Many people think a goat is bloated when it simply has a large belly. I have seen many people post online, “My goat has been bloated for several days,” which is impossible. A goat with bloat will die within hours if not treated. If a goat’s belly has looked unusually large for several days, it is probably a hay belly, which is most likely caused by parasites. A goat with a heavy load of parasites may be “starving” because the parasites are either causing anemia or consuming the nutrients in the goat’s digestive system. This causes the goat to eat constantly, which causes their belly to be quite large.
The belly is not usually the first thing you will notice when a goat has a real case of bloat. It will probably be lying down in a corner somewhere hiding. It will have zero interest in food, may be grinding its teeth (a sign of pain), and it will not want to get up and move. However, once you get it to its feet, you will probably notice that its abdomen looks bigger than usual. You can tell the difference between a hay belly and bloat because if you press on the left abdomen (over the rumen) of a goat with a hay belly, you can mash it in as if you were mashing in cookie dough. And it stays mashed in when you lift your fingers. You’ve just moved around chewed up hay and forage in the rumen. A goat with bloat, however, has an abdomen that feels tight like a drum, which is why the technical term is ruminal tympany. If you are able to press it in at all, it will spring right back out because the rumen is filled with gas.
Goats on pasture rarely get bloat, provided that dietary changes occur gradually. If you keep your goats in the barn or on a dry lot all winter, you should expose them to pasture slowly in the spring. Start with only a few hours of pasture a day after giving them hay in the barn before letting them out so that they don’t gorge themselves on the pasture. Suddenly grazing lush fields of legumes, such as alfalfa or clover, and sometimes even wet spring grass can cause frothy bloat, which is when a buildup of gas cannot be released from the goat’s rumen, putting pressure on the heart and lungs and ultimately causing death. If you are not seeing fast improvement in treating a goat with bloat, you should call the vet.
The goal of treating frothy bloat is to break down the foam, which is usually done by drenching with 100–200 cc of cooking oil.(1) There are also commercial anti-bloating medications available. Although some people recommend putting a stomach tube into a goat to administer the oil, there is no benefit to doing this, and it is in fact much more dangerous than simply drenching a goat because of the risk that an inexperienced person could put the tube into the goat’s lung and kill it. If a goat can swallow, it can be given liquids orally with a drenching syringe. After drenching, the goat should be encouraged to walk around, or the rumen can be massaged to help the goat release the gas.
If a goat with bloat cannot swallow, it could be because something is stuck in the goat’s throat, which means the goat has choke bloat. For this reason, you should administer the oil very slowly until you are sure the goat can swallow, so that you don’t accidentally force oil into the goat’s lungs. If there is something stuck in the goat’s throat, a small amount of oil may help lubricate it, so the goat can swallow it. In this case, it may be helpful to put a tube into the goat’s throat to help push the object down.
Goats can also get bloat by gorging themselves on grain.(2) When goats chew, they produce bicarbonate. Eating hay or browse requires lots of chewing. Eating pelletized feed or grain, especially grain that is finely ground, requires very little chewing, which means the goat will produce very little bicarbonate. This is why it’s a good idea to have baking soda available free choice in a separate dish at all times if you feed grain. You never know when a goat’s rumen could be a little off. You may also have a goat or two that chews very little when on the milk stand because it is essentially a grain hog that will try to consume as much as possible. If you are new to goats, you also have no idea how easily goats might be able to escape their area and find chicken or pig grain upon which to gorge themselves. Studies have shown that baking soda is an effective treatment for grain bloat.(3) In one study where they overfed crushed rice to goats, 100 percent died in the group that did not receive baking soda, whereas only 20 percent died in the group that did receive baking soda. If baking soda is available free choice, goats will usually self-medicate when needed.
If a vet is called, he or she may use a trochar to release the gas. It’s basically a metal tube that punctures the rumen to allow gas to escape through the tube. If you can’t reach a vet quickly, a less risky option to release the gas is to insert a 14-gauge or 16-gauge needle into the rumen.
Because nothing on the internet ever dies, there has been a resurgence of an old home remedy for bloat, which is to give liquid laundry detergent (specifically Tide) to a goat with bloat. This was common advice back in the 1970s. Back then liquid laundry detergent was little more than surfactants, which is what is in modern bloat medicines. Today’s Tide, however, contains 27 ingredients, including optical brighteners, water softening chemicals, enzymes, polymers, colors, and fragrance, in addition to five different surfactants. Many of these ingredients are carcinogenic and endocrine disruptors, which is why some consumers today have chosen more natural laundry detergents — and that’s just because we don’t want them on our skin. None of the ingredients in modern laundry detergent are meant to be consumed orally; they are poisons. In fact, thousands of children wind up in hospital emergency rooms every year after consuming laundry detergent, with a few in a coma, and one or two dying. Laundry detergent damages the esophagus and can cause breathing difficulties so severe that some children are put on a respirator.
