# My Pregnant Female I Need Help!



## Gracie99 (Oct 2, 2011)

I have a pregnant female and she is huge but no utter development keep in mind she is a show goat. When I walk her she gets tired really easily and all she does is lay around and now she can hardly stand on the fence to get her food anyone have any idea if she is due soon(I bought her pregnant so idk the due date). She is miserable and i feel so bad for her she is acting like a mom to my other goat they are seprated but they can not go out of sight of each other. Please Help!

Thanks,
Mkayla onder:


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https://flic.kr/p/6306839335


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https://flic.kr/p/6307358804


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https://flic.kr/p/6306834309
(I was standing over her on my right)


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## myfainters (Oct 30, 2009)

Is there any way that you can ask the breeder when she was exposed to a buck? At least the you can narrow down the timeline. Is she acting off at all?


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## myfainters (Oct 30, 2009)

Most does will start to form an udder about 6 weeks prior to kidding.


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## Gracie99 (Oct 2, 2011)

He wouldnt know because she was turned out with alot of boy goats that had there chi-chi's so its a guessing game now lol. :laugh:


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## goatnutty (Oct 9, 2007)

hmm...well how long have you had her? Gestation is only five months so that might give you a lettle bit better time frame.


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## Gracie99 (Oct 2, 2011)

I think around a month and a week she keeps getting bigger and bigger.


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## goatnutty (Oct 9, 2007)

Okay, well if she is obviously bigger and you have had her for a month or so...was she showing when you got her? I'd say within the next couple of months you will have babies though..


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Make sure she has good feed and access to minerals. I think tiring can be a sign of pregnancy toxemia.


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## Jessaba (May 13, 2010)

I would say within a couple months too....she will keep getting bigger till you think she is gonna pop :laugh:


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

milkmaid said:


> Make sure she has good feed and access to minerals. I think tiring can be a sign of pregnancy toxemia.


My fear as well.


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## Robynlynn (Jan 18, 2011)

I would put out some baking sode just in case she is really bloated...however if it is toxemia you need to something ASAP..the below if from onion creek ranch goat health management articles.......
When Pregnancy Toxemia occurs, a dramatic change in feed will not solve the problem. Instead, divide her grain into three or four small meals each day. Make sure that she eats a lot of top-quality grass hay. Leave fresh, clean water out free choice. Also offer some warm water laced with molasses or apple juice to encourage water consumption. The doe needs to drink a lot of water to flush toxins from her kidneys. An occasional handful of alfalfa hay may prove helpful. Proplylene glycol dosed at 60 cc orally twice a day can be used, but this product is hard on her kidneys and goats usually don't like it. An alternative to propylene glycol is a combination of 50% dextrose diluted with an equal amount of water and given orally at a rate of 60 cc twice per day. Molasses and water or Karo syrup and water can also be used. Get both Vitamin B12 and Fortified Vitamin B Complex into her, and orally drench her with GoatAde (www.goatsupplies.com). Feed the doe as many green leaves as she will eat; in off-growing season, pick dried leaves and offer them to her free choice. Oral administration of CMPK or MFO is desirable. Niacin at a rate of 1000 mg per day is helpful. Daily dosing with Goat Guard Probiotic Paste is advisable (www.goatsupplies.com). Moderate exercise is essential; do not allow the doe to be inactive.

A good preventative measure for both Pregnancy Toxemia and Ketosis is to offer molasses-based 20% protein sheep-and-goat blocks free choice to all pregnant does. The energy available from the sugars in these blocks goes a long way towards counteracting possible nutritional problems. Buy the 33-pound sheep-and-goat blocks because they do not have minerals that slow down ("limit") consumption. Make sure that the sheep-and-goat blocks do not contain urea or non-protein nitrogen. Use these blocks as supplements to whatever else is being fed. A goat's ability to overeat on these blocks is almost non-existent. Offer loose minerals made for goats on a free-choice basis; the does will eat the goat minerals as they need them. This is a good example of a situation where a combination block is not desirable. One size does not fit all.
good luck!


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## Gracie99 (Oct 2, 2011)

What is pregnancy Texomia she is feed everyday water cleaned everyday and she has a heat lamp. My boy is seprated from her to so if she has it itll be safe even though hes a wether.


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

Hi Gracie, 

Pregnancy toxaemia is a condition that we see with heavily pregnant does. 

What happens is that, often when a doe has multiple babies in there, she has trouble getting enough nutrition to keep herself and them growing at the same time. So she starts to metabolise her body fat stores. When the fat is broken down, it gives her and the babies nutrition but a byproduct of this fat metabolism is the production of things called ketones. These ketones build up and it starts to have a toxic effect in her body - making her feel unwell. Because she feels unwell, and because she's big and heavy pregnant, she starts to lie around a bit more, she is less active and so she eats less. This compounds the problem, because then she needs to use more of her bodyfat to feed the kids, so she gets more ketones in her body, making her more unwell. As you can see its a bad cycle. It is seen often in does in the last 4 to 6 weeks of pregnancy (though it can happen earlier), often in does that have multiple kids triplets or more (but again, it can happen with twins or even one big single kid) and it often in fat does (because they have more fat to metabolise therefore more ketones) and I'm assuming that given your girl is a show doe, she's carrying a little more condition (fat) than ideal. 

