As you may know from reading my blogs, it really seems in our life when it rains it pours! We had a wonderfully productive week, where we ticked all the boxes and enjoyed our property and the beautiful weather. We held the WPDGA June meeting at our farm yesterday and that is something I truly enjoy. We prepared, cooked, cleaned and organized for the meeting, but as I went out to do chores and milk Sunday morning my whole mindset shifted. I fed the horses, bucks and birds and made my way to the barn where the does and kids live to start feeding, watering and cleaning. I fed Moots first as I always do and then fed and milked Zoey. As I finished up my chores I noticed that Nanko was not feeling well. He had been nibbling at grain with Moots as I was planning to leave the barn I immediately noticed he was off and not acting himself. His sister was jumping all over him and he was just standing with his head down staring. I jumped into action, and grabbed my goat emergency kit, I took his temperature, which was normal, and looked at his mucus membranes which were pale. I also noticed his abdomen was distended and his breathing was rapid and labored. This said to me he had bloat. This was my first case of bloat on my farm and I ran to my show box, where the bloat x was stored and immediately doses him with 6 ml directly from the bottle. I also took my baking soda and mixed about 1 tsp with some water and shot it into his mouth. As I stood there, I thought, what if he ate something posionious!? So I took my activated charcoal and dosed him with 5cc which he protested to. I was glad to see him fight it! I also thought about vitamin B, so I took a 2 cc syringe and gave him 2 cc of vitamin complex. In this time I had observed him urinating and dedicating normal pellets twice. So I was sure it was not urinary calculi. I remembered reading about standing a goat up a hill if it was experiencing bloat and massaging their rumen. I sat with him massaging his taunt little belly for over 30 minutes and he did not seem to improve.
By this time we only had an hour and a half before people were supposed to arrive for the meeting and I had not showered or gotten any of the food out and ready. I headed inside with Nanko in a stall with his mother to call the vet. Thankfully she answered on the first call and said she would be out by 12:30. I went inside to shower and in this time our first guests arrived. Thankfully, Rob who had run to the store to try to find C&D Antitoxin for me was back and hosted our guests until I was ready. When I was done in the shower I went to check on Nanko and he was markedly improved. I called the vet to tell her and we decided to have her come check him out anyway. She got lost and Rob ended up waiting for her at the end of the driveway on the 4 wheeler. The vet arrived and began to examine Nanko, his breathing was elevated, and his membranes were still pale, and she agreed he had bloated as his abdomen was still puffy. We decided to dose him with pain medicine Meloxicam and probios and electrolytes. After a thorough discussion we decided he must have eaten a plant that upset his rumen. Thankfully, Nanko returned to his normal self last night and continues to be a happy bouncy baby goat today. This reminded me about how precious and delicate life is! Has anyone else encountered bloat in your young kids? Also, I have been struggling to get C&D Antitoxin, does anyone know where I can order it?! Hope all is well
and Happy Goating!