# Doe has gone off feed



## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

I have a 7 year old Nubian doe that went off feed about a week and a half ago, all of a sudden. Her temp is fine, her eyelids look good, pooping and peeing normally and she's acting pretty close to normal otherwise. I have noticed that she doesn't eat as much hay as she normally does and wants grass more. She'll actually pass up her feed and hay now for eating the pasture. She's got a good appetite for that.

She's currently being milked and has gone down about half her normal amount due to going off feed. We were able to get her eat her grain for a day last week and her supply came back up, so I know it's down because of that. 

She's no better or worse than when she started, so I'm at a loss as to what it could be. At first I thought she may have eaten something in the pasture to give her an upset stomach, but she hasn't gotten over it so I doubt that's it. She's had the same grain and feed her whole life, so nothing has changed.


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## teejae (Jan 21, 2013)

Have you wormed her? That would be the first thing I'd do,teejae


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Give her some b complex and probiotics. Can you get a fecal done?


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

I don't worm my goats as a practice unless they need it. We've had goats for several years and I've only had to worm two goats in all of that time. I keep a close eye on their eyelid coloring and hers hasn't changed at all. 

I know a lot of owners fall back on worming goats at the first sign of something being off, and a lot of times it is a problem. On the other hand, I believe the main reason worms are resistant to wormers is because it has been way overused. I try to keep goats that are more resistant to worms and don't need constant worming.


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

I can give her vitamin b and probios in the morning. I can take her poop in tomorrow for a fecal


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## lilaalil (Sep 5, 2014)

Yes, I would do a fecal, since there are other worms that do not cause anemia, but do have a negative effect on their health. I think you are right about the overuse of wormers, but would be good to know what you are dealing with.

Might be a problem with the feed or the hay? Are your other goats eating it?


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

All other goats are acting and eating normally. Typically if I have to worm it's after giving birth, but she kidded last year. I thought about the feed and hay but we've gone through a couple of bags and bales since this started so I don't think that would be the problem. Hopefully the fecal will shed some light.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Make sure they include coccidia for the fecal.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

All really good advice.


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

I heard back from the vet today. He said he only found one worm egg in her stool. 

I saw something today that might be part of the culprit. We installed a self waterer in their trough a month ago. She had been drinking out of it fine but I noticed today that she didn't want to drink out of it. We put some water in a bucket and she drank a lot. That would explain the reduction of milk, but not the feed problem. Still don't have a reason for that. 

Any other ideas?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Treat the rumen. I'd give her a rumen bolus for 3 days in a row.


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Or you can give flat dark beer.


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## TexasGoatMan (Jul 4, 2015)

*Off the Feed*

Yap, that explains it to me. If she is not drinking enough water, she is not going to eat the dry feed. My goats always drink water after eating their feed. That explains why she is eating more grass, it has more moisture in it than the hay. Get her a water supply that is friendly for her and I bet your problem goes away. Good luck.:ram:


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

TexasGoatMan said:


> Yap, that explains it to me. If she is not drinking enough water, she is not going to eat the dry feed. My goats always drink water after eating their feed. That explains why she is eating more grass, it has more moisture in it than the hay. Get her a water supply that is friendly for her and I bet your problem goes away. Good luck.:ram:


I agree! Many people don't realize they go hand in hand so very much. That's why when you have e dehydrated animal they won't even look at feed.
If the water doesn't do the trick, which I think it will, maybe pull her away from the rest at feeding time. With her being a little older she may not want to push in and eat with the rest. I have a young doe who does not like to fight or be pushed around and she grazes even if I put feed out for the goats


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

All great advice.


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## TexasGoatMan (Jul 4, 2015)

*Goat off t he Feed*

Let us know how your doe come along. If the water is the problem if not what you figure out.

Thanks in advance


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

Still no improvement on her feed intake. We gave her an alternate source of water to drink from. We have several goats, so tracking her intake is hard, but she's drank from the new trough before. She's now down to a quarter of her normal milk supply, and I'm at a total loss as to what could be going on. 

She's still pooping,peeing, eating hay and grass and chewing her cud. No temp, the vet says her poop doesn't have an excessive worm load. She appears to have dropped a little weight, probably from the lack of feed. She's fed free choice alfalfa, so she was a little chubby to begin with. 

She has never gone off feed like this in the almost seven years we've had her. She's the herd queen, so she's able to get all the hay she wants and we feed her grain on the stand away from the other goats. I'm starting to get worried that her supply has decreased so much, since she's fed alfalfa in addition to her grain.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Have you thoroughly checked all her teeth including the back teeth?


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

I thought about her teeth, but she eats hay and grass with no problem, so I didn't check them. The way she picks around at her grain on the stand looks more like she's not interested rather than she's in pain. But this morning I'll check them to make sure. 

When I went out to milk her yesterday evening her ears were hung lower than normal and she grinded her teeth a little. So that's a new development. She still ate hay as normal, though. It's just now getting daylight here but I can see her in her normal spot, in the mouth of the barn, looking out. So, it seems like she's still acting normal for the most part. I've called our vet and hopefully he will come out this morning to see if he can find what's wrong with her.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Grinding teeth is pain or discomfort.

