Well, I’ve been one worried goat mama over the past day. The babies have been suffering through diarrhea, despite my steadfast efforts to help them by providing electrolytes, Pepto-Bismol (bismuth subsalicylate) and water. They have been acting normally, the skin-pinch testing doesn’t show any dehydration, and they are still peeing normally.
I’ve been in contact with our vet briefly in email, but she is attending a conference out of town, so her availability is quite limited. Naturally, I’ve been scouring the interwebs looking for any credible information that might offer some relief, and there are so many possibilities – but all of the serious diseases seem to have other symptoms, including a lack of normal behavior and urination. Something else I’ve read is that they may just be having trouble because they haven’t been eating much hay. We were trying to hand feed and provide a bucket with some, but they were just nibbling here and there.
We acquired a wall-mounted combo hay feeder yesterday, and my husband installed it this evening. The girls were immediately interested in the new addition to their pen – Heidi even jumped inside of it to see how well it might work as a cubby. (She was immediately evicted, of course.) We added some hay and broke it all up, and their interest grew exponentially! They all started munching away intently.
I’m really hoping that this helps – I’ll be going down to check on them again in the next hour or so. Are there any readers out there who have dealt with this problem with month-old kids? I’d love to hear from you about your experience. Thanks!
Related Images:
Leave a Reply