The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: macgro7 on March 23, 2018, 03:08:21 pm
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For the first time my girl goat doesn't want to eat. I took her for a walk to the allotment, she nibbles on some ivy and brambles my not much at all. She wasn't even interested in rolled oats! Usually she runs towards them as if they are sweets.
She drank water, I gave her bicarbonate of soda in a tub, she locked some, but still just standing and not really doing much.
Her poo in the morning wasn't looming normal but wasn't a proper diarhea. Her belly looks big as if she has eaten quite a lot bit I know she didn't!
Could it be Bloat? Or perhaps she has eaten something that could block her passage? Can I do anything about it?
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Is her belly bigger on the left?
It sounds like bloat to me.
When mine had it vet recommended using margarine (as opposed to vegetable oil) to help treat it. Get a big wadge of it on your hand and spread it on the inside of her upper jaw. As she licks and works it away she will swallow loads which if it's bloat will help it clear.
I also seem to remember vet said to limit water and feed only dry hay u till it cleared up. Don't quote me on that through it was a while ago. The margarine worked a treat through. She 'deflated' in an hour or two after being pretty puffed up on the left flank. Kept her in on ad-lib hay and water for a few days and all was fine