Goat with loss of appetite and froth coming from the mouth

[Camile]

Hi everyone,

Does any one as an idea of what the problem could be with my nanny goat.

She lost her appetite since yesterday morning, and yesterday evening she had some froth coming out of her mouth.

I covered her with 2 nice rugs for last night ... they sleep in the shed at night so are not on the outside.

They have a field shelter during the day .. she only eats what she forages, some hay and rolled barley in the morning.

This morning there was no froth .. and when I offered her some barley she just smelt it but didn't eat any.

I've kept her in the shed for today, she has clean water, barley, hay, cabbage and carrots available.

Any clues ?
Thanks,
Camile

[Shirley]

Has she managed to forage something which is poisonous to goats? There are quite a few plants that are bad. I can post a list if you need it.

[Camile]

Hi Shirlz,

I doubt she did .. she's been with us for about 5-6 months now .. and are browsing at the "same place".

After what I read it could be poisoning. And I just remembered that the night before yesterday, they were back in the shed on their own when I arrived from work .. but I don't know where they escaped from as I couldn't see anything signs.

So maybe she did eat something nasty ..

Camile

[maggie144]

I like shirlz think this could be some sort of poisioning, have a look around the area, there are a lot of things they are allergic too.


let me know what you find i would be interested to find out

good luck with the search.

what type of goat is she?


maggie

[Camile]

Hello ..

Just a quick update on the goat .. she's doing better now ...

When I came back from work on wednesday, she was all bloated (she wasn't the night before or in the morning) ! and loads of froth from her mouth again ...

So the vet came back again .. her temperature was 104F ... so he injected her and gave me some "Calf Oral Rehydrating energy stuff" to force feed her every half an hour .. and I was massaging her rumen to help her out ..

I did so and the next morning she had more energy, she looked a bit better ..

Continued feeding her the rehydrating product ... then the vet came around again (just to check) .. and the temperature was 101,5F so fairly normal ... but she still had a bit of gas ...

She give me some thing to force feed her (bacterias and colostrum to restore the balance in her rumen)
.. and 3h after that .. she started eating some blackberry leaves, ate a bit of hay .. then she wanted to get out to see the other goat .. so did that for 10 min, came back in and ate a bit more hay ...

I still didn't see her drinking so I kept on with the rehydrating thing ..

In the evening, gave her some more rumen bacterias thing .. and 1h after she ate plenty of hay ! hurray !

This morning .. she ate a bit of hay .. I offered her a tiny bit of barley, she did take it, but almost straight after she starting frothing again .. and kind of puked a bit ..

I gave her some more rehydrating product and rumen bacterias .. and she ate some blackberry leaves again ... and some hay ..

So I believe she's on the right track now .. and the vet is coming to check her out once more fairly soon ..

Thanks for your advices .. and it sounds like it's food poisoning or abuse of one specific food ..

Camile

[red]

does sound sliek she ate something she shouldn't have


glad she is on the mend

[Boots]

Oh Camile, so sorry - I have only just spotted this, and yes symptoms were very clearly bloat from the beginning.

Pull up all chopped feed and don't reintroduce until poo returns to shiny pellets.

Withhold water and Provide bowl of bi-carb (baking soda) - and keep it topped up and available for next five days. Also if you can get some young/new citrus branches, feed them once there is some bicarb eaten and gases have started to release.

For now, ONLY FEED long stemmed feeds. Check hay is not mouldy - if so - bung it in a garden where the goats can't get to it. To counter bloat, you need to activate movement in all four stomachs. A goat can't do this with crushed, mashed or chopped feeds, as they tend to sit and ferment. Short grass has the same effect.

Good idea to provide bi-carb at least once a fortnight under usual conditions, as this will let them counter any nasty or stubborn feeds themselves. Also a burned log, so they can counter the runs with a natural charcoal lick. They may never need it, then again they might.

If goat does not start farting or burping, try drenching with a bicarb and water solution....syringe it in in small amounts. Do this as a last resort, and let the animal swallow. Don't force it down, as you would other livestock, or it can end up in the airway.