This is an excerpt from the second edition of Raising Goats Naturally by Deborah Niemann.
Citations:
(1) John Matthews, Diseases of the Goat, 4th edition, (Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016), 252.
(2) Sandra G. Solaiman, Goat Science and Production, (Ames, Iowa: Blackwell, 2010), 168.
(3) N.A. Tufani, et al., “Rumen Acidosis in Small Ruminants and its Therapeutic Management,” Iranian Journal of Applied Animal Science, 2013: 19–24; and S.M.S. Islam, et al., “Effects of Sodium Bicarbonate on Induced Lactic Acidosis in Black Bengal Goats,” Wayamba Journal of Animal Science, 2014: 1044–1057.
Rochelle A says
We had a goat with frothy bloat a year ago…our vet had us walk her and periodically put her front legs up higher than the back to get her to burpnor pass gas. They also had us give her milk of magnesia and charcoal mixed with the olive oil……
thriftyhomesteader says
Walking is a good thing, but milk of magnesia and charcoal are not bloat treatments. Maybe someone was worried that she had eaten something poisonous?
Tara says
Can u help figure out if my goat has bloat?
thriftyhomesteader says
The article describes the symptoms. Is there something you are not clear on?
Tara says
He has had a bloated tummy for a week. Given him baking soda and oil. He started burping but still is bloated. I gave him probiotics in his water. One of my other goats tested positive for coccidia and another parasite, so he was treated also. Wondering if that would make him bloated also. He’s acting fine just fat. He eats and drinks like normal also. I worked them again and have probis yesterday. Any ideas?
thriftyhomesteader says
Your goat is not bloated. A goat will die within a couple hours if it has bloat and is not treated. Sounds like it has hay belly, which usually happens when a goat has a high load of parasites. They are starving, so they stuff themselves and eat as much as possible. It is possible that either you did not give enough of the dewormer or the worms are resistant to the dewormer that you used. Here is more information about using dewormers:
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/deworming-goats/
And here is more info about dewormer resistance:
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/dewormer-resistance-in-goats/
Tara says
Thank you so much!
Wendy Cross-Finley says
I’m dealing with a bloated young Nubian doe today – while I’m at work. God bless my daughter-in-law and grandson (just showed a FFA goat at the fair) I’m reading them this page telling them what to do for her. She’s passing gas from both ends, slowly but surely, so the olive oil is working. I have no idea what she got into, but I’m thinking hay and they didn’t have any baking soda in their dish this morning :\ Thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge!
thriftyhomesteader says
I’m so glad it seems to be helping!
Wendy Cross-Finley says
Well, I just home from work and things have stopped. I just gave her 10 cc of olive oil with about 1/2 tsp baking soda. Her rumen is soft, it’s the lower belly that feels bloated, and she just wants to stand in one spot and not move.
thriftyhomesteader says
If you can press into the upper part, that’s an improvement. Hopefully the second dose helped even more. If you can get her to walk around, that’s also helpful, but I know that’s now always easy.
Allison Wilson says
I have a saanen doeling that is four months old and he stomach is hard on the bottom and softer at the top and she was drinking a lot of water but not wanting to eat what should I do
Do u have a suggestion
Thanks Allison
thriftyhomesteader says
If the stomach is soft, that’s not bloat. Being off feed is the first symptom of many things that could make a goat sick. Parasites are the #1 cause of death in goats, so worms or coccidia would be the first thing to rule out. Is she still pooping pebbles? Are her eyelids dark pink, light pink, or white? What is her body condition like?
Monique says
Our goat seems lethargic. Wanting to just stand and not very active. I had switched hay a few days ago and it may be when this started but not sure. Grace (our Nigerian) had a couple runny poops and a little frothy look when she was chewing. Please help!!
thriftyhomesteader says
If it’s been like this for days, it’s not bloat. If she has diarrhea, that’s a whole different can of worms. If she’s an adult, it’s probably worms. If she’s a kid, it could be coccidiosis.
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/diarrhea-in-goats/
A rehman says
I had a male baby goat 3 weeks old
I fed him 2/3 table spoon of cooked wheat porridge after that he got his normal routine milk feed
Right after feeding he sat down never eat anything called the vet gave medicine for stomach
After7 hours expired
Can you please tell the possible cause
Thanks
thriftyhomesteader says
I’m so sorry you lost your little guy. It would be impossible to tell from what you said why he died. There could be many reasons. You’d have to get a necropsy to get a definitive diagnosis.
