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HEALTH  PROBLEMS  OF  NEWBORN  AND  YOUNG  KIDS

Familiarize yourself with the many possible health problems of newborn and young kids.  When a goat  is sick, your first step is to take its rectal temperature with a digital rectal thermometer.    Normal  rectal temperature is 101.5*F to 103.5*F.   Higher temperatures  mean fever and infection.   Below 100*F  body temperature indicates problems with bodily functions like hypothermia  that are feed  or weather related or the kid  is already dying.  Pray for fever; it is easier to fix.

Solutions to easy-to-fix problems are presented below, but detailing   the protocols   that I use to fix complex conditions would make this article too long.    Go  to my  articles on each topic on the Articles page at www.tennesseemeatgoats.com  for details.    Establish a relationship with a vet so you can purchase the prescription items you need.

Premature Kids:  Normal gestation is 147-155 days.   Kids out of the same litter can be fully mature while others can be premature.  It  depends upon how much nutrition they got in utero.   Kids born with teeth  completely in the gums are premature.   The lungs are the last major organ to develop fully, so premature kids  are likely to be born with breathing problems.   Full-term males have slightly erupted teeth; full-term females have teeth completely out of the gums.  Kids born 7 to 10 days premature likely won't live, and if they do, they may have health problems throughout their lives.

Birth Defects:   Atresi ani - no rectal opening.   Cleft palate - lengthwise split in roof of mouth.Neither Atresi ani nor Cleft palate is fixable.     Entropion - turned-under eyelid, causing eye lashes to irritate eye.  This is fixable.

Constipation:   Sometimes stressed newborns become constipated. Constipation in newborns is life threatening.   Monitoring  fecal output or   lack of feces  will  catch problems early.   Enemas may be necessary.

Colostrum:   Kids that don't receive sufficient colostrum in the first 12 hours of their lives generally  don't survive as they get older or they become "poor doers."   Colostrum makes everything start working, especially the digestive system.  Make sure your kids get the proper amount of  colostrum when they are born.

Diarrhea:   Diarrhea occurs with many illnesses and is a symptom, not the cause, of whatever is wrong.  Figure out what is causing the diarrhea before you take action.   Sometimes diarrhea is helpful, such as when the body is cleaning out something the goat should not have eaten.    Diagnose the cause of the diarrhea, then take appropriate action.

Weak Kid Syndrome:    A newborn or young kid  cannot stand and has sub-normal body temperature (hypothermic).      Condition can occur at birth or any time later when the kid doesn't get enough to eat, becomes chilled, and body temperature drops below 100*F.    This condition is both nutritional and weather related.    A kid has difficulty controlling its body temperature and is dependent upon  both adequate milk and good shelter.   It is not  Floppy Kid Syndrome, which is overeating on milk.

Dehydration:   Whether from lack of milk or climatic conditions that are too cold or too hot, kids can become dehydrated quickly. They have tiny stomachs and metabolize their food rapidly, so they can crash fast if their nutrition and hydration isn't adequate.

Thiamine deficiency:   This isn't just "goat polio."  Thiamine is essential to brain function.  A working rumen produces thiamine, but newborns and very young kids are pre-ruminant, operating off a milk stomach.   Premature kids should get B1 (thiamine) injections.  Sometimes a full-term kid comes out "stupid," not being able to figure out where the teat is.  Give that kid a Vitamin B1 injection.

Neonatal Diarrhea Complex  is the term  given  a variety of causes of diarrhea in newborns and very young kids. Usually thought to be E.coli or Cryptosporidiosis, these are infections commonly occuring in young kids in cold and/or wet weather but are not limited to these climatic conditions. Without laboratory analysis (culturing the organism), exact diagnosis is not possible. However, a very young kid who is inactive, whose head is drooping and whose tail is turned down, who is not eating, who is dehydrated, who is feverish, who has  no  respiratory distress, and who may have (generally) grayish or whitish diarrhea with a very distinctive smell -- all of these symptoms point to these groups of bacteria, although E.coli in newborns tends to produce bright yellow feces.   Reduce fever to normal body temperature with injectible Banamine (or baby aspirin orally). Hydrate the kid with oral electrolytes or Lactated Ringers given SQ. Use PeptoBismol orally every six hours dosed at six (6) to ten (10) cc's to calm the stomach. Give prescription liquid Sulfadimethoxine with Trimethoprim (SMZ-TMP).  Alternatively, neomycin sulfate (brand name Biosol) may still  be available over the counter, but the sulfa-based products are rapidly going prescription.

Coccidiosis:  This protozoan attacks the lining of the intestinal tract and can do so much damage in a short period of time that the goat's gut  won't be able to absorb nutrients.   Blackish diarrhea can be one of the symptoms.   Coccidia preventatives can be added to feed.  Coccidia treatment should be  given orally directly into the mouth of each goat for five consecutive days.  Sulfa-based medications like Dimethox 12% oral solution or Albon must be used. CoRid (amprollium) is a thiamine inhibitor, so I don't use it. Dewormers do not  treat  coccidiosis.

Worms:   Worms aren't a threat to newborns as they are pre-ruminant, but when they get to be about three weeks old, they become a real threat as the kids begin to eat solid food.

Pneumonia:    Pneumonia is the common term for a range of respiratory infections that kill goats quickly,  especially kids. There are many types of pneumonia: bacterial, mycoplasmal, viral, and inhalation pneumonia.  Common symptoms include fever, labored breathing,   sometimes runny nose discharging yellowish-green mucous, and occasionally  a hacking cough,  along with generalized listlessness and *off feed* behavior. Pneumonia kills so quickly that you  don't  have the luxury of time to determine its type. Prompt treatment is required.  The same medications and treatment regimen are used for most forms of pneumonia.  Though usually a summer disease in hot and wet weather, pneumonia can occur anytime in goats.