My girlfriends' goat had triplets last night. 2 does, 1 buck. She had to call the vet. The second kid was twice the size and would not come out. The vet had a dickens of a time but finally succeeded. The buck was born dead, vet said at least 4-6 hours. I never saw anything like this before. He was all formed but full of water under the skin. Vet called it a "water belly". What is that? What causes it and can it be prevented again?

-- Pat (pmikul@pcpros.net), March 26, 2000

Answers

The buck probably just swelled up after it had died. I had the same thing happen with triplets. They just get into bad positions because there are so many of them. When it happened to me I lost my two does, and the buck survived!!! I don't know if the buck was twice the size because it was just a bigger kid (healthier placenta, and just being a buck) or if it was the swelling. Chris

-- Chris Allen (cfallen00@hotmail.com), March 27, 2000.

Usually when a vet refers to "water belly" it's caused by a urethral blockage, and isn't all that uncommon in male ruminants. I've never heard of one in a prenatal or unborn animal, but it may be possible. In any case, when there's a urethral or urinary blockage it eventually can cause kidney damage which can be fatal.

-- Judy Bowman (bowman61@altavista.com), March 28, 2000.