Goat Babies and Caprine Toxemia

Cissy had a very quick and easy delivery of the kids. So quick in fact, that by the time I ran out to the goat house at the first bleating noises she made, the first baby was already half-way out and Cissy was still in the stall with Melina and Princess Kate! Melina was very upset to see her best friend clearly in distress. I was trying to get them out of the stall, call Jim and the kids over the baby monitor, and help Cissy all at the same time. I didn’t get a single video or picture of the birth of the first baby. And even with my carefully laid out plans, the video that I did get was, well, simply not the best. I have pieced together the best of what I got starting just after the birth of the first kid. I decided to leave the live audio just as it was. Click the link below to watch. Warning: there is live a live birth shown briefly here.

Cissy's Kids are Born

I have tentatively chosen names:

It has been a very long two days.

Cissy’s condition deteriorated throughout the day Friday. It started with liquid diarrhea that continued throughout the day, but symptoms kept being added as the day went on; labored breathing, lethargy, wouldn’t eat, grinding teeth. By mid-day she way trying to kick the babies away when they tried to nurse and I literally had to drag her off her feet to get her to stand.

The most frustrating part in all of this is the lack of caprine veterinary care in my area. I have two vets that I have used for my goats, but both only know the bare basics of goat care. Luckily I had Karen Elliott of Black Duck Farm. She is the woman I purchased Cissy and Melina from and I got her involved back when I thought Melina was overdue. She and I had been communicating all day long in regards to Cissy’s condition. By evening I knew there was something terribly wrong and we’d come to the conclusion that it might be ketosis as she had many of the symptoms. After calling both of my vets and being referred to the local 24 hour emergency vet clinic I called them. They told me they didn’t treat goats to which I promptly burst out into tears and asked them if I gave them the list of medicine I needed could they provide it for me. The receptionist put me on hold and a vet got on the line and agreed to see me.

She has been in critical condition since last night. This morning I picked her up and transferred her to my vet in Wilton. She had a neck tube in where they were pushing saline with glycose all night. She was not a happy camper.


Tonight the vet called and said she didn’t hold out a lot of hope. I do feel pretty confident that they tried everything possible. They spoke to my vet in Wyoming, who actually does know a lot about large animal care, and called every large-animal vet they could get on the phone today for help. Nothing had improved her condition. She asked to keep her for the night, but if her condition hadn’t improved by morning she thought we should put her out of her misery.

However, she called me late this evening to say she’d gone in to check on her and she was standing on her own and bleating! I’m trying not to get my hopes up but I can’t help it. I’ll know more in the morning.

In the meantime I have been “mom”. Teaching the kids to nurse from a bottle has been challenging, but they are getting the hang of it.

I’m exhausted mentally, emotionally and physically. I’m a mess. The kids are a mess. Melina and Princess Kate haven’t gone back into the goat house since we took Cissy away last night. They chose to sleep outside in the fenced chicken area both last night and tonight. I was too tired to force them. Melina is clearly sad and confused as to where her best friend has gone.

It’s been a long few days filled with great highs and sad lows.