Scours - article by Good Goats

Scours (diarrhea)

When a goat gets scours it needs to be watched very closely. A goat with diarrhea needs to stay hydrated. Scours are usually caused by over eating of grain, new hay, or too much lush pasture on an empty stomach (which can also cause bloat). It can also be caused by stress (I.e. getting moved from one enviorment to another drastically). Kids get scours very easily (as they nibble on everything, or because of the fact that their digestive system isn’t all the way ready for something).
Treatments: There are a few different ways to treat scours. Remember when you have a goat with scours - keep them hydrated. That is the #1 thing to do. Whether you do Treatment #1 or #2, keep them hydrated.

Treatment #1 - Make some decaffeinated Green Tea in boiling water (1 bag of tea in about 1 cup water). Let tea cool down a bit until warm. Mix a few teaspoons of baking soda in with the Green Tea. Then squirt some down the goats throat. On a 25 lb kid, I would give 30-40 cc Green Tea/Baking Soda hourly followed by some water (sometimes I’ve squirted water in their mouth, or sometimes they’ll just drink by themselves). Give a few cups of dry, uncooked oats (this will help harden up their stools). We’ve only used this treatment on kids, but would use it on adults if necessary. Most of our scour cases have been in kids. One time some of our does overate on some grain accidently and they got really bad scours. We watched them closely, they were acting and eating fine, and they got better within a few days).

Treatment #2 - Give Sulmet Sulfamethazine Sodium. The dosage will be on the bottle. If I used this treatment, I would still give them oats and have free access baking soda out for them to munch on (baking soda helps break down acids in the stomach that may be causing the diarrhea). We’ve never used this treatment before, because we have had success with the green tea/baking soda/oat treatment.

When a goat gets scours it needs to be watched very closely. A goat with diarrhea needs to stay hydrated. Scours are usually caused by over eating of grain, new hay, or too much lush pasture on an empty stomach (which can also cause bloat). It can also be caused by stress (I.e. getting moved from one enviorment to another drastically). Kids get scours very easily (as they nibble on everything, or because of the fact that their digestive system isn’t all the way ready for something).

Treatments: There are a few different ways to treat scours. Remember when you have a goat with scours - keep them hydrated. That is the #1 thing to do. Whether you do Treatment #1 or #2, keep them hydrated.

Treatment #1 - Make some decaffeinated Green Tea in boiling water (1 bag of tea in about 1 cup water). Let tea cool down a bit until warm. Mix a few teaspoons of baking soda in with the Green Tea. Then squirt some down the goats throat. On a 25 lb kid, I would give 30-40 cc Green Tea/Baking Soda hourly followed by some water (sometimes I’ve squirted water in their mouth, or sometimes they’ll just drink by themselves). Give a few cups of dry, uncooked oats (this will help harden up their stools). We’ve only used this treatment on kids, but would use it on adults if necessary. Most of our scour cases have been in kids. One time some of our does overate on some grain accidently and they got really bad scours. We watched them closely, they were acting and eating fine, and they got better within a few days).

Treatment #2 - Give Sulmet Sulfamethazine Sodium. The dosage will be on the bottle. If I used this treatment, I would still give them oats and have free access baking soda out for them to munch on (baking soda helps break down acids in the stomach that may be causing the diarrhea). We’ve never used this treatment before, because we have had success with the green tea/baking soda/oat treatment.