Having a goat as your pet is an interesting thing. Goat is known to be a smart animal to be kept as pet at home. You can consider these cutest breeds of goat to keep as pets.
However, seeing your goat does not want to eat will surely make you sad. If your goat does not want to eat anything then there might be something wrong with his digestion system.
It’s quite difficult to notice if our pet is sick or not, including the goat. However, when goats are sick, they tend to change their behavior and attitude.
Here are some symptoms that will appear to tell you whether your goat is sick. You can observe them. As an owner, you need to know your goats well, so that you will notice these changes.
If your goat starts to eat nothing, then he might suffer from one of the illness below. These illness might tell you the root cause of why your goat does not want to eat anything.
- Indigestion
A health rumen is very essential for a goat to be able to digest roughage. The roughage should be broken down correctly by the digestive enzymes in the abomasum and small intestine with the help of rumen microorganisms. If you want to have a healthy goat, make sure his rumen bacteria is healthy.
Indigestion can be caused by some factors, such as improper feeding (too much grain or moldy hay or grain), antibiotics or pathogenic bacterial toxins.
This improper feeding is killing the rumen bacteria inside the goat’s body. When the bacteria die, the goat is not able to digest his food and the rumen becomes decaying food and it becomes toxic.
Indigestion is characterized by loss of appetite and changing in behavior. The goat might be more inactive and produce complaining sounds.
To treat indigestion, there are some ways you can do. Firstly, you must empty the rumen by detoxifying it. You also need to restock the normal bacteria inside the rumen. You can use milk of magnesia to detoxify the rumen. You can also use yogurt as probiotics to replace the normal bacteria inside the rumen.
- Bloat
Bloat occurs when the goat is unable to release built-up gas from the rumen. The normal rumen is likely to churn one to four times in every minute and the bacteria is in charge for producing methane gas continuously.
However, certain goat diets, such as fresh and green alfalfa will cause the gas that is supposed to be released to form tiny bubbles and trapped in the rumen fluid. As a result, it may produce a frothy bloat and it will be uncomfortable for the goat.
Bloat in goat has some symptoms and signs, such as swollen rumen that causes the goat kicking at its left side while it slobbers, the goat might continually get up and lay down and loss of appetite. If this is not treated immediately, it might lead to death.
To treat bloating, you can feed mineral oil or magnesia to relieve the frothy bloat. This treatment will allow the tiny bubbles to break and form a large gas pocket.
Once you have given this treatment, you can massage your goat’s abdomen or stomach gently and walk with him. It will help mix and break down the bubbles. If this treatment doesn’t work, then it is better to call your vet for another treatment suggestion.
- Scours
The last but not least problem causing your goat does not want to eat is scours. Scours is a condition commonly happen to goat kids, specifically when they try to adjust to food.
It might be caused by too much milk feeding or too much grains. Adult goats are also likely to get scours as a symptom of another illness or because of consuming too much grains. You cannot feed any types of milk to your goat, yet, you can consider types of milk you could feed to goats.
One of the symptoms of scours is losing appetite, so your goat might not want to eat anything given. Lethargy or weaknesses and showing some signs of pain are also other common symptoms of scours in goat.
In case your goat is getting scours, there are some things you can do to treat him, such as making sure your goat is drinking a lot of water, not feeding him with grains and milk, and give some kaolin pectin once it is getting severe.
Illnesses in goats cannot be underestimated. They might be serious and can even lead to death. Besides those digestive illness in goats, you can also enrich your knowledge about these 7 common illnesses of young-goat include treatments.
Young goats are more exposed to diseases or illness, so that’s why they need extra attention and care. You might want some ideas on natural remedies for goats. They are safe and natural.