Floppy Kid Syndrome has only recently been recognized by meat-goat producers in the United States. The introduction of intensive management of goats with the importation of Boers into the USA in the early 1990's brought FKS to producers' attention. Producers understandably tend to confine expensive goats in small areas, creating conditions under which kids can demand and receive more milk from their dams than their mothers would normally feed them. Unconfined dams allow their kids to nurse for frequent but short periods of time. When a doe cannot control and limit the amount of milk that her kids receive at each feeding, Floppy Kid Syndrome can occur.
FKS usually doesn't occur until the kid is seven to ten days old. (An exception to this time frame -- bottle babies -- is cited later in this article.) The kid literally overeats on milk on a repeated basis and is unable to fully digest the milk before it refills its stomach by nursing again, creating a toxic condition like Enterotoxemia (Overeating Disease). Untreated, a painful and rapid death occurs. Treatment must be swift to save the kid.
The solution is startlingly simple -- and usually the precise opposite of what producers probably think should be done. Take the kid off milk completely for at least 36 hours. Substitute ReSorb or equivalent electrolytes in place of milk and add baking soda to neutralize the conditions in the kid's stomach. Administer C&D anti-toxin (*not* the toxoid) immediately. Use Milk of Magnesia to push the partially-digested milk through the kid's system and out of the kid's body. Prescription Banamine, given injectably, will calm the gut; dosage is 2/10th's of a cc given IM for a young kid of a medium-sized breed. Because most FKS kids are wobbly-legged and stagger like they are drunk, tube feeding may be necessary.
Dissolve one teaspoon of ordinary baking soda in eight (
ounces of warmed ReSorb electrolytes and mix thoroughly. If the kid will not suck a bottle, stomach tube two ounces (60 cc's) of this solution into the kid's stomach. Wait about an hour and tube feed another two ounces. Don't bloat the kid's stomach; use common sense about how much it can hold. Administer a SQ injection of six (6) to eight (
cc's of C&D anti-toxin wherever loose skin can be found. SQ injection over the ribs is a good location. C&D anti-toxin helps counteract the toxic effect of the undigested milk in the kid's stomach and can be used every twelve (12) hours. If the kid is old enough to have already had its two-injection series of CD/T vaccinations, the producer will have to wait at least five days and start the CD/T series over again. However, a very young kid should not have received its first and second CD/T injections before one month and two months of age respectively. The dam's immunities passed to the kid via mother's milk are supposed to protect the kid during its first month of life, at which time the kid's own immune system starts developing.
Because Floppy Kid Syndrome is accompanied by a bacterial infection in the kid's gut, antibiotic therapy is advisable. Obtain a vet prescription for Primor or Sulfadimethoxazine with Trimethoprim and orally medicate for five consecutive days. Dose the kid with Milk of Magnesia orally (five cc's per 20 pounds bodyweight) to speed the elimination of the undigested milk from its body. Mineral oil can be effective but must be stomach-tubed into the goat. Because mineral oil has no taste, the goat may not identify it as a substance to be swallowed and it can be aspirated into the lungs instead. A warm soapy enema can be given to remove hard-packed feces from the lower intestinal tract via the anus; however, an enema will not move undigested milk from the stomach.
Diarrhea sometimes occurs with FKS. This is good; the kid's body is trying to eliminate toxic substances. Do not use diarrhea medication unless the scouring is a liquid of watery consistency, threatening dehydration, and be very careful how much anti-diarrheal is given under such conditions. Diarrhea is a symptom of an illness -- not the illness itself. See this writer's article on Diarrhea on the Articles page. Never give Immodium AD to a goat. Immodium AD slows and sometimes stops the peristaltic action of the gut, immobilizing the undigested milk in the kid's stomach, making the situation worse. The producer's goal is to get the offending milk out of the kid's system quickly. If diarrhea becomes watery, orally dose the kid with up to six (6) to ten (10) cc's of PeptoBismol up to three times a day and use injectable Banamine to quiet the gut.
