# Goat kid with severe bloat



## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

So I have a bottle kid, Trixie. 

This morning she seemed off, and over the course of an hour she went from a little "bloaty" looking to unable to breathe. 

During that hour, I tried baking soda, oil, gas x, massage, beating her sides, and milk of magnesia. Nothing was working. When she started gasping for breath, I used a sterile cath and shoved it down her throat (she was going to die, I've never done this before). Some gas escaped. Her sides are still bloaty looking but softer. She's breathing okay.

I gave more baking soda paste. Probios. 

She's had no food/water/bottles since her 5am feeding. And I know she doesn't get any bottles or food today. She's about 5 weeks old. Yesterday was right as rain. 

I have NO idea what to do next. Honest. She wants to lay down, she's tired. I'm tired. I keep making her stand up. She's not grinding her teeth anymore either.

Next step? How do I keep her from dying. I do not have anti toxin, only vaccine available locally. She had her 21 day vaccine. But obvs either this isn't that or its not helping. 

Suggestions?

I'm beside myself. I've dealt with a little bloat in adult goats, and even slight bloat in kids. But NOTHING like this. She couldn't breathe. I was terrified for her. Her eyes were bulging a bit and her tongue was hanging out.


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## yankeedoodle (Apr 13, 2018)

I use a product called "peptobismo" for bloat. it is a bismuth mixture for humans that you can get at any drug store. it dosen't have to be that brand, just that it is bismuth. Also dish soap, in a pinch. I also have done the hose down the throat with great success, but BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO GET IT IN THERE LUNGS!!!!! Put it on the left side of there mouth and let them swallow it slowly while appliying a little pressure.
All the best,and good luck!


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

The MOM is working to evacuate her stomach. The diarrhea smells... lets just say I've never smelled anything like it. So I will continue the MOM until she gets pellets. I gave her a little electrolytes in her bottle, and she has nibbled some grass hay and drank a little water from her dish. 

Having a goat get bloat so badly that it can't breath is a totally new thing for me. I don't think pepto would fix that. It might coat a stomach for a variety of things but honestly I think, no I know, sticking that tube down her throat saved her life. I hope I never have to do that again.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

Wow go you for saving her. Seriously. I've heard of puncturing the rumen with a needle but never heard of putting a catheter down the throat! Nice work.

How old is Trixie?

I would offer a small amount of hay and browse tonight if she were mine.


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## goatblessings (Jan 6, 2015)

X2 what Saltey said - great job! The tube would never have occurred to me!


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

She was born on March 11th, so 6 weeks? I think?

I had an 18 gauge needle ready, but I thought if we can put food into the rumen/stomach with a tube, can't we allow air out? And it was stinky, but it did seem to work. I also figured, if she's screaming its not in her lungs. Real scientific. I'm really lucky I think that I didn't hurt her, but I am pretty sure she wouldn't have made it.

I put a little grass hay and some water in a dish in the living room for her. Currently I'm mopping up all the diarrhea. ugh. Gross. But diarrhea means things are moving, so I guess thats a positive.

Here is a pic of her from yesterday, she is such a doll.


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## New-goat-mom (May 21, 2017)

I just wanted to say that I am extremely impressed! You are an awesome goat momma!


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## WhiteFeatherFarms (Jun 29, 2017)

You are awesome! I have a bottle baby & wouldn't have the gumption to do that!! I do have a question (I'm relatively new to goats), how did you know she was bloated & how does this happen? Knock on wood, I haven't had this issue yet, but I'm always trying to learn new things! Again, you're amazing


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

Wow. Kudos to you for thinking on your feet! Glad she's improving!


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

She is absolutely precious. One ear up, one down--it's adorable!! 

Awesome that you were able to save her life. Excellent work! Sounds like she got some really bad bacteria in her gut somehow. I hope she continues to improve and never has another scary episode like this. 

It seems to me (after trying it myself and reading a lot of accounts) that baking soda and/or oil are pretty worthless for treating bloat. We've had good results with Dawn dish soap. Put a couple squirts in a bottle of water, shake it up, and drench. They start burping within a few minutes as the soap bubbles break up the froth in the rumen. I had to use this treatment 2-3 times on a doe who kept over-eating on green grass and it worked like a charm. However, she was not nearly as bad as your doeling.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

Her temp is fine today but she doesn't want to eat. She took 2-3 sucks off the bottle, drank a tiny bit of water from the dish. Thats it, and thats concerning.


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

I don't think I'd worry too much about her being "off feed" for a day or two. She probably needs time to recover from such an ordeal. It takes a while for inflammation to go down, so her tummy is probably still a little achy. Electrolyte water and no milk might be the best thing for her right now. And probably also some probiotics.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

WhiteFeatherFarms said:


> You are awesome! I have a bottle baby & wouldn't have the gumption to do that!! I do have a question (I'm relatively new to goats), how did you know she was bloated & how does this happen? Knock on wood, I haven't had this issue yet, but I'm always trying to learn new things! Again, you're amazing


It can happen a variety of ways. Overfeeding I think is the most common cause in bottle babies, I feed by weight, so I know that wasn't the issue. Switching food too quickly, eating too rich of a food, getting into something toxic. All can cause bloat. I'm sure there are other things but those are the ones off the top of my head.