Dar says
My goat got into horses grain!!! Gave pepto in am then baking soda mixed with water…trying to get him to walk around ..what else can I do
thriftyhomesteader says
Just because he got into the horse’s grain doesn’t mean he will get bloat. Does he have the symptoms of bloat? If he is acting normal, eating and drinking, etc, then he’s fine for now. Just keep an eye on him. If his belly is huge and firm like a drum, then you can give him an ounce of cooking oil, such as olive oil, sunflower, etc.
Therese says
One of my goats has always had a large round belly. They forage during the day and get Timothy hay in the evening and a bit of grain in the morning. Her sister is normal. Today the large belly goat is not well, standing up against the shed wall, hoofing the ground, she had the shed bedding all hoofed up. Her poo is a bit clumped together and I don’t see her chewing cud. Any ideas? Her belly, both sides is hard. Thanks.
thriftyhomesteader says
Clumpy poop is a classic sign of a worm overload. If your goat has had a big belly for awhile, it could be that she’s “starving” because she is either anemic or the worms are consuming all of the nutrients in her digestive tract. Different types of worms do different things, but ultimately they both cause goats to have little energy and poor body condition. If you press into the left side of her belly (her rumen) and it feels like you are pushing into cookie dough, then her rumen is just full of food — NOT gas.
I see it’s been seven hours since you sent this message, so it’s important to understand that a goat with bloat would probably be dead by now. If she is still alive, I’d check her eyelids. If they are pale pink or white, that would be an indication of barber pole worm. If they are dark pink or red, it could be a different type of roundworm that consumes the contents of the goat’s stomach, making it unavailable for the goat to actually get nutrients from. Clumpy poop usually goes with barber pole worm though.
Therese says
Noel is still alive! Since she’s always been large bellied I didn’t think it’s bloat. She is moving around this morning , came down to the garden and wandered with her sister. A vet came out last summer to look at crusty patches on her back which she said probably reaction to bad outbreak of lice, recommended Ultra boss which I did. This year after combing – they are cashmere type – I dusted with food grade diatomaceous earth twice this summer which seemed to work. Anyway the vet took poo samples then to check for worms and there were none. I will get sampled again.
Do you think it could be something she was born with?
thriftyhomesteader says
Goats are not born with worms, although they do acquire them fairly early in life, and they always have them, so when someone says there were no worms in a fecal, it’s not that reassuring. It may mean the fecal was done incorrectly. There should at least a few, but they don’t need to be treated unless the goat is being negatively affected. You don’t necessarily need to do a fecal if her eyelids are pale. She probably has barber pole worm, which sucks their blood. You can buy Safeguard at any farm supply store, or you can buy a horse dewormer since you only need to treat one goat.
If you have kept them on the same pasture for the past year — or even a couple of months — they’re basically eating from their toilet, so they are ingesting larvae from the pasture, and at some point the level in their gut is just too much for them to deal with. Every goat has a different tolerance level for worms, and some are more sensitive than others, so it’s not unusual to have that looks worse and gets sicker than others.
Therese says
Thank you so much for your help. My faith in our local vet has now fallen another rung. This goat’s guard hair is falling out too, another poor health indication. This is my third year into goats, learning all the time. We have only 3 acres, it’s spruce, scrub willow and other moose country browse. Thank you again!
thriftyhomesteader says
Although some vets don’t know a lot about goats, some are just not very good communicators, so maybe “nothing” meant nothing that needs to be treated. It is hard to find a vet that’s up to date on goat parasites because so much research has been done in the past 10 years, and if they don’t see a lot of goats in their practice, they spend all of their continuing ed time on dogs and cats. Here is more information about preventing parasite problems in goats: https://thriftyhomesteader.com/internal-parasite-in-goats-preventing/
And here is info on using dewormers:
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/deworming-goats/
Therese says
Thank you. I’m sure you are right about the veterinarian. Unfortunately we only have one clinic with two vets, both are nice just very over worked. I picked up Safeguard for goats today. The one that was sick is much better and back to her usual antics but I still believe she is not as healthy as she should be and parasites could be why. Thank you for the links.
thriftyhomesteader says
Dosage info is in one of the links, but just in case you don’t get to them right away, you should double the dosage for Safeguard.
