As it is, the labor was a tough one. Triplets arrived: two girls, one boy. The boy was the last to make his grand appearance in the form of a breech birth. We had to help mom deliver him and cut him from the sac. All-in-all, the experience was tough but super exciting as we had three new babies to add to our ever growing herd. The babies all had markings of both mom and dad. The little boy marked extra special with an almost white body and pink nose (this is rare in Nubians as the females usually have the pink coloring).
Things seemed OK the first few hours. Mom kept checking, cleaning, feeding, and repeating the process. So, we went to bed. The next morning, we eagerly rushed to see the babies. All seemed fine except one of the girls had a very swollen eye that just wouldn't stay open and the other baby girl was a little slower. Not thinking too much of it, we went ahead and cleaned baby girl #1 up with a warm, white wash cloth. I bathed her eye very carefully and she seemed thankful. Of course, mom was watching with an overly protective stance. After we felt everything seemed OK with all three babies, we went about our routine of feeding the herd and doing normal chores.
Sundays in our household are usually hiking days mixed with preparations for the upcoming week. With that said, we took off for our adventure for a few hours. Things seemed OK again when we returned. The eye was still very swollen but it didn't seem to slow baby girl #1 down at all. In fact, mom looked like she needed much rest. Because she seemed to be low on energy, we mixed her a big batch of warm molasses water. We also set up a second pale of electrolyte water. She gulped down the molasses (as expected) and we refiled her pale promptly. All four seemed to be ready for a winter's nap so we left them be and returned to our afternoon.
Later that evening, we repeated the warm wash on the eye, refilled water buckets, interacted with the goats. This is when we started to get nervous about baby girl #2. She just didn't seem to want to drink mom's milk. Time to whip out the bottle, pritchard nipple, and colostrum mix. Keep in mind, all three babies had colostrum within minutes of being able to drink for their first time. So, baby girl #2 seemed to be perking up a bit after a good bottle feed. This was repeated for her basically every two hours for the remainder of the evening until mom stepped in and said enough - GO TO BED Human!
So, Monday arrives - Time to repeat all steps. The eye for baby girl #1 was still swollen and not changing. Time to bring out the big guns and step up the game. We started to treat mom's molasses water with antibiotics. You can purchase a package in dry form at most feed stores. We opted to go this route because we weren't comfortable dosing an extremely tiny baby with an injection. We treat alot of our animals ourselves as we are very rural and most veterinarian clinics near us are cattle and dog/cat (Household pets) operations with limited knowledge on goat maintenance.
We also pulled out the ophthalmic gel which is specific for eye washing. Again, you can purchase this at any feed store. We determined she had a case of pinkeye. Use of the gel is best performed with a white wash cloth, warmed, and damped really well with the gel. You don't want the gel in the eye but over it to clean it. This series of steps should be repeated two-three times a day for 7 to 10 days.
Flies transport the Pinkeye Virus from animal to animal and is generally more prevalent during hot weather. You can vaccinate at the beginning of Summer to eliminate the problem. Pinkeye is caused by bacteria. Flies spread the bacteria from other herds of goats, cows and horses. That's why antibiotics are used. Pink eye/Chlamydia can cause of abortion in goats. If a doe gets is exposed to Chlamydia, often never exhibiting signs of Chlamydia, the doe will abort the next time she gets pregnant if she is not treated.
This disease usually is acute and tends to spread rapidly. One or both eyes may be affected. It can be spread to the rest of the heard very quickly. Young animals are affected most frequently, but animals of any age are susceptible.
The initial signs are:
- Intolerance to light
- Spasmodic winking
- Tearing
- Discharge from the eye(s)
- Opaque eye - this generally looks like there is a bolus on the eye that is white and full. DO NOT TRY TO RUPTURE IT!
- Inflammation of the cornea of the eye
- Infectious arthritis and Mammary gland with uterine infection may also occur simultaneously with keratoconjunctivitis.
- Appetite may be depressed due the fact the goat can't see well enough to find their food.
- Can lead to permanent blindness - treatment should be immediate
The clinical course of this disease varies from a few days to several weeks unless complicated by other diseases.
Treatment:
Give all goats in the herd shots of Oxytetracycline. Again, you can also find this in various forms at any feed store. It does come in a powdered form but you will have to be vigilant on the proper dosage. I chose oral due to the nature of the babies being only a few days old. I knew that if the mother ingested it in her water, she would indirectly be treating all of the babies during feeds.
I recommend keeping LA200, terramycin, or biomycin in your goat first aid kit at all times.
Drug Name
Oxytetracycline- 200 mg/ml
Brand Name
LA-200
Oxy-Tet 200
Bio-Mycin 200
Liquamycin LA 200
Geomycin 200
Agrimycin 200
Maxim 200
Special Note:
Goats and cows/cattle do not suffer from the same strain of pink eye and are treated very differently.
So, in 7 days you should see a dramatic difference in the goat's eyes. Remember to clean the area where they rest daily too. Pink eye is highly contagious to the goat herd and you as well. Take necessary precautions and wear protective gear during treatment (gloves) and wash your hands immediately in between goat treatments.
Now, back to baby girl #2...
She seemed alright initially Monday morning but I was concerned. She just didn't seem to want to snap out of it and seemed to continue to get weaker by the passing minute. She was eating well off the bottle, but we noticed she wasn't voiding much. We determined after some quick discussion that she was likely constipated.
In humans, we have laxatives, enemas, and other OTC items that can help us with this problem but in baby goats, you can't really apply most of the same thought as their digestive systems aren't prepared for laxatives and it is too hard to try and determine a dosage so we took a very small syringe (no needle), filled it with warm water, and treated her with our version of a goat enema.
Please note, we do not recommend doing any of the above treatments for pink eye or enema without consulting your vet first. Again, we are both medically inclined and a bit too rural for immediate help. We opted to treat on our own accord. Don't attempt any of this at home if you aren't comfortable, prepared, or have to. Always seek medical advice first.
When doing any form of treatment with a baby, you must remember that they are SUPER SMALL AND FRAGILE. Gentle care has to be taken at all times. When we gave the enema, it was extremely slow, carefully performed, in an environment where the baby was protected from harm and in a position of comfort. A few seconds into the enema, she started pooping (not a medical term). After that, she perked up.
We monitored her throughout the night. She seemed to be really making a big comeback. So, we created a super area for her in a laundry basket and wrapped her to keep her warm. She was resting very well and pooped a few more times. So, again, we thought "WOW! We made progress! She is going to make it!"
We never left her side. We opted to take a quick breather and have a sip of coffee. Bad move as for whatever reason, Baby Girl #2 wasn't meant to remain fighting. She looked up at us, gave a sigh, and that was it. We lost her. Our hearts ache tremendously as we really do not know the whats or whys of it all. We cried for hours.
As it is, it has been two weeks. Life on a farm can be extremely stressful and emotional but also rewarding. The two remaining triplets are now named and thriving! They ventured outside for their first time in the warm sun yesterday and mom was very happy to have a little rest as they played until they fell asleep from exhaustion.
They will remain in our warmed building in their manger until they are a little older and the winter weather has passed. Things seem to moving into a more positive direction with these guys. They are super cute and they certainly know it. Life is great with momma and her babies.
Stay tuned for the next blog on what happens when you discover a male buckling with stones. Yes, that was this week's adventure!
