Ketosis in goats: causes and symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, prevention

Ketosis is a metabolic disease in goats. The disease occurs if you feed animals with protein feed and do not give them carbohydrate-rich food. The desire of some goat breeders to quickly fatten the animal leads to violations. Obesity is just as bad for goats as it is for humans. The main food of these animals should be fresh grass and sun-dried meadow hay.

Description of disease

Ketosis is a condition that develops as a result of a violation of protein-carbohydrate metabolism. Goats affected by this disease are diagnosed with indigestion, low milk yield, depression, and pregnant females experience spontaneous abortions (miscarriages).

In ketosis, there is an increased content of ketone bodies in the blood, and this pathology can be detected by the sharp acetone smell of milk and urine. The disease directly depends on the conditions of keeping and feeding pets. Goats get sick if they eat only concentrates and protein feeds, but little grass or hay.

Ketosis is carbohydrate starvation resulting from dietary errors. Goats receive too much protein food (grain, meal, cake, legumes) and little juicy meadow grass, sun-dried hay and sweet root crops (carrots, sugar beets). Early disease is treated with a single nutritional adjustment.

Causes of ketosis

This dangerous disease occurs in goats if they are not properly fed. Always remember that the basis of the diet of animals should be hay and fresh grass. Livestock breeders, wishing to improve the menu of their goats with protein food (grain, meal, cake), receive not high milk yields, but sick animals.Prolonged fasting, too long a break between feedings, can also lead to illness.

Main causes of ketosis:

lack in the diet of herbs with a high content of carbohydrates and vitamins (clover, fescue, timothy);
excess protein (protein) food (grains, cake, legumes);
shortage of sweet root crops (carrots, sugar beets);
feeding with oilseeds (rapeseed, field cabbage, mustard);
poor quality food;
prolonged fasting;
stress.

Ketosis is more common in fat goats. Well-fed animals may develop this disease in the future. A long-term absence of he althy feed (fresh grass and hay) and feeding goats with concentrates (grain) and protein-rich cultures can lead to metabolic disorders in the body.

Signs and symptoms of disease

Ketosis can be detected in domestic goats by the signs characteristic of this disease. It must always be remembered that he althy animals are active, calm and have a good appetite. If the goats refuse to eat, are overexcited or, conversely, drowsy, then there is reason to suspect that they have some kind of disease. It is difficult to identify the disease on your own. However, it is worth examining the animal, and if there are signs of alarm, it is recommended to consult a veterinarian.

Ketosis symptoms:

skin, milk, feces and urine smell like acetone;
lack of appetite;
tachycardia, shortness of breath;
digestion problems (constipation, diarrhea, intestinal atony);
overexcitement, turning into a depressed state.

Signs of severe disease:

weakness, drowsiness;
weakening of muscle tone;
decrease in milk yield;
exhaustion of the nervous system;
marked liver enlargement (right side larger than left);
spontaneous abortions;
postpartum complications;
mastitis.

In a sick animal, depending on the severity of the disease, certain signs may be observed. Ketosis at the initial stage is determined by the acetone smell of milk and urine. Before treating a goat, you need to take it to the doctor and do laboratory tests. Ketosis is very similar in symptoms to poisoning.

Diagnostic rules

The disease is determined on the basis of the clinical picture and laboratory data. If symptoms similar to signs of ketosis are found, the goat should be taken to the veterinarian.Blood, urine and milk should be sent to the veterinary laboratory for analysis (to determine the content of ketone bodies).

A sick goat should be examined by a doctor, to determine the condition of the organs, to measure the temperature. The final diagnosis is established on the basis of laboratory data. If goats have elevated ketone bodies and low levels of sugar, protein, white blood cells and hemoglobin, then the animal is in ketosis and needs to be treated urgently.

How to properly treat ketosis in goats

This disease is often confused with poisoning. Laboratory testing of blood, urine and milk helps to make a diagnosis. When ketosis is detected, animals are transferred to a special diet. The disease is treated with drugs and the introduction of carbohydrate-rich foods into the diet. Protein foods are completely excluded from the diet.

Medication treatment

Goats are treated with medication given by mouth or injection.Animals are prescribed "Katozal". It is a drug that stimulates metabolism. It is not recommended for pregnant females to inject it. The doctor may prescribe intravenous glucose, subcutaneous insulin, hydrocortisone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, sodium lactate, Sharabrin liquid, choline chloride, vitamins A and E, sodium propionate.

Goats are given sweet water in the morning (half a glass of sugar per half bucket). During the day, pharmacy vitamins and minerals are added to drinking water. In the evenings, give a solution of baking soda (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water) to alkalize the body. The course of treatment is 10 days.

Important! Treatment begins after a laboratory study of urine and blood, as well as after an examination by a veterinarian. What medicines the animal needs, the specialist determines. During treatment, it is necessary to take repeated tests every 5 days.

Diet Adjustment

You can normalize the acid-base balance by adjusting the nutrition of goats. In order to increase the sugar content, animals need to be given carbohydrate-rich feed (carrots, sugar beets, potatoes).The diet should contain fresh grasses and hay, cut during flowering and earing, as well as dried in the sun. A lot of carbohydrates in such plants: red and pink clover, fescue, meadow timothy grass, cocksfoot.

In parallel with the increase in the amount of grass, hay and sweet vegetables in the diet, goats are no longer given grain, meal, silage, grass, oilseeds and legumes. With a mild form of ketosis, one nutritional adjustment is enough to completely cure the animal. In severe cases, goats are treated with medication. If the problem is ignored, the animal may die.

Possible consequences of the disease

Ketosis is a disease that can be cured in its early stages with a single dietary adjustment. The diet is enriched with sweet vegetables, the amount of fresh herbs and hay is increased, and protein feeds and concentrates are completely excluded. The disease is simply impossible not to notice - milk and urine begin to smell like acetone.

If alarming symptoms are ignored and the goats' diet is not changed in time, complications can be serious.

A sick animal's milk yield decreases, complications occur during pregnancy and childbirth, miscarriages occur. In severe cases, toxicosis, convulsions, muscle tremors appear. A prolonged form can lead to a coma and even death.

Prevention

Disease is easier to prevent than to cure. Preventing ketosis is feeding your goats fresh, carbohydrate-rich grasses, sun-dried quality hay, and sweet vegetables. Grain, cake, meal, legumes and oilseeds are given only in winter, but in a minimal amount. Pharmacy vitamin and mineral preparations should be present in the nutrition of animals. Goats should be given fresh water twice a day.

Animals should graze in the warm sunny weather in the meadow, eat fresh herbs, and in the rain they better stay in the barn.Goats need to move a lot and cannot be kept indoors all year round. In summer, goats must be taken out to pasture. The main food in the summer is fresh meadow grass.

In winter, animals are recommended to be kept in a barn where the temperature is not lower than 15 degrees Celsius. In a cold room, they stop producing milk. The main diet in winter is hay (up to 4 kg per day). In winter, it is imperative to give goats pharmaceutical preparations with calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D. Coniferous and pine branches are recommended as top dressing. Grain feed should be present in a minimal amount (it is the cause of ketosis). Every day in winter you need to give finely chopped beets, carrots, pumpkin (up to 1.5 kg per day).