Sarah May says
Have a goat with likely listeria, despite the fact there are no obvious sources. Fever, Drooling, right facial paralysis, weak hind end off/on. High dose PCN q6-8h. Thiamine 500 mg twice daily. Probiotics. Day 5 today. She waxes and wanes in terms of weakness and comfort. She drinks a little on her, other wise I syringe her. Avg 1-2 liters/day. Vet said to feed soaked alfalfa pellets since she wasn’t chewing well, and didn’t want her rumen to become impacted. It is tight, and occasionally tender, though not bloated. Giving her water and massaging it helps. She isn’t chewing her cud well. I’m worried that not giving her hay will be cause more problems with poor rumen function. Vet says, to avoid hay to avoid. Only feed mash so it can be emptied by the rumen . (She is chewing her food before swallowing). Do goats need long stem hay to keep their rumen working, even if chewing their cud is problematic?
Thoughts?
thriftyhomesteader says
Goats make bicarbonate when they chew, which is why chewing long stem forage is important, so if she is not chewing much be sure she has baking soda available free choice.
A goat with listeriosis is usually dead long before five days. At this point I’d suspect meningeal worm, as the symptoms are very similar and can be hard to tell apart. The only odd thing is that a goat with m-worm doesn’t have a fever. What exactly do you mean by fever? What temperature? A goat’s body temp is much more variable than other mammals, so I’m wondering if she just normally runs a little high. Here is more on m-worm:
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/m-worm-nightmare-for-goat-sheep-and/
This is the time of year that you see disease from m-worm.
Sarah May says
Thank you. Her temp was 105 for about 24 hours. Her first symptom was depression, refusal to eat, and then profuse drooling/slack jaw. I gave her ivermectin, if thats affective again m-worm?
1.5 weeks ago, I had another doe present the same way, without fever. (but I gave her banimine). Her symptoms progressed to near complete paralysis and I had to put her down after 72 hours.
What would you suggest for m-worm. We’ve had an incredible drought all summer, but I know some deer frequent the pasture.
thriftyhomesteader says
Safeguard is the main dewormer used for m-worm. Some regimens add ivermectin but not all. Everyone agrees the Safeguard is the most important, but it is a huge dose — about 10x the usual dose used for intestinal worms. I’m traveling right now so don’t have access to all of my resources in my home library. Ask your vet about this. If you just had another goat get paralyzed a couple weeks ago, it could very well be m-worm. As I say in the article I linked, it affects all animals differently because it depends where in spinal column the worm winds up.
Sarah May says
I just read your article and post on m-worm. Thank you! I’m going to go give her some safeguard!
Egbemakinde says
My 3 month he goat firstly discharging mucous in both eyes and nose and later having fast earth beat and staggering while walking. Please what do you think I can do
thriftyhomesteader says
The fast heart beat and staggering sound like he’s been poisoned. If so, there’s not much you can do about that. Goats often bounce back from poisoning though, so hopefully that will happen with him. If he has a fever, he could have an infection, and antibiotics might help. It’s tough to know exactly what’s happening without more details.
Jessica Hanley says
Any experience with a goat that gorged on dog food? She had diarrhea the first day so I moved her into a stall, the next morning she was down and would lift her front end to eat hay and baking soda and minerals. I drenched her with baking soda and gave some vitamins. She was huge and tight in the belly. by this morning she is much smaller, passed a lot of gas. I got her to stand for about 10 mins but then she laid back down and hasn’t been up since. I asked my husband to go out and lift her back on her feet every hour while I’m at work.
thriftyhomesteader says
I am so sorry to hear this! And sorry I didn’t see your post sooner. We’ve had a goat or two that tried to eat dog food, but our LGD was usually not far from his bowl and would chase them off before they got too much. How is your doe doing now?
Lanette says
My 3 month old male goat has been sick for several days. First we noticed he was “screaming” while trying to use the bathroom. He nearly lost his voice completely. I am a new goat owner and had given him too much sweet feed and not enough fresh hay. He did get to eat plenty of green grass and my flowers while “free-ranging” with my chickens. It was suggested by a friend that has had goats for years that I give him pepto. I did and he seemed to be better for a couple of days. he even got his voice back. Yesterday however, I came home to find him laying down in a pile of hay and his belly was very big. He seemed to have no energy and could barely stand. I gave him more pepto but today he will not even stand up. I do not want to lose my baby. What do you suggest?
thriftyhomesteader says
If he is with your chickens, he may be gettin into the chicken grain, which can also make him sick. Please re-read the article above. If he has all the symptoms of bloat, you can try baking soda or vegetable oil. If baking soda does not help, then he needs vegetable oil. If his belly is not hard like a drum, then it could be enterotoxemia, especially if you start to see bloody diarrhea, which will kill him very quickly. You would have to take him to a vet to save him.
He also needs a goat friend. That could be why he screams so much — because he’s lonely. Goats are herd animals and should never be alone.