Let us know what the vet says.


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

The vet came out this morning. She was running a temp, so he gave her antibiotics. It took about a week and a half to progress far enough for her to run a fever, and during that time the only significant symptom was not eating her feed. He gave her two antibiotics so hopefully she'll be back to normal before long. There isn't any apparent wounds or sources of the infection, so I'm sure we'll never know how she got it. 

Thank you to everyone offered suggestions.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

She probably just had a bug but her body was fighting it off to a point and it won. I had that happen to a buck I purchased. He just seemed down but no temp. This was after silent pneumonia came threw and still fresh in my mind so I just treated and he came out of it fast. Hopefully your girl is on her feet in no time


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## TexasGoatMan (Jul 4, 2015)

*Goat off feed*

What was the vet's findings? Have you tried feeding her with another doe ? Sometimes the desire to eat more than a competitor if eating together. I use that trick when one of mine gets kinda finicky about feed. Just a thought. I am beginning to think you have a serious problem. Have you considered just stop milking her and let her reserve the nutrition and energy. As we say just turn her out to pasture. How long have you been milking her?


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

The only thing the vet could find was a fever, but he couldn't find the source of it. He gave her some antibiotics and she has perked back up, although she still hasn't started eating her grain yet. She's not walking droopy anymore and her ears have come back up, so she has improved. We've stopped milking her, she pretty well dried herself up earlier this week. 

We still put her up on the stand because she wants to come out and get on it, since that's her routine. While on the stand she will stand there, head out of her food bowl, and she doesn't care if the other goats come up and eat out of her bowl. Last night I fed her corn chips and she went wild for those.

I'm still keeping a close eye on her, I watch her like a hawk to make sure she isn't acting worse than the day before. She still looks a little ragged for my liking, her eyes are just slightly sunken and she's lost weight from the whole ordeal. I hope she's coming out of whatever it was. 

I took this picture of her last night.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I hope she gets better for you.


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

She's still running a fever, but it's lower at 104.1. The vet wanted me to give her banamine, nutri drench and vitamin b. I gave those to her a couple of hours ago so I'm hoping to see a difference in the morning. He said if she's still running a fever over the weekend we'll change up antibiotics. She's had Resflor Gold and Excede so far.

She's not eating hay at all, that I can tell, and just a little grass. She acts like she's interested in eating something until she sniffs at it and then she walks away. We can get her to nibble the apple tree some. She's drinking plenty of water. This is the strangest thing I've had to deal with, for sure. We've never had a goat act like this with an infection, and I hope we never do again.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

When did she kid last? If it was recently, I would say it is a uterine infection that was brewing in there. 

PenG SQ, check for blood when you insert the needle, always pull back on the syringe and check for blood, if it goes in the syringe do not inject, remove and find another spot, recheck for blood again. If there is no blood, inject. 
Give it 2 x a day, 1 cc per 20 lbs for 7 days should cut it out. Her vulva never stunk either. 
PenG is for uterine infections, Nuflor a powerful med, but did not work for this case. 
Something to consider?

I had a doe do that, I couldn't figure her out, at first she seemed off, took her temp it was high, started nufor/banamine, she then by the next day acted fine, ate, but still had a fever of 104.3, so I then switched to PenG and it worked, by the next day it was 103.7. Each day it went lower and then she was back to her self again with a normal temp of 102.7. 

I even tried a different thermometer at first, it read the same. Have you tried a different thermometer in case?


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

I took her temp this morning and it was 102.7, but I gave her banamine last night. It had been 12 hours since the dose, so it could have still been suppressing her fever. I'm going to take it again tonight, so it should be a true indication of her temp.

She hasn't kidded since last year. We also bought a new thermometer yesterday to make sure it was reading correctly.

She's still not eating, but she's moving around more. So far she hasn't gone down, but she's been standing off in the corner.


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

She was up this morning and acting like her normal self. She ate a little grain and came with me to fill the hay trough up. She hasn't done that in a week, so I think she's on the mend. Thanks to everyone who offered up advice.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Glad her temp is normal now, that is good and she is feeling better. 
Keep up the antibiotics.

I wouldn't give her grain until you build her gut back up with probiotics and fortified vit B complex for a few days. 
Make sure though it is a few hours after antibiotic treatment.
If she hasn't been eating and her rumen isn't functioning properly, feeding grain cannot digest.
So hold off on that for a little while, then when she is back to normal for a few days and rebuild her rumen, you can slowly introduce it again.


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

Ok, will do!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Keep us updated.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

How is she doing?


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## thomcarol (Feb 3, 2012)

She seems to have recovered fully. She's put weight back on and has worked back up to about half her normal amount of feed. We're trying to get her back in milk, this morning we got close to a cup. Whatever it was seems to have gone away. 

The vet gave her a dose of Resflor Gold when he came out and gave me another dose to give her 72 hours later. She acted poorly until 36 hours after I gave her the second dose, then she perked up and started eating hay again. That was last Saturday. Since then she has improved every day.


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Glad to hear


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Good to hear.


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