# Buck with Diarrhea



## Goat Crazy (Feb 8, 2010)

I think he has an upset stomach. He has been having diarrhea for three days, it is light brown and stinks. He does get wormed regularly, so I don't think that is the problem. Any suggestions? Also, he is still active and has a good appetite


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## cmjust0 (Oct 8, 2009)

In my experience, there are really only a handful of things that commonly cause a goat to scour... Dietary upsets (think "taco bell"), bacteria (true "food poisoning"), coccidia, intestinal worms...and I usually go ahead and classify acidosis on its own, though depending on the severity, it could maybe fall into the "dietary" category. Those issues cover most instances I've seen, personally..

To me, a foul-smelling, light brown scour usually indicates a bacterial gut infection...dysentary, basically...e.coli, salmonellosis, etc. You can equate it to true "food poisoning" in humans, and we all know how we feel when we get food poisoning. Generally speaking, though, food poisoning comes with a fever, lethargy and some level of inappetance. Also, these types of scours also pretty commonly include lots of mucous, some blood, and possibly some 'epithelial shreds' (gut tissue, basically)...and the scour sometimes turns to dirty water.

On the other hand, if it were purely dietary in nature (think along the lines of a sudden "run for the border" after a long hiatus from spicy food), I'd expect the animal to be acting more or less normally and have an appetite, as you described, but I'd also expect the scour to be greenish in color without much foul odor to speak of..

If it were acute coccidiosis, the scour would probably be very dark in color and foul...and he'd most likely be under 6mo of age.

Instestinal worms are something I don't have a *whole lot* of experience with, as I spend so much time battling barberpole worms (which are *stomach* worms) that I tend to clear up any intestinal worms as a consequence.. The one caveat there is that if you use something like Ivomec or Cydectin, they don't treat tapeworms...and tapeworms can cause scouring. For tapeworms, you'd either need to use a white dewormer (Safe-Guard, Valbazen, Synanthic, Panacur, etc) or praziquantel (equine Quest *Plus* Gel). If he hasn't been dewormed specifically for tapeworm, I'd probably just go ahead and make that part of my treatment protocol just in case.. 

I do have a doe who's poo used to go solid/clumpy/solid/clumpy/dog-log/solid/clumpy...just all over the board. When it was clumpy or dog-logged, it would be light brown...I never noticed an odor, but I didn't exactly sniff-test it either...it may have. She never had bad FAMACHA scores for barberpole worms, so I didn't deworm her... Well, after trying probios, baking soda, pepto, and a number of other things, I finally broke down and hit her with dewormer just in case it was an intestinal worm situation.....she cleared right up. 

Anyway...just a thought, in case your wormer isn't hitting all the culprits.

And so that basically leaves acidosis. Is he eating lots of grain, or has he had his grain ration upped recently? Is he eating cracked corn or anything like that? If so, that could be a culprit.. As a general rule, I take *any* scouring animal off concentrated feed until they stop scouring, and then re-introduce it slowly.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Has he had any diet change recently or fed more of something? To much Rich feeds...can be the culprit to.....
Could be diet change....giving pepto....2x a day will tell you... if it... is just that....it usually clears it up... within a couple of days..... Do not feed grain while they are scouring..... 

Now.... if it doesn't clear up ....I recommend getting a fecal done for worms and cocci........ But...I do actually recommend getting one now... as it has been 3 days of scouring.... to rule anything out....scouring takes alot out of them and has to be stopped quickly... also give him electrolytes....


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

how old is this buck?


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## Goat Crazy (Feb 8, 2010)

He is 2 years old. Sat. I think I gave him a little more grain then I usually do. I just eye ball his grain. He share's it with his buddy, so I don't know if he kept his buddy from getting very much that day. I wormed him with ivomec and an herbal wormer in july/aug. 
He's souring badly, it's liquid. If it's tape worm's wouldn't you see them?


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

I would give him 10-20ccs of Pepto and see if that helps to stop him up a bit and if it doesnt clear up in 12 hours then I would consider checking his stools for parasites. 

Some probios wouldnt hurt either


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I'm going to add that he should not get any more grain until the diarhea stops..only hay and fresh water as well as what Stacey mentioned.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

good point Liz - thanks for adding that :thumb:


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

> Do not feed grain while they are scouring.....


 Already mentioned above with my post......LOL :laugh:


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

toth boer goats said:


> > Do not feed grain while they are scouring.....
> 
> 
> Already mentioned above with my post......LOL :laugh:


it certainly bears repeating because people dont realize how important this can be to the recovery. :chin:


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

OK...


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

How's he today?


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I hope he's doing better and really hope the cause was diet related.


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## Goat Crazy (Feb 8, 2010)

He's the same. I don't have any pepto, so i gave him some charcoal (sp) and herbal wormer. Though charcoal won't help his souring any or at least not right away. He still acts normal though, so maybe he has a worm problem, plus if it he had an upset tummy, I think it would have improved some what at least by now?


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

Do you have any probios? if not can you give him some yogurt with active cultures in it?


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## Goat Crazy (Feb 8, 2010)

Yes, I have been giving him acidophilus (Forgot to add that)


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

well I would take a stool sample to the vet and ask for a full fecal work up.


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## Goat Crazy (Feb 8, 2010)

Okay, thanks! 
By the way how much do you feed your nigerian bucks? My guy is a little thin I didn't give him enough over the winter and he lost some weight. I didn't relize it till this summer, because of his thick coat. I up'd his grain, but he still needs some meat on him.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

1-2 cups during rutt and way less then that during the rest of the season. 

I dont know exactly the amount because my friend does all the buck feedings since they are at her house. 

what grain are you using? whats the protein %?


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## cmjust0 (Oct 8, 2009)

Well, despite the fact that he's still acting normally, for him to have scoured a foul smelling light brown liquid for this long would be enough to cause me to drench him with Scour-Halt. Reason being, it sounds bacterial, and Scour-Halt is just a 'old-timey' sounding name for an oral formulation of the antibiotic spectinomycin.

There's no way to *know* it's bacterial, of course, without having a fecal culture run...but I'd personally do the Scour-Halt at this point. 

TSC usually carries it.. Last I saw, I think they'd changed the name to "Scour-Chek" or something like that...it's still spectinomycin, though. Dosage is about 5ml every 12hrs, for 3-5 days.


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