I have an old goat, who I have only had for three years. She has abit of a chequered past but as far I can gather she is about 12 years old. She kidded in May but because she is a pet she was allowed to rear her own kids. The kids were taken off her at 4 months old, which was just over 2 weeks ago. As her milk had pretty much stopped, I felt it would be okay to start feeding her back up (I had avoided giving her to rich a diet to start drying up her milk). However, she has lost a lot of weight and I was probably overeager in feeding her which resulted in getting diarheoa. I have her back to hay and straw to try and dry her up. I have also wormed her, just to rule worms out of the equation. Today her face looked swollen. I checked in her mouth (she still has all her front teeth and her molars did not look in bad condition) and there were no signs of wads which would indicate teeth problems. I have several questions I was hoping people could help me with: Can anyone suggest the best food for building her back up Can anyone suggest and other reason for the weight loss

She is a much loved pet and I would greatly appreciate any help, Many thanks

-- Richard Leech (RichardatCFC@aol.com), October 04, 2001

Answers

Swollen face is a sure sign of worms.

Diana in Fl

-- Diana Vance (dvance4@netzero.com), October 04, 2001.

Yep worms more than likely here is a site to visit, click on the "is your goat showing signs of parasites" http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/2178/worms.html

I would doubt with all her front teeth and good molars, she is 12. Especially with a questionable past, does simply don't kid at 12 or live to 12 unless very well taken care of. You don't decrease the grain on a thin doe to dry her up, you simply stop milking. She is probably severely anemic, which will take a very long time to turn around. Lots of good hay, grain, add some Black Oil Sunflower Seeds to her grain to increase her fat, don't waste her calories on pellets, use real grains, oats, barley, chopped corn, soybeanmeal, and a good loose mineral.

What's her gums look like? What did you worm with and how much? Add some baking soda to the top of her grain if you change it, and until she feels better keep baking soda out for her. Do not increase her diet with molassas feed! Molassas does have iron in it, but is so sweet it makes the rumen acid, causing diarrhea. It also has the kind of iron that actaully makes absorption of copper (which is much more important) slow. Increase her blood with Red Cell or another blood booster in the equine section of your feed store, B vitamins, Goat Nutradrench. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), October 04, 2001.

Have you had a fecal test done to see if maybe she has coccidiosis? That would cause diarrhea, and weight loss, and worming her does not even touch it, you need a different medicine for it.
How much is she milking now? How often are you milking her?
You say that her face is swollen- is it swollen under the jaw (worms, maybe the wormer you used is not effective on this type of worm) or is it swollen on the sides, the cheek area, and not at all under the jaw? I don't know where you live, but in some areas there are plants that irritate the mouth, such as cheat grass, or even hawthorn. If her face is swollen on one side only, could she have been stung or bit by something?

I have a doe that I really love, who because of her history, is always thin, and can quickly become emaciated if her feed isn't kept up. What Vicki told me to do, was to start feeding her beet pulp pellets, in addition to her regular grain ration which also had black oil sunflower seeds. The other goats would not let this one eat very much, so I had to put her in a pen of her own, where the hay was stored, so that she could eat hay free choice without being hassled. She wasn't a climber so it didn't cause any problems to do this. The beet pulp really seemed to help her, I soaked it in warm water beforehand, now I just feed it in the dry pellets and make sure she has plenty of wate. But if your doe's teeth are not do good, it'd be better to soak them. Before the beet pulp, I wondered if she would make it to the winter- she did, in beautiful condition, and is heading into another in fine shape.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), October 04, 2001.