There is not a lot of room to muck about with bloat. It needs a quick response, and again I am sorry I haven't seen this earlier. I have lost a goat to bloat, and it is heart breaking. Usually a vet would release the gas, by inserting a tube or empty pen case, and I'm not aware of colostrum being used to treat. I hope this works. Adding anything to a bloated goats gut can be dangerous. The only reason you feed, is to activate the digestion process and rid the stomachs of gas. Then you withold food, so that can happen.

Remember - a healthy goat, has a noisy gut. It growls and bubbles and it is supposed to. If a goats stomachs go silent, then there is actually something wrong. It's not the other way round.

Let us know how things go Camile. Am thinking of you. Please don't ever hesitate to send me a PM if you need a hand with your goats. I am only too happy to help folks avoid probs I have already encountered. Can't gaurantee I will always have an answer, but will always help where I can. I hope you goat comes through ok.

[Shirley]

Thanks for that very informative post Boots.

Camile - I've been thinking of you and your goat - hope things are getting better.

[Camile]

Hello ! and thanks for the thoughts !

"Nanny" is now back to normal ! a couple of hours after "drenching" her with the "colostrum" (proper mix of bacterias that should be in her rumen" .. she started eating and she's now eating and drinking fine .. she's greedier than ever but restrict her anything except hay ..

She's got some nice big long hay .. with just a tiny bit of rolled barley/wheat, a few slices of apple or swede .. and I made a new big hay rack to go in their field shelter so she always has something to ruminate on ...

She even started to head butt the ewe again so she's definitely fine !

And indeed her rumen is back to the full rumbling sound it used to make ...

Thanks for the advice, it definitely was bloating of some sort ... apparently frothy bloat which is even worst than normal bloat .. but she's fine now and from now on I'll keep a bowl of baking soda in the field and in the shed so they always have it handy ! and I'll get a log and burn it to make charcoal ...

Here she's happily munching on some hay in the field (the brown one, I believe she's an irish ferral goat):



Camile

[Boots]

Great news Camile! Was getting a tad worried there. So glad to hear she came through well, and the shot did the trick. I will have to ask my vet about this stuff, as it would be good to keep handy. When conditions change here (long drought, then rain) or we get an abundance of green feed delivered, the goats can tend to get a bit bloaty and I have to watch them fairly carefully.

So glad all is good! She is a cutey too. She is the same colour as the lil calves that have been visiting my donks over the past few days, much to the objection of the neighbour who lives between us! My donks would just love a piece of that grumpy ol coot!

[Camile]

Thanks again boots ..

Apparently this solution is to help restore the proper balance of "good" bacterias in the goats rumen ... so it can counter attack the bloating ..

Because apparently bloating is some sort of imbalance of those bacterias ... as far as I understood ...

I've heard that you can also give me some "live" natural Yoghurt to have the same effect ..

And that's funny to have the calf coming to your donkeys ... maybe you could try sending your donkeys over and see the look on your neighbor's face !

Camile

[ainslie]

I have drenched with vegetable oil to counteract bloat.

[Camile]

Hello,

I've heard about the oil trick ... apparently it coats the inside of the rumens and therefore prevents any more poisoning to get into their systems.

That old nanny is still doing well nowadays ... happy days ...

Camile

[ainslie]

My goat book says "bloat is caused by gas trapped in numerous tiny bubbles, making it impossible to burp," I think the cup of oil or handful of sodium bicarbonate breaks up the little bubbles or else makes them bigger and more burpable?

Glad your doe is doing well! Good thing you were paying attention - i almost missed it in my doe (she wasn't frothy), but it happened quickly so when I noticed something a little odd I stuck around and lo and behold within 5 or 10 minutes she was the good-year blimp and almost floating away so I freaked out and got my butt in gear to help her! I don't remember now what it was I thought caused it, but it hasn't happened since and that's been more than 3 years now.