Things to do to help her through this:

a) Keep her active. If she sits around a lot during the day, go out every few hours if possible and make her go for a gentle walk around. 
b) Keep her eating. This can sometimes be hard to do. Small feeds often, ensure that she has some grain and LOTS of hay, as much hay as she wants. Try putting tidbits in it to encourage her to eat, carrots, bran, biscuits, raisins etc. or even molasses whatever you find she likes to eat
c) Dose her with commercial preg. tox preparations. I have never found any ill effects on the kidneys as mentioned earlier. You can get them for cattle, sheep, sometimes goats but you can give them the stuff for cattle or sheep. Brand names here are Vytrate, Ceton, Keton but I'm not sure what you get there. I give 50ml straight into the mouth with a syringe or drench gun, twice a day. If they are bad I do this until they kid. If they look better they may only need it for a few days. 
d) Since preg tox is a metabolic disease and it often goes hand in hand with other metabolic diseases such as hypocalcemia, I give CMPK subcutaneously as well to cover all bases.

Usually with preg tox they will feel worse until they kid, then feel a whole lot better. It can get pretty bad if left untreated, the doe can go down and not be strong enough to get up, the kids can get malnourished and be born weak or dead, the doe may have no energy to deliver them, she can die. 

It may be that your doe is showing early warning signs of preg tox, or she may just be feeling pregnant and heavy  I have had girls that were perfectly fine but they were HUGE and obviously uncomfortable.


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## Robynlynn (Jan 18, 2011)

In my experience some goats are just more likely to get it than others..she may have several kids in there and her body is short on certain nutrients....now, this may not be what she has, but you may want to treat her to be sure...it's likely nothing you have done. It's sounds like you are taking good care of her..she can not give this to anyone, if it's toxemia it's nutritional. You do need to call your vet though and get her opinion....


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## Gracie99 (Oct 2, 2011)

Ok I let her and my boy out everyday to play they run around play. I feed her and she nipples on her feed but eats hay and my grass in my yard so she is getting exercise and food lol. I also have a question if she is in with my boy a wether will he kill the baby if they r in the same pen. They are right now bc its cold here and I only have one heat lamp and they are in my barn where its warmer.


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

I'd like to nominate Keren for Goat Spot post of the week.
I'm printing that for future reference.


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## Robynlynn (Jan 18, 2011)

i think they will be ok for now...she doesn't look like she's ready to kid quite yet...her udder will fill a month before (although each goat is different! some don't follow the rules! :GAAH: ) you see kids. the udder will usually get so full it's tight to the touch. 
When her udder is tight you may want to put her by herself for kidding and until the kid(s) is able to run around on his own.
If you are new to goats there are some good books out there that can help you too...one is by Gail Damerow you can search for the author on amazon books...The name of it is not coming to me...this sight is very helpful too!
:wave:


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

Your wether should be fine with the baby, the only time you would find a problem is if he headbutts the baby, however mum should protect baby from him. If he gets too rough, mum will probably headbutt him to tell him to back off. So they should be fine to be all together, just keep an eye out for any bullying that gets out of hand. 

And thanks Tenacross, now I'm blushing


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## Gracie99 (Oct 2, 2011)

Thank yall I have them in the same stall but seprated just incase she wants to do a sneak thing on me. The reason I say that is because every animal that I have had pregnant waited until I wasnt pay attention. Like a mini I had I waited a week day and night for the baby so the night I go to sleep she has him. I'm scared if she does that and she needs help(since these are her first) I wouldnt be there to help her.


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

I am always scared of that too Gracie!

But what I have found is that, if they need help, they can usually wait a few hours without anything too terrible happening. 

So, when I have an expecting mum, I check at 10pm at night, and if she's not showing any signs I go to sleep. But I set an alarm to go off at 2am, and I get up and check her again. If she's not showing any signs, I go back to bed until 6am, then I check her again. If she starts labour sometime in between my checks, and if the baby is stuck or something, she will usually be ok until my next check, then I can help. 

If I see signs that she has started labour, I dont leave them, or if its just very early in the labour, I will go do something and check every hour, but I wont go to sleep.


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## Gracie99 (Oct 2, 2011)

thank you for the tips ik shes close bc she is gettn a udder bigger than my hand and shes l3ft 5 around her belly and layn down more. she doesnt like it when i leave but she has woody and im sick today so i can not stay outside and she changed her eating now she finishs her foot when she gets it instead of nibblen.


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