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Sick Goat - Got into the Grain - Best Treatment?

 
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Hi Permies,

So my friend's young goat (2 monthls old - Alpine/Saanen) got into the tub where the chicken scratch pellets are kept and had himself a feast. Now he is very sick and will not eat or drink anything. She is trying to give him water and baking soda.

Any suggestions as to a good treatment?

Thanks for your help.
 
Posts: 45
Location: Southern Ohio (zone 6a)
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Getting into grain can cause bloating and potentially death. Try giving him oil (pretty much any type of oil works... except mineral oil) and then massaging his sides as this may help to break up the gas bubbles and allow them to be expelled.
 
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Location: Texas
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I know this is kind of late, but, Pepto Bismal is also a good tummy trouble aid for goats. You can mix the baking soda into it and make it more tolerable to the goat.

And perhaps an injection of Clostridium Perfringens Types C & D Antitoxin.
 
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Philip Green wrote:Getting into grain can cause bloating and potentially death. Try giving him oil (pretty much any type of oil works... except mineral oil) and then massaging his sides as this may help to break up the gas bubbles and allow them to be expelled.



Actually, the opposite is true. Any vegetable oil will digest, and add to the problem. Mineral oil will NOT digest, and help things move through.
Also Pepto-Bismol, 30 mL every hour or two, and CD&T antitoxin at 10 mL.
The next day, give vitamin B to help stimulate the appetite, and a probiotic or a bit of another goat's cud to re-start the good bacteria in the gut.
 
Philip Green
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Location: Southern Ohio (zone 6a)
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Carolyn Pindzia wrote:

Philip Green wrote:Getting into grain can cause bloating and potentially death. Try giving him oil (pretty much any type of oil works... except mineral oil) and then massaging his sides as this may help to break up the gas bubbles and allow them to be expelled.



Actually, the opposite is true. Any vegetable oil will digest, and add to the problem. Mineral oil will NOT digest, and help things move through.
Also Pepto-Bismol, 30 mL every hour or two, and CD&T antitoxin at 10 mL.
The next day, give vitamin B to help stimulate the appetite, and a probiotic or a bit of another goat's cud to re-start the good bacteria in the gut.



There seems to be debate over this in the goat world. The site I looked at said use vegetable oil as it breaks up the bubbles and allows them to be expelled (but not mineral oil - as it is tasteless and can cause and get into their lungs and cause choking). A second says use mineral oil, but not vegetable oil (as vegetable oil adds to the digestive load). A third, fourth and fifth say use either mineral oil or vegetable oil.

Based on the voting (from the top 5 hits on google), it appears either vegetable oil or mineral oil work fine. Now I'm curious what people here have used/have found to be successful.
 
Betty Yin
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When a vet comes out to treat a colic, they use mineral oil.
I would tube the goat, making sure I'm not in the lungs before introducing the oil, eliminating the danger of aspirating the oil.
 
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Location: Minnesota, USA
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When a sheep or goat eats too much grain, what happens, is there is an overgrowth of lactic acid producing bacteria that feeds on the starch from the corn. The rumen is suppose to be a neutral place, where microbes that digest forages hang out. But the big overdose of lactic acid producing bacteria acidifies the rumen, killing the 'good' bugs, and causing inflammation of the rumen wall. Oil does not really solve this problem. My first response is to give an adult sheep 10 cc penicillin orally to stop the proliferation of 'bad' bugs, followed by a pint of warm water with 1/4 cup of baking soda delivered by esophageal probe (an oral calf feeding bag will work for most adult sheep or goats). The baking soda and water helps to restore a neutral environment. An anti inflammatory may be called for as well. This is all done when first discovered. Then over the next few days, I provide a pan with baking soda and lots of fresh water, and let the animal choose to self medicate should they need to. After two or three days, I then try to restore healthy rumen bacteria either by stealing a cud from a healthy animal, or by use of any high quality commercial microbe product such as probios paste. To steal a cud from a healthy animal, you need to be able to approach a fairly tame animal while it is chewing its cud. quickly grab the animal by pinching just below the 'adams apple' to prevent it from swallowing, while a helper spoons the cud from the mouth. Mix the cud with warm water and strain the particles out. Put the green liquid into the oral calf feeding bag, and deliver by esophageal probe to the rumen. This will need repeating for several days as initially the rumen environment may be pretty hostile. provide access to all the long stem mature grass hay they want, as chewing and digesting grass hay will help buffer the rumen.

If the grain overload is not promptly and properly treated, and if it is severe enough, the animal will slowly starve to death over the course of the next two weeks, because it can no longer digest any food. So grain overload is a serious condition that requires prompt treatment. The sooner the animal is treated, the more likely it will recover.

Janet
 
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Location: France
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Janet McNally wrote:

If the grain overload is not promptly and properly treated, and if it is severe enough, the animal will slowly starve to death over the course of the next two weeks, because it can no longer digest any food.
Janet



Thanks Janet, that's really useful information. And this last part that I quoted I hadn't realised, that the condition lingers on causing starvation! Scary! My goats escaped last week for the first time in more than a year and one found the grain bucket (which ALWAYS has a lid on because I normally feed them but once, just once, my husband did the feed and left the lid off). However, she was sorely disappointed as I found them within minutes - they made such a noise. Phew.
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