# When Doe Stops Labor



## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

If a doe is about to kid and presents bloody string, there's something wrong. She never did any active pushing. (see "Worst kidding Ever")

Once I was called to help a doe who had an empty sac for about two hours. 
I went in and found a breech kid. She was pulled out by her upper rear legs. Live.
The next kid was a hairless mooshed up thing I dont remember if it was breech or not. My suspicion is doe got rammed violently a few weeks prior.
Several hours had passed since the initial bubble. I told the owner I didnt think the next one would be alive. 
Lots of dried gummy brown (old) blood but the last kid HAD to get out of there, dead or alive.
It was way down, deep and low. Finally managed to get a hold of it with a great whoosh of sac breaking inside doe but kid was alive! 

Anytime a doe stops pushing there is something very wrong and you must act quickly. Please call your vet or have someone help.


----------



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I agree nancy! Great advice! 
We just experienced this with our doe who went into preterm labor. Except she never attempted to push and had a dead kid trying to come through the birth canal head first.

If a doe is a 'lazy' pusher and kid is presenting correctly, you can massage the cervix to help them open up more, or help get her to contract. 
I had to do this to help get her to push the 2nd baby into the birth canal. If I hadn't massaged her cervix, she wouldn't have even tried to push.

But she was delivering 3 weeks early and had no contractions.

We've had a lazy pusher before.

We've had kids delivered with one foot up w/head and one foot bent back near the body, and they weren't any harder than a normally delivery.
But if you don't see at least 1 foot, you need to go in and find one and make sure it can come out. It is critical, and in some does, once that head is out, there may not be any going back - pushing the head back in to get kid in correct position.
We had that happen yesterday with the premature delivery. We had to go in and find the first <dead> babies foot, it was extremely difficult, I couldnt' have done it without my husband's help <he pulled the leg while I had my hand inside pulling the head forward towards me>.
When the 2nd baby presented head first, I had to get in there and find one leg, pull it up and out so it could be delivered - first timer, not fully dilated and I have smaller hands/arm than my husband no way he could get in there.

Last spring we had our first set of triplets, and all I saw was a foot sticking out, no head. 
The head was in an okay position but the other foot was bent preventing it from being born. My husband has a lot of experience delivering foals so he's more experienced in 'going in' than I am. I held the doe, he went in, and he found the foot was able to get it pulled into position and after that it was just fine, Mom was experienced and did her thing


----------



## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Hoosier your doe was what reminded me of all this.
Ive had kids with one or both legs folded.
You just go in, grab one or both legs and pull.
Doe will be quite swollen after this is done.


----------



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

nancy d said:


> Hoosier your doe was what reminded me of all this.
> Ive had kids with one or both legs folded.
> You just go in, grab one or both legs and pull.
> Doe will be quite swollen after this is done.


Yep, I agree. The only major complication would probably be what we experienced yesterday, a doe who wasn't fully open and was almost impossible to get your hand in there enough to get around the baby. 
I hope we never have to go through that again. I was so upset trying and trying to get my hands on that baby, get the legs, etc. We got her open just enough by the time my husband got home <we had to keep massaging cervix>, that he could fish around for the leg he did manage to find, it was down pretty far. Getting that baby out through a not completely opened cervix was a nightmare. But thank goodness for massaging and no tearing or damage.

She was indeed extremely swollen this morning, I'd never seen a doe so swollen after delivery before. Bless her heart ♥

My heart goes out to anyone who has to go through a horrible delivery experience. But, when we breed animals, we have to know there is always a risk that something will not go right. No matter how well you take care of an animal, things happen. We had a rough kidding season last year , but nothing compared to this.


----------



## Maggie (Nov 5, 2010)

HoosierShadow said:


> But if you don't see at least 1 foot, you need to go in and find one and make sure it can come out. It is critical, and in some does, once that head is out, there may not be any going back - pushing the head back in to get kid in correct position.


We had this happen last delivery, but with a big 4 yro old doe. The doe was not at all friendly and so stressed with me being around I couldn't help at first, she layed in the corner to kid and by the time she got up and moved around so I could see the kids head was already out up to his shoulders, no legs. Too late to push him back in. I got him out like that, but not before his head was starting to swell because she stopped pushing, it was really scary. It didn't help he was almost 11 pounds. He is perfectly fine now and momma was perfectly fine after kidding and even got up to bite me and head butt me as soon as her kid was out... wicked old goat.


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I had a super huge buck that was tangled with his sister. I ended up having to get the vet out. It really is important to know when you need to take action.

Everyone should know what they can do and when to call the vet. You know the vet will take a while to get there so keep those things in mind when you are deciding what to do.


----------



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Maggie said:


> We had this happen last delivery, but with a big 4 yro old doe. The doe was not at all friendly and so stressed with me being around I couldn't help at first, she layed in the corner to kid and by the time she got up and moved around so I could see the kids head was already out up to his shoulders, no legs. Too late to push him back in. I got him out like that, but not before his head was starting to swell because she stopped pushing, it was really scary. It didn't help he was almost 11 pounds. He is perfectly fine now and momma was perfectly fine after kidding and even got up to bite me and head butt me as soon as her kid was out... wicked old goat.


I hear ya, except the wicked old goat part lol I'd have to buy a muzzle and padding for those horns, haha <just kidding>.
When our doe Snow White kidded in March, we thought twins or triplets. She had that huge 13lb. doeling. She is not a very large doe back there. She can deliver 8lb. kids easily, but 13lbs? 
Her baby came out with 1 foot and the head was so big it was turned sideways.
She'd always had easy deliveries with no assistance so I was standing back taking pics/video, and realized how big that head was, as soon as I put the camera down the head/foot were out. Her neck was so thick I couldn't get my hand around it to go in at all. 
Baby was starting to turn blue, mama wasn't pushing, and was in distress. I sent my youngest daughter in the house to get her dad so she wasnt' out there in case things got bad. I grabbed the foot, prayed, and pulled as hard as I could. As soon as I pulled, Snow White pushed. I seriously thought I"d break the leg or pull it apart or something. 
Once the baby was out, she was just fine <Cupcake Sparkles if anyone remembers her>, had a limp for a few days, but no complications.

That was the scariest delivery I'd had up to Star's abortion ordeal. Ithma was a little worriesome, but I knew we'd get baby out fine. If I had been completely alone I'd have tied her to the wall in order to go in. But, with my husband home, and having experience turning foals, etc. I knew he could get in there.


----------

