Wednesday started like any other day, where I got up and headed straight to the barn to take care of the animals. I always take care of the goats first, because not only are they my favorite animal and a great way to start the day, but Zoey our milker takes a very long time to eat her breakfast, so while I go about the other chores she slowly munches away with her daughter. When I walked into the barn I could smell that something just wasn't right and boy was that the case. Zoey and her babies pen had puddles of diarrhea in it and it was all coming from a very clear culprit. Our littlest buck turbo. His backside was an absolute mess, along with his buck apron! Not only was he not feeling good he was not eating, because Zoey had a full udder of milk that I needed to milk out.
While I fed his mother and sister I thought about all the potential causes and decided he had eaten something out grazing the day prior that had upset his stomach, so I gave him probios, vitamin B injection, and a drench of baking soda to help with his rumen pH. Then I went to take his temperature, because he was all hunched up and you could tell was not feeling his best. Thankfully, his temperature was normal, and I left him in the barn in his pen (that I had stripped out) to hopefully feel better. By the afternoon he was more alert and eating, but his stool was still completely liquid. This prompted more concern for his well being and additional thought, that's when it hit me! He is almost 5 months old and has not had any coccida prevention. I bet he has coccidia! I went inside and after reading the bottle of corid what felt like 300 times to get the dilution for a drench correct i was able to give him his first dose.
The next morning he was markedly better, with only clumpy poop, so I knew we were on the right path. I continued the treatment of Corid, b vitamin injection and probiotics and by day three he was back to his happy pelleting self! It is very important to give B vitamins or thiamine when treating with Corid, because it can cause a deficiency in thiamine which can lead to goat polio.
Thankfully, we noticed the issue quickly and Turbo was able to bounce back to full health. Make sure you watch your goats closely, because early treatment can mean the difference between a positive and a negative outcome.
Happy Goating!
