# Dosing for bloat



## rtdoyer

I've seen several posts on bloat and mixing pepto, baking soda or using gas x. Can some people reply with quantities for an adult goat? If I make a batch of water and baking soda, am I trying to get all that in the goat or just a certain amount? How many gas x pills and how would you administer?

What is the time frame for bloat to go away? Hours? Half a day? 

Thanks,
Tomia


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## TDG-Farms

Never use gas x on a bloated goat. Gas x is formulated for a human digestive track, not a goats. The fastest and easiest is to use a squirt of dish soap into say a 20 ounce bottle of warm water and make them drink it. About half they time they will drink it no problem. Some you will have to force. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO OVER FORCE THEM. If they breath it in to their lungs, they will most likely develop pneumonia. Using a dosing syringe is best. Dont shake and dont put the soap in the bottle first. You are not looking for suds. The way this works is, the larger bubbles in the dish soap are much easier to pop then the tiny bubbles of bloat. Elevate the front of the goat and massage belly to help pop the bubble. They should start to burp. Therabloat is in the same chemical compound family as dish soap. Baking soda is a rumin buffer. Its better used to help with floppy kid syndrome or while a goat is on antibiotics. We offer it free choice most of the time to our animals and they will visit it as often as they visit the loose mineral salt we have for them.


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## Rex

Gas X works great for bloat. The active ingredient in GasX is Simethicone which is listed on this Pharmaceutical Vet site as an anti bloating agent for livestock. http://www.vetsfarma.com/livestock8.html I know several people who have used it sucessfully with no ill effects. If there are any I'm not aware of them.

You basically need anything that will break the surface tension of the gas bubbles. Any vegetablele oil will work and, as Dave mentioned, detergents like tide. Just make sure it doesn't have bleach in it.


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## TDG-Farms

Only had bad reactions here with gas x and or veggie oils here. Lost both animals. But as people learn most of their methods from trial and error and or a vet, there is always two sides to every coin. Here we havent lost a goat since using only the dish soap. In fact, my own pack goat prospect, Legion bloated not 4 days ago. Was bad enough he was crying, laying down, jumping up and scratching at his belly. Gave him about 8 ounces of the dish soap / warm water, elevated, rubbed and patted his sides and belly. He started to burp almost instantly. 10 minutes later, his sides were much less distended and 10 minutes after that he was 100% better and trying to eat. Which we didnt allow for another hour.

So i am still and will always be of the opinion, Gas X and oil are bad options. If they work for anyone else, then thats all that really matters.


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## Nanno

Nibbles the greedy goat has bloated a couple of times recently and the dish soap works a charm! She likes the taste of it too, so she sucks it right down like candy. I love easy, cheap remedies that work!


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