I knew she was "off" that morning. Instead of being her bouncy self she was a bit sleepy. I felt her belly and it was sloshy, so I was keeping a close eye on her. Then she went form sloshy to very very big. Here she is with her front feet on a box (I put her like that to help air escape). Her belly doesn't look that big, but internally it must have been because shortly after this photo she wasn't able to breathe (like 5 minutes).


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

Damfino said:


> I don't think I'd worry too much about her being "off feed" for a day or two. She probably needs time to recover from such an ordeal. It takes a while for inflammation to go down, so her tummy is probably still a little achy. Electrolyte water and no milk might be the best thing for her right now. And probably also some probiotics.


I offered her electrolytes in the bottle, no go. She did eat one baby leaf of romaine (her all time favorite treat). Probably no nutrition but it has water. The leaf was about 4 inches long.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

All really good advice and good job saving her.

She is cute.

What is her temp?

Drench(syringe feed) (no needle), her some electrolytes.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

toth boer goats said:


> All really good advice and good job saving her.
> 
> She is cute.
> 
> ...


Her temp was 102, so pretty good. I might try to drench her. She's very feisty and doesn't want to be held down for shoving anything else into her mouth. I will give it another hour or two to see if she starts drinking on her own.


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## yankeedoodle (Apr 13, 2018)

Also congrats on doing the right thing too save her. I find that 2/3 of farming is just gut instinct. some may not agree, but it is proven true for me.that un-arguable feeling like you just have to DO something has saved many an animal on my farm over the years.

Second on the probiotics.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

I've been doing the probiotics all along. No worries there. I'm a huge believer in them. My donkeys get a healthy dose daily.

Trixie awoke with a spring in her step and a twinkle in her eye. She had an 8 ounce ba, poop, peed, and got into trouble already this morning by jumping up on the coffee table and knocking stuff down. I would say she's on the mend! lolol

Still a bit of teeth grinding, so her stomach still hurts. Temp still normal (this morning 103.2).


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

I saw this video on youtube where they stuck a needle into the middle of the bloated stomach to release some of the gas when it got really bad. I've never actually tried it though.


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## yankeedoodle (Apr 13, 2018)

The needle thing is a lot more risky than the tube thing, I promise. I have done the tube many times to many different animals.
Sticking a needle in there side just dosen't seem right to me!


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## singinggoatgirl (Apr 13, 2016)

Brilliant to tube her! I've only ever heard what to do with cows, and the old time farmer said to stab a knife in their side and then twist to hold open the hole and release the froth. Now I need to learn how to tube a goat and file it away for emergencies. Much kinder, and much less chance of infection from releasing rumen bacteria into the abdomen cavity...

Super cutie!


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## Justine223 (May 24, 2018)

Hi all 
My goats are about 9-10 months old. My one boy has been very bloated since Friday. He was still up moving around not eating i gave him some oil and baking soda. I also gave him some goat bloat treatment. Saturday morning he was outside laying with his brother i gave him
More baking soda by drenching. I have spent hours massaging him. When he goes to poop he strains and just wants to lay down. He is so tired i gave him salt water enema with some lubricant on his bottom to help he pushes and a little clump comes out. He is breathing harder today from the swelling. We did do the 18 gauge needle today which allowed some air to escape and a lot of smelly greenish liquids. I have a warm compress on his left side now trying to let him rest. This is his 3rd day i have given him electrolytes to keep his energy up. I don’t know what else to do to make this bloat go away. I will attach pictures of my poor boy. I just don’t know how much longer he can hang on like this. Last night we gave him cd t antitoxin injection. We don’t have the cd antitoxin anywhere locally. Anyone help. Maybe i should try he dish soap in his mouth. We are running out of options.


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## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

You really should start your own post for this. I am not an experienced goat health care provider, but I gave my bloated doeling milk of magnesia for a laxative and probiotics to get rumen back right. There should be more people on here soon to help.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Has he peed? You can try the dish soap. With going on so long, he needs a vet.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I agree, seek a vet right away.


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## Justine223 (May 24, 2018)

He passed away


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Sorry you lost him.


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## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

Sorry you lost him


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## Justine223 (May 24, 2018)

Thank you <3 i am beside myself and my poor other guy is lost without his brother. We are going to pick him up a new friend tonight. What along exhausting weekend. I must have Cried in his stall holding him in a blanket for a good half hour before I could say goodbye. He was such a playful happy guy. And his brother turned to him for everything.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I am so very sorry and I know how attached we can get.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

Oh...so sorry you lost him. (((((Hugs)))))


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