Baby Goat Poop-*Goat PICS added

[Cami-002]

I went to a farm near my house and they purchased a bunch of young baby goats. Well, they were pulled from milking goats and most were very sick and weak. Just put in the barn with a bucket of goat milk. Well, two caught my eye as being the sickest. Of course they are home with me now. I thought I would lose one on the way home. I bought some goat milk replacer and also some probios powder.

I guess my question is...How should their poop look? I have two adult pygmys and dont know much about the baby babies. I got my goats at 8 weeks of age. So, they were on solids already. So with these two babies,
their poop is like a dark yellow and very runny. Is this normal for babies?
Their poop was somewhat more formed after the bottle with the probios in it.
But the container said 5g a day for goats....Can I increase this? I have been to the different goat websites and I dont see where it talks about what the poo should be like.

Any help on this would be appreciated. I think they are Toggenberg()sp??
goats...but now sure. I cannot keep them, but did not want to let them die so I will try to nurse them until someone else wants them. They just have had such a rough start so far. They are so sweet and love to be cuddled.
I will post pics when I can.
Thanks in advance.

[horsebabyhehe]

yellow runny-ish poop is very normal. it'll be like this for about the first few weeks or even longer. i wouldn't worry about it except to keep it cleaned up. toggenburgs are usually brown-ish with silver markings and their ears are erect like the pygmy's. do they have waddles? (two little pieces of skin hanging from under the neck) just pm me if you need more help.

[Range]

Bright yellow, somewhat formed poop (not balls, but not liquid) is what occurs while they are drinking colostrum. I call it colostrum poop. Mama goats usually clean it up from the baby's behind. You have to watch it doesn't get stopped up in there if Mama isn't cleaning it.

For me, colostrum poop is usually only while they're drinking colostrum, then the poop gets dark. So, only about the first 4 days. Even my bottle baby has dark poop - not balls, but pretty solid.

How old are the babies? Is the poop real runny? Scours can make the baby's poop pretty yellow.

[Cami-002]

I am unsure of age, maybe you can tell from the pic. Will try to get more.
The story I got was 25 got ran through the auction together from dairy goats.
This guy bought all 25 babies for $2.00. 8 died on the way home, 2 died at home... They were laying down, getting walked on. The poo is sometimes kinda creamy consistency..(yuck) sometimes more runny. When I make the bottle with
probios, their poop after that bottle is good. Can I give more than the probios container says? It says 5g/hd/day.

[Range]

5g a day is plenty. You can also give Pepto Bismol for diarrhea - that's what this sounds like.

Check with your vet on what you could give them for possible scours.

Goats get stressed and sick very, very easily. An auction is a terrible place for babies and it's possible they picked something up. Antibiotics probably wouldn't hurt.

Unfortunately, I dont' know off the top of my head what to give a scouring goatie, but I'd definitely make sure they're hydrated. One other thing, just changing the milk can give them the runs. I follow the directions for children on the Pepto and I dose it twice a day.

Check www.fiascofarm.com, too.

[Karen Cole]

You've gotten some good advice ....your goats are LaManchas the only Dairy breed actually developed in the US. They come from California and were selectivly bred for the no ears.

The only thing I can add is with your milk replacer mix it a bit thin for example if the directions say use 1 pint of warm water and 3 oz. of replacer then use 1 pint of water and 2 1/2 oz.s of replacer. Quite often the replacer will make them scour or get consitpated but reducing the amount of powder should help. As they get stronger and older you can use the suggested amount.

My thinking is they came from a big dairy are they both bucks? Often it costs more to feed the kids than they are worth and the milk is worth alot more than they are. If they are culled at birth...yes it happens...the producer gets nothing but at the sale barn they may get a few dollars back. I was surprised when the photos came up they look quite good for sick sale barn babies. If your vet will give you tribrissen it's a good broad spectrum antibiotic and will not hurt them at all.

Good Luck
Karen

[horsebabyhehe]

they are cute kids. they look old enough for their vaccinations. they should have a C&D + T (enterotoxeemia and tetanus) now and one more in a month. then 1 booster once a year for the rest of their life. kaopectate is cheap and is great for stopping scours. it also kinda looks like their horn buds have been burned? if so, good you won't have to worry about them. if that's not a scab i see on the top of their head you'll have to get them taken care of as soon as they're about 1/2" tall. they look fat and happy so you're doing a great job. just make sure they're in a well ventilated area or you'll have some respiratory problems (ick) and keep them warm and fed and vaccinated and they'll be fine!