[groovy alpaca]

One of our goats has prolapsed, and has 5 weeks left to go. Our vet came and put a stitch in but he said it is really rare for a goat to prolapse. Anyone else had any experience of this?

[sabrina]

I had it with a ewe who was heavy in lamb, vet put in a stitch and for a couple of weeks I spent night after night watching her so I could cut the stitch once i knew she was lambing. After lambing she kept straining and once more had a prolapse so vet put her down and we bottled fed her twin lambs. Have you any idea how many kids she is having ?

[groovy alpaca]

yes, she was scanned with two yesterday, but we think she may have aborted another one, which might have resulted in a prolapse. We dont really have enough experience with goats to speculate. We have dealt with prolapses in sheep, so dealing with the condition is not new for us, we were just concerned as the vet said he didn't really come across it in goats. Also she has five weeks left, at least, which is a concern. we have got some pen and strep in case and some painkiller in case she starts straining against the stitches. OH is sleeping in the field closer to lambing/kidding so  cutting the stitch shouldn't be a problem, hopefully.

[Anke]

How old is she, and has she had many kiddings before? I have never heard of it in goats before the actual birth, and my vet book only mentions the post-birth case scenario.

But I would think that this is then her last kid(s), as it would be likely that she would prolapse again in future pregnancies.

[wytsend]

This is extremely rare and usually indicates something else happening.   

Goat kids cannot survive more than 7 days premature - great deal of experience in this area over the last 35 years.

Suggest you contact one of the British Goat Society Vets without delay.

[groovy alpaca]

how do I do that, there is no vet info on the website?

[Anke]

If you are a BGS member you can join the new BGS goat forum, via Christine Ball. It's on the BGS website. Both JOhn Matthews and David Harwood are on the forum, and they would answer your questions. Don't know how it would work if you are not in BGS.

However there is the Goat Veterinary Society, that I am sure your vet could contact on your behalf for some further guidance on the matter.

[ballingall]

A prolapse with 5 weeks to go is really unusual. I've never actually seen a goat have a prolapse- and I don't think my mum has ever mentioned one either (40 years veterinary experience with goats). In theory just treat as you would a sheep- but I would be keeping a very close eye on her. As Wystend says, it is very difficult to raise very premature kids. We have ha kids a week premature not make it, but on the converse did manage to save 1 kid of a set of quads who was nearly 2 weeks early.

Also- if she ever kids again the risk is so high that she will do it again. I don't want to be pessmistic, but if you get her to kidding, and manage to keep her going and successfully have the kids, you will be doing magnificently.

Beth

[groovy alpaca]

She has perked up immensely in the last couple of days since the stitches went in, she is in the ruck for feed with all of the others again which I am taking as a positive sign! There is still some swelling but that seems to be going down as well now. We have some Pen and strep on standby and some painkiller if she strains against the stitches.

We will not kid from her again, even if she makes it through successfully, we have the same approach with our sheep.

Thanks for all of your feedback guys!

[jaykay]

Glad to hear it's going well. We've done well with stitches in ewes - just gotta keep a very close eye on things when the lambs/kids are due 

[fruitfarm]

  We have had a couple of big British Saanens who have had prolapses. They were twin sisters so maybe it runs in families. One had to have a stitch put in because she had three weeks left to go. Of course she chose to kid when there was no-one around , which was my biggest worry but the baby just pushed the stitch aside without any difficulty. The other one was only a couple of days from delivery so the vet said not to bother stitching her and she also had a perfectly normal, healthy labour and birth. Didn't risk it again with either of those but their daughters never had any problems. So now I'm quite cool about  vaginal prolapses! I think they look more alarming than they actually are.  Of course a prolapse of the uterus after birth is a very different matter and that would be an immediate call for the vet I'm sure.
 
 It's always a good idea to put a small straw bale in with a pregnant goat . She may want to stand on it to help reposition the kids, front legs on the bale uses gravity during labour and back legs up wil make the prolapse immediately go back.