Hi,
I'm probably going to call my vet, and do a fecal test, but in the meantime I thought I'd see if anyone here has experienced this. My four-year-old buck has had clumpy poop on and off for the past few days. He is on dry lot and fed hay, so worms seem unlikely. He had some pizzle rot over the winter, which I scrubbed with a betadine solution, which cleared it up. His manure ranges from totally normal (usually later in the day) to clumpy and almost runny (usually in the morning). He has some signs of copper deficiency and I dosed him with COWP. He has been eating his loose minerals like crazy (Sweetlix Meat Maker). I've also given him two versions of Probios, the powdered one for goats and the scary looking blue gel in the tube from Tractor Supply (which he hates). I have also found what look like half-chewed wads of cud a couple of times. Every time I go to call the vet, his poop returns to normal and I don't find any wads of cud, so I keep holding off on the vet call. He's eating, drinking and behaving normally. His buck buddy has none of these symptoms. Any ideas?
Replies
Glad to hear he's doing better!
Well, I think I solved the problem, thanks to the information on this forum. He's been completely back to normal for a few days now, and I'm almost certain he had a copper deficiency. I gave him COWP mushed up with some raisins, as well as several doses of probiotics. Over the course of a few days, his poop gradually went back to normal. He was never off feed, but his rumen was very gurgly (maybe due to my drenching him with Probios). I gave him a couple of good rumen massages (upper left side behind the ribs), which tended to result in wet poop. The gurgling went away, then the poop turned back into normal pellets.
Thanks, Julia! He gets plain grass hay, and it's the same stuff he's been eating for about a year. No grain. I've been giving him probiotics, but his poop is still very soft. One of my friends said she has a buck who gets cocci in the spring, and I'm wondering if the pizzle rot he had this winter weakened his immune system enough to make him vulnerable.
Julia @Woody Glen Farm said:
What exactly does he eat? I had problems with my buck having clumpy poo for months and couldn't figure it out until I realized he couldn't digest any alfalfa or even small amounts of grain. Once he was on just straight hay and browse he cleared up. Just a thought.
I've generally been giving him the probiotics in the morning, which may be keeping his rumen functioning better during the day, but the effect wears off overnight. It's really strange!
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Clumpy poop is usually due to parasites or too much grain, but neither of those seems likely, as you said. The half-chewed cud adds an interesting twist. Have you been keeping track of when you give him the probiotics and when the symptoms disappear?