# Coccidia and pregnant does



## rtdoyer

I've been searching for a post on pregnancy and coccidia. I thought I read somewhere that pregnant does should have a treatment of a coccidia _________. If the coccidia affects mostly kids under one year, what is the reasoning behind the treatment for the pregnant does? At what stage in pregnancy would you treat?

I have Di-Methox (Sulfadimethoxine) and the schedule I've read for kids (starting at 3 weeks) is: 
Day one: 1 ml per 5 pounds- given orally.
Days 2-5: 1 ml per 10 pounds- given orally.

How would you dose a doe?

Tonia


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## Dwite Sharp

Tonia,
I have never heard anything about treating pregnant does for coccidiosis, and would advise against it if they don't have an overload. All goats have coccidia in their system but generally if they have been treated for it at a young age then they usually are able to keep the coccidia at a manageable level. I would be concerned about the effect of the coccidiastat on the pregnancy. Running a stool sample for coccidiosis would be my choice for determining if coccidiosis was a threat to the does health. Before administering a coccidiastat to a pregnant doe I would consult a competent goat vet as to what to use and the dosage. Remember, many a goat has been done in by a well meaning vet that had very little training or experience with goats. They are a creature like no other and some treatments that work for other ruminants can be fatal to our caprine friends. Happy Trails, Dwite


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## rtdoyer

I read this and I was asking because this website is meat goats and I wasn't sure if there was a big difference in meat vs dairy in pregnant does. We live where it is pretty dry and we've always treated the kids but never the adults.

Thanks for your post!
Tonia

http://tennesseemeatgoats.com/articles2 ... gin06.html
*One month before the first doe is expected to kid, de-worm all pregnant does. Do not use Valbazen; it can induce abortions. At the same time, boost the does' CD/T vaccinations. Kids are not born with their own working immune systems; the CD/T booster given their dams both protects the pregnant does and passes immunities to the kids which usually lasts until their immune systems start limited functioning at around one month of age. Clean the does' systems of coccidia parasites by either dosing them orally or in their sole water source for five consecutive days with either Albon or its generic equivalent Sulfadimethoxine 12.5% drinking water solution. CoRid is another product for this purpose, but it is a thiamine inhibitor -- don't use it unless there is no other option. Another plus is that both Albon and Sulfadimethoxine 12.5% drinking water solution contain an antibiotic to handle secondary infections.*


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## TDG-Farms

Personally that seems a bit over kill and misleading. I guess if you have frequent cases of coccy it might be worth it. And as for the CD/T, its pretty much standard practice to give that to kids around the 1 to 2 week mark. Most often given when dis budding / tattooing. Or castration for butcher stock.

At birth bo se and vit E are about all you need. Spraying the cord with an iodine solution a couple of times the first day is also needed. Now I do know of a farmer who runs many more head then we do and she does an 8 way about a month before birth and swears by it. But for a reasonably clean pen area and lesser numbers, Id not bother unless past experience dictates the use of it.


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## Dwite Sharp

Tonia,
Valbazen is only a danger to pregnant does in their "First" trimester of pregnancy. We use the "Famacha" eye chart to determine if any of our adult goats "NEED" to be wormed. Worming indiscriminately is the cause of parasites becoming resistant to the few effective wormers we have for goats. This has become a big problem in the southern states and has caused the loss of large herds of meat goats just weeks after mass wormings with the same wormer that had been used time after time. Rotate your wormers among at least three different ones, after using it twice on the same goat (but each time only if needed). 80% of your parasites come from 20% of your goats. It is possible to cull out the 20%. We have goats that have "NEVER" needed to be wormed and others that are like a roller coaster with their parasite load and need to be wormed constantly. It is genetics. Ivomectin has become a big concern because of over use and we have stopped using it all together, several years ago, after a parasite resistant issue that killed half a dozen Boer kids. It was Valbazen that stopped the parasites and kept us from loosing many more kids that year.
We use Corrid at 4 weeks (5 days only). Ten days later we worm them. Three weeks after the 5th day of corrid we give them 5 more days of corrid, then 10 days later worm them again with the same wormer used the first time. If your kids get a large load of coccidia and worms at the same time 9 out 10 times you will loose them no matter what you do. Happy Trails, Dwite


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