Kortney says
I have a goat about 3 months and this morning we woke up to him just laying around not wanting to move. Once we got him to his feet we noticed he was very boated so we gave him baking soda and the oil. It seemed to work as it got rid of the boating and he started burping. He moved around a little but really just wants to stand in one spot. When we get him to move he tries to poop but starts straining and doesn’t go to the bathroom. Is this related to the bloat or is this something different and what should I do for it?
thriftyhomesteader says
Usually when someone thinks their male goat can’t poop, the problem is that he can’t pee., which is caused by a urinary stone. If this is a wether, and you have been feeding him grain, that would put him at high risk of urinary stones. If he has his body stretched out like they do when they pee and you see no pee or only drops of pee, you need to call a vet ASAP because a blockage could kill him.
Courtney says
Our goats got into the grain on Thursday evening and on Friday one of our goats seemed lethargic, we got her up and I thought she was OK. Saturday morning she was very bad. ears down and we didn’t think we could get her to stand up. We finally did and it seemed like she had bloat. we gave her olive oil and baking soda, massaged her tummy, gave her another dose of olive oil and baking soda. She also had diarrhea. Finally later in the day when the vet couldn’t come out we decided to poke her rumen, her belly went down, but she did not seem to improve at all. On sunday we treated her with an injection of c&d. Her stool has gone back to round balls and she is drinking a little water, but still is laying down most of the day and her ears are still droopy. She was also nursing 2 babies and has gone dry. Can recovery from bloat take this long?
thriftyhomesteader says
Keep in mind that bloat is just a symptom, not a disease, and bloat goes away fairly quickly or the goat is dead. Sounds like something else went south in her digestive system. Typically if a goat has enterotoxemia, which is what the C&D is treating, they die within a couple of hours, so I would not have expected her to live even one day. If she is back to pooping pebbles, it sounds like she is on the mend. There are so many things that can go wrong in a goat’s digestive system. The rumen is a very complex fermentation vat that is easily upset. Some homemade goat yogurt might be beneficial or commercial probiotics to help get things heading in the right direction a little faster.
I’m also wondering if her thiamine production was messed up and she’s suffering from a mild case of thiamine deficiency or goat polio. I say “mild” because again she should be dead by now if it was a severe case. B-complex doesn’t usually have enough thiamine in it to treat a full-blown case of deficiency but in her case, it might also help her to bounce back. Goats produce their own thiamine in their rumen, so deficiency is one of the most common things that happens when a goat gets too much grain. Thiamine alone is by prescription because it is quite a high dose, but B-complex is over the counter.
Sounds like she really dodged a bullet with her little over-indulgence. I really am surprised she’s still alive after everything you described and considering all of the possibilities.
Kandi says
Hello, my nigerian doe looked bloated but after reading your article I believe she has hay belly. She always acts hungry and poops ALOT. I did start her on Molly’s herbal dewormer because her eyelids are pale. I am not sure what to do, she has 2 kids that she is nursing. Suggestions?
thriftyhomesteader says
Molly’s does not actually kill worms. I’ve done before and after fecals and seen no difference. There is also a published study showing that there was no difference between goats that were given Molly’s and goats that were given nothing. It’s fine to use pharmaceutical dewormers when a doe is nursing. Here is more info on using dewormers:
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/deworming-goats/
If you like to use natural things, copper oxide and sericea lespedeza are two things that have a lot of published research behind them. Here is more on sericea lespedeza. I’d suggest using a dewormer first though.
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/natural-parasite-control-with-lespedeza/
Denise says
Hi- our 14 year old Pygmy goat named Cindy who has been healthy her whole life (and only has her sister Jenny for a buddy) became ill yesterday. She wouldn’t eat & was only laying down. Her belly was tight. We gave her about a couple of TB’s of vegetable oil. She burped or chewed cud again after about two hours after dosing. I did notice her poop was a tad on the clumpy side. Her belly was more soft after dosing. She is more alert and active this morning, but not quite acting perfectly normal. Should we dose oil again? And when is she allowed to eat? (Nothing was different in her diet prior to this- she eats a little bit out in pasture, has hay available and a small amount of grain each day.) Thank You so much for your time. And thanks for your website- it helped us with Cindy!
thriftyhomesteader says
I’m glad to hear she’s better today. You should have hay available 24/7. If she doesn’t start eating, that’s cause for concern. Grain and green grass is the only thing you want to limit with a goat that has bloat. As soon as she’s acting normal, you can let her out on pasture again. In the meantime, she can eat hay.
Do you have baking soda available? I’d suggest offering her some and seeing if she’s interested in it.