# wether that will not eat



## Blueroan (Mar 6, 2010)

My largest saanen looks bloated and he will not eat. Looks like he has had diarrhea that has dried on the back of him. He lifts his tail like he is going to have a bowel movement but doesn't. He also looks like he has regurgitated something brown that smells like stool. Reading older post, I gave him some pepto bismol and baking soda. I also tried to give him some yogurt. I do not know how much I got down him. This afternoon, I let everyone out and he walked around but you can tell he does not feel well.


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

How old is the goat what has it been eating and has he been exposed to anything out of the ordinary?


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

The regurgitation is just rumen contents. If he is sick enough to vomit he needs to see a vet. You can keep giving him the yogurt, pepto and oil but he needs an expert as it could aesily be an impaction or poisoning..


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## Blueroan (Mar 6, 2010)

He is about 19 month old, it seems like this all start when I gave them some round bay hay off the roll. It is good hay that I feed my horses. The other 4 goats are fine. Before light this morning, I got up and went and feed him some yogurt. It looks like his belly went down some. When they saw me everyone got up including him, he is just slower than the others when they walked toward me. You can still tell he does feel well because of his behavior.


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## WGARDNER (Aug 20, 2011)

The active bacteria in yogurt only works on milk. Your wether isn't eating any dairy products any more, so it will not help him. Call a vet.


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## Blueroan (Mar 6, 2010)

Doing better, eating and his belly is down. I am going to stop letting them out and only allow them to eat hay and their grain ration.


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## Cazz (Jun 9, 2010)

That is good to hear that he is going better Blueroan. It is also a good idea to have Bicarbonate of Soda (baking soda) out free choice, as they will eat it themselves when they need it and it helps stop tummy upsets and acidosis, which is often fatal.


WGARDNER said:


> The active bacteria in yogurt only works on milk. Your wether isn't eating any dairy products any more, so it will not help him. Call a vet.


WGARDNER, yoghurt is given to sick dogs, chooks, and adult goats and sheep when they don't have good bacteria in their tummies, because as well as thickening the milk in a kid/lamb/calf's tummy and helping settle the animals' food, it also replaces bacteria lost by sickness, antibiotics or too much of some kind of feed.  I have saved some chooks who were extremely sick, convulsing and not eating or drinking by feeding them yoghurt and giving them both nutrients and good bacteria for their stomachs. You would never know what had happened to look at them now.
Cheers,
Cazz


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## WGARDNER (Aug 20, 2011)

The active bacteria in yogurt is for making milk solids into cheese. Lactosebacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus are the active ingredient in yogurt. This is well known to any cheese makers. Also why only the lining of a milk feed calf/kid can be used as rennet to make cheese. Older animals no longer have this bacteria in their gut (Omasum) This is also why you need to make a kid being fed a bottle to stretch it neck, just like a dam feed kid does. So it gets the milk into the omasum. The stretching process makes the milk pass the first two stomachs and go into the milk stomach. Pro-biotics contain different bacteria to get animals rumen working. Specifically Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum. Dogs and cats are not ruminants so the use of yogurt on them is irrelevant. The goat has 4 stomachs. The stomach which breaks down cellolose and starch is the rumen usually this is the stomach that is causing the trouble. You need to make sure the Ph isnâ€™t off . If it is low, cellulose canâ€™t be broken down. That is why Bicabonates are a good idea. I have never had a vet recommend or ever had a class or a book which recommends yogurt to adult ruminant. Just because there is a bacteria in something doesnâ€™t mean it will help the animal. They would probably have recovered on their own. 
-Wendy


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## Cazz (Jun 9, 2010)

Thanks Wendy.  I have had yoghurt suggested several times, and the chooks/chickens would def. be dead without it - even the vets didn't think they would survive. Yoghurt and several other things are often recommened over here by vets and chicken experts for sick chooks/chickens and yoghurt and electrolytes and a few other things are given to adult goats who won't eat to get the nutrients into them. When our dogs are sick or run down, especially after having lots of puppies, they get yoghurt and raw eggs as well. (all home-made/grown)
Cheers,
Cazz


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