Thank you for the additional information.

While I had been a wee bit concerned that your scouring might have been the influence of the raw cow's milk (I tend prefer to use goats milk for kids, or if we must, then at least supplement the cow's milk with 3tbsp corn syrup per gallon to increase the milk sugar levels since hypoglycemia is a huge culprit in young kid mortality), if she has been scouring since she arrived then this is quite concerning that she has been harbouring an illness (ie bacterial, viral, parasitic) since you got her. (This could also be why she has been listless and not right since you took her on). As well, I would note that a week old kid should be on feeds of 10-12 oz per feeding 4 times daily.

Now while it sounds that the diarrhea has not been profuse, I would still be concerned that this has been already lingering a wee while and is likely part of the cause for her now listlessness and anorexia. As well, if she has had protracted diarrhea then the gradual loss of fluid and nutrition through abnormal feces will now be catching up with her.

As I am sure you can appreciate there are an army of agents that can cause diarrhea in the kid. And with the constant loss of nutrition and water via this (improperly digested) type of fecal material, we can easily see this little one overwhelmed as the condition can progress to serious complications with dehydration and essentially starvation. It is a clinical signs that can be caused by a whole range of agents. This includes bacterial (ie Salmonella, E.coli, C. Enterotoxemia Clostridium perfringens, etc.) viral (Coronavirus, Rotavirus, etc) parasitic (ie cryptosporidium, fluke, giardia, etc.), nutritional, and toxic causes (the last 2 lower on our list of causes). The list is nearly unending on how many things can cause the signs you are seeing.

In regards XXXXX XXXXX causes, the most straight forward way of determining the causative agent would be to consider submitting a fresh fecal sample to the vet. This can be checked for common parasitic and bacterial causes of diarrhea of the goat. As well, the bacterial culture will be tested to determine which antibiotics they are sensitive to. And if this is a bacterial or parasitic complaint, knowing what the causative agent is will help you treat it effectively and stop this continual spread of this agent.

In the meantime, supportive care and an broad spectrum antibiotic (ie Scour Halt or Spectam) would be indicated. As well, if you haven't wormed her, you might consider doing this now (to take away the stress of a likely worm burden).

And since she is not eating/drinking as she should and likely suffering from a deficit due to the diarrhea, supportive care is indicated. Therefore, it is important to provide supportive care either by oral administration of electrolyte solution (as this will replace electrolyte losses from the diarrhea) or sterile fluids under the skin. In regards, XXXXX XXXXX much he will need at a time, this is going to be weight dependant. For example, if you have a 10kg kid, then she will need 1 litres of fluid a day as normal maintenance fluid intake. (I use 10kg as a guide, so that you can easily modify it to her weight).

Now if we consider the dehydration from scouring, we need to first assess the level of dehydration. If this kid is listless, depressed, has sunken eyes and a skin tent when you pull the neck skin up , then she probably at least 10% dehydrated. At 10 kg weight, with 10% dehydration, this kid will require an additional1 liters of fluid to replace her current deficit. Therefore, overall a scouring kid that is 10% dehydrated will need approximately 2 liters of fluids in the first 24 hours of therapy. To achieve this, with a limited size of stomach, its ideal to tube fed 4-5 times.

Overall, supportive care measures, a broad spectrum antibiotic and a fecal sample would be an initial plan of attack in treating this wee one. As well, keep a close eye on her temperature. We do have to worry about hypothermia in the listless kid, so you do need to pay mind to that. As well, you need to make sure she isn't febrile as well, otherwise you will need to have the vet out for this wee one. So, you can start supportive care measure but if you do not see improvement or see deterioration within 24-48 hours then she will need to see the vet (we don't want this to linger too much longer since they are easily overcome by these types of illness and can die).

I hope this information is helpful.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
If you have no further questions, I would be grateful if you would press the wee green accept.

Thank you,

Dr. B.