The ReSorb/baking soda solution will both rehydrate the kid and soothe its gut. A kid can survive on the Resorb/baking soda solution for several days if that time is needed to get its system cleaned out. Do not start feeding milk again until the kid's feces have returned to normal pill form, it can stand and nurse, and the kid has been re-hydrated. Then ease the kid back onto milk by feeding equal parts milk and electrolytes.
Bottle babies require special comments. During the first two weeks of life, bottle babies should be fed with individual bottles to control the amount of milk that they receive. Producers should mimic the dam, who feeds small amounts of milk very frequently to her kids to avoid stomach upset. Folks new to bottle babies can cause Floppy Kid Syndrome by overfeeding milk. A kid will drink as much as you will let it drink; the sucking response makes it feel safe. Multiple bottle babies can be fed on a Lambar available from goat-supply companies like Jeffers. This is a three-and-one-half gallon bucket with lid and holes around it into which nipples attached to feeding tubes are placed. Training kids to use a Lambar is easy and your workload can be lightened IF you can keep kids from drinking too much, overturning the bucket, and knocking the lid off. Build a frame and secure it to the floor, then place the bucket inside it. In all cases (Lambar or individual bottles), proper cleaning of equipment both before and after use is essential.
Joint Ill (aka Navel Ill) occurs when bacteria travels up a newborn kid's wet navel cord and migrates to its (usually) leg joints. Over a period of days or weeks, the kid begins to limp as joints swell. Antibiotic treatment is required, is usually long term (weeks rather than days), and the kid may have life-long residual effects from the infection. Arthritis may develop as the kid gets older. Avoid Joint Ill by dipping the kid's wet navel cord immediately after birth in 7% iodine solution -- all the way up to its body. Baytril 100 injectable is an excellent antibiotic with which to treat Joint Ill. This antibiotic kills organisms that other antibiotics don't affect. Baytril 100 usage is restricted in food animals in some locales. However, your vet can prescribe it.
Selenium Deficiency (aka White Muscle Disease) can cause weak rear legs in newborn and young kids and can keep the kid from swallowing. Walking on one's pasterns can also be a sign of selenium deficiency. Your county extension service agent or feed company nutritionist should be able to tell you if you are in a selenium-deficient area. Prescription BoSe should be injected into newborns and young kids in selenium-deficient areas at a dosage rate of 1/2 cc given IM. Dosage for adult dams is 2-1/2 cc's, also given IM. Do not use MuSe; it is too strong for goats. BoSe has selenium and vitamin E in it.
Mineral and Vitamin Deficiencies can affect newborns and young kids in ways similar to selenium deficiency. Copper is essential to the goat's body. Loss of hair color and inability to breed or ability to carry fetuses to term are indicators of copper deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency can cause night blindness, poor hair coat, loss of appetite, and can predispose the kid to diarrhea, parasites, and respiratory diseases. Vitamin D is essential to the body's calcium and phosphorus absorption processes. Vitamin E deficiency contributes to White Muscle Disease (selenium deficiency) aka nutritional muscular distrophy, which affects the kid's ability to stand and use its muscles properly. All of the B vitamins are important to proper rumen function. Vitamin B-1 (thiamine) deficiency can result in goat polio. Cobalt deficiency prevents synthesis of Vitamin B-12. Some minerals work together well and some minerals prevent absorption of other minerals. The form in which the mineral is used (oxide, sulfide, sulfate, etc) makes a difference in how the goat's body can utilize it. Nutrition, including vitamins and minerals, is the most complex part of raising goats. Check with your goat vet or livestock feed nutritionist for known vitamin and mineral deficiencies in your area.
Good management practices go a long way towards preventing illnesses. Sufficient space to avoid over-crowding, clean and dry pens, fresh water, quality hay, and sanitary conditions are minimum requirements. Filth and crowding breed sickness. If you can learn to think like a goat, you can reduce the frequency of illnesses, injuries, and deaths.
Onion Creek Ranch,Texas