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     Maggie Leman Moderator Username: maggieleman Post Number: 980 Registered: 07-2005  Rating: N/A |
She probably died of either enterotoxemia or simple bloat. Vaccinating a kid that is under 8 weeks old is virtually useless and may do more harm than good. For a vaccine to work the animal (or human) must have an active functioning immune system capable of producing antibodies. A vaccine itself offers no protection, it stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies and it is those antibodies that give the protection. A goat BEGINS to develop its own immune system at about 8 weeks old and should have a functioning one when it is about 10 to 12 weeks old. Until then it relies on the antibodies that it got from drinking its dam's colostrum. By giving a vaccine to a young goat you may have used up alot of those antibodies leaving it unprotected. It also takes about 3 to 4 weeks from the day of injection for antibodies to be formed. A CDT vaccine is only minimally effective with only one dose, orffering about 10 to 15 percent protection. A second booster dose gets the antibody level up to about 30 to 50 percent of what's needed and a third gets it up around 80 to 90 percent. This protection tends to last only about 6 months so boostering twice a year may be needed if you have a problem with entero in your herd. Being sure the doe is well vaccinated does more for protecting newborns than vaccinating the kid. You can give newborns CD antitoxin, which is essentially antibodies, at birth and every 2 to 3 weeks until 6 to 8 weeks old starting the vaccination program 2 to 3 weeks after the last antitoxin treatment. This will not harm the antibodies the kid may have received from the doe. This may help cut down losses due to enterotoxemia but may not completely eliminate them. The clostidial bacteria that causes enterotoxemia occur naturally in all ruminants intestines. They are kept in check by the beneficial bacteria and by the regular emptying of the gut. If something causes the gut to stop moving, like bloat, the clostridial bacteria get a chance to rapidly multiply and cause enterotoxemia. Maggie Leman Goat 911 Capri Medic | ||
| Keith Johnson Member Username: mobear708 Post Number: 7 Registered: 03-2006 Rating: N/A |
Maggie, I hope you can help with this one. We had a 3 week old doeling die this morning for no aparent reason. She was being bottle raised on replacer, was doing very well. She was fine last night when we fed bottle, and this morning she was dead. She had been vacinated with CDT. There were no signs of any problems at all. Any thoughts on this? Thank you |