may have been more clumpy ones I didn't notice leading into this? I checked her eyelids this morning and they looked good. Her energy and appetite are fine. She has lost a little weight but I thought perhaps this was because she wasn't being allowed to gorge herself on the bottle; she was quite the porker when she came here and drinking down a full 20oz. in a blink would be nothing to her. I gave her a dose of probiotics this morning and she also has access to baking soda and sweetlix which I have noticed her taking at times. I know she was given an SMZ treatment for coccidia dated 6/1-6/16 and was wormed on 6/1. Is there anything else I can/should be doing?
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Oops! I just read your reply and re-read mine, and I see that I made it sound like the berries were good. I meant the leaves. The leaves are very good for diarrhea situations. I should fix that post. I'm so glad she's doing well! :)
Thank you Patty! :) It has to be tough to be that far from the farm store. I might as well be that far from ours since they seem to be out of everything I need all the time and don't really stock items all that well. Its pretty surprising actually considering we have a lot of dairy farms in the area as well as 4Hers. Indeed it is stressful. I don't have any raspberries/blackberries growing but I do think there is a stand not far from my house where there an elderly gentleman may be selling them along with his honey. I'll have to check it out. Thankfully she doesn't have diarrhea any longer. In fact she has gone back to having quite a few pellets and fewer clumpy poops. I think she is actually doing pretty good all things considered. Now to just wait and pray until Monday arrives.
I'm wishing you the best with your little one. I live in an area where the nearest farm store is a 2.5 to 3 hour drive, so I have to order online and wait a lot too. Not always easy, and sometimes stressful. If you have raspberries or blackberries growing wild in your area, they are very good to give when there's any diarrhea. They seem to help a lot, so maybe that might help her while you're waiting.
Julia, I'm really glad I took the fecal in too! The TSC near me is currently out of stock of Corid - ugh! - and aren't sure when it'll come back in. They have a truck coming in Sunday but there is no guarantee Corid will be on it. I called the feed store in town but they didn't have it either. So, I had to go online. I searched and searched for places with the quickest shipping options and hopefully where I went with will process the order in a speedy fashion. It should be here Monday, just wish it could be tomorrow.
Deborah I will make sure I read the label carefully. I copied the dosing instructions directly from the vet so perhaps I need to call them again. I was curious about how that would transfer to a liquid as well but figured I would just read the bottle and figure it out for a kid myself. I am getting the 16 ounce bottle so I think I'll do the same as you and figure out the math and give the smallest amount without diluting. Prayerfully all will go well.
Be sure to read the dosing instructions on the bottle. Liquid is not measured in mg. Maybe he or you meant ml, which is the same as cc? If so, 30 is a huge amount to get into a kid. That's an ounce! If you are getting the 16 ounce bottle, it tells you to dilute it, which I don't do because I'm not going to try to get that much liquid into a kid. We do the math and figure out the dosage to give a much smaller amount without diluting.
I'm glad you got a fecal done! You don't have any farm stores anywhere near you? Like Tractor Supply? If not, I guess you'll just have to wait but you also might want to do a search online for "feed stores" and see if there's one you don't know about. Most of them have Corid.
I took in the fecal sample yesterday and just got the results back. She does indeed have coccidiosis. The vet recommended either an SMZ course of treatment 50mg 2x/day for first 24 hours then 1x/day for two weeks or to do Corid 30mg orally for 5 days. I'm going to go straight to Corid since she already had the SMZ treatment. The only problem is I had to order it online and while I did expedite it am not sure how quickly it'll get here with it being the weekend. She is actually doing well all things considered and went back to producing some pellets but still has clumpy poops at times. Is there anything I can be doing while I wait to make sure she is okay in the meantime?
Yeah I'm just not sure what is up with this lil' kid of mine so I'm going to grab a fresh poop from her in the morning and take it in for a fecal. They're a bit pricier than $10 at my goat vet but it'll be worth it to get to the bottom of what is throwing her system off. She isn't having diarrhea any longer but still isn't back to pellets either. I'm going to give her some medicated feed since I do have it and see if it helps get her fully back to pellets since probios aren't doing it. I hear you on not wanting to mess around with coccidiosis, or anything else for that matter that could be taking over, due to the potential future dangers. I certainly don't want any harm done to her future growth and more importantly just want her feeling better.
Eating pasture and hay does not cause diarrhea. Only an overabundance of grain or spoiled grain causes diarrhea.
You don't really want to mess around with coccidiosis beecause it can permanently scar the intestines and prevent proper nutrient absorption in the future, which could ultimately mean that she may not even grow large enough to ever be bred.
Julia, thank you again for the additional information. I agree with you on not believing everything on the internet, that is why I turned here and called the breeder, who is sadly out of town at the moment - ugh! Her husband said he'll try and have her call while she is away to help offer more insight. It appears my little one is trying to get back on track with just the probios though. She still has the dog like poops so far today from what I've seen, but is maintaining energy, eating, and otherwise looks good. How long should I wait to see if everything gets back to normal before taking in a fecal sample do you think? She has only had two doses of probios now. Is it possible the amount of hay she is now consuming combined with pasture grazing is causing this rather than a worm overload or cocci? I don't want to overlook anything but could all this new intro to food be upsetting her rumen? It seems she has really taken an interest like a 'big' girl the past few days in eating more and this is also when her poop changed.
Deborah thank you for all the information you provided as well. I was curious on the length of time she was given the SMZ so I'm glad to have the reasoning behind this as dismal as it is. :( She is being kept in a very clean environment now and I'm rotating pastures so hopefully these things will help her system. From here though, if I'm understanding what you're saying, the only options I'll have with her are Corid or Baycox, is that correct? Would medicated feed still be an option or is it out because of the SMZ also? I do have some of that on hand. If I can offer that - how much would I give?
Thanks again ladies, I appreciate your help a lot.
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