# Goat's milk and parasites..



## RedCrown (Feb 23, 2005)

I have a bitch that developed a pretty bad case of mastitis when the pups were 2 weeks old... tried to fight it with nursing-safe antibiotics to no avail, and had to pull the pups off of her and start bottle feeding. Long story short- I kept 3 pups (the 2 largest and the smallest at the time) and the co-breeder took the remaining 4 to help me out with bottle feeding. At 4 weeks old met up with her to swap out puppies- and we were both kindof shocked when we saw each other's pups.. Mine were huge and very active, and hers were rather thin and slightly depressed. 

I had been feeding a formula consisting of pasteurized goat's milk, yogurt, egg yolk and karo syrup.. she had been feeding straight unpasteurized goat's milk from a local farm, and said they were eating great. 3 days before we met up, her pups developed watery diarrhea and were just starting to firm up when we switched. 

We wormed all of them with Interceptor that day, and then I ran a fecal the next on the thinnest puppy- very heavy positive result for roundworms. 

Soo.... I was doing a little research and it occurred to me- has anyone heard of raw goat's milk transmitting parasites? It is certainly scientifically possible... What have you had success with regarding bottle feeding and worming?

Thanks!


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## Barb E (Jun 6, 2004)

Have no input, just wanted to say it's good to "see" you - Hope all is well with you and yours!!!









(What kind of pups????)


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## djpohn (Jun 27, 2003)

I have handraised a couple of foster litters. One with 12 pups I was able to get someone to take 1/2 the pups at about 2 1/2 weeks. When they came back at 6 weeks they were noticably smaller. They also had coccidia, but they had been wormed at the fosters house a couple times. I think the stress of being relocated plus the sudden weaning stress the system provides an environment where the worms can get ahold and the immune system can't keep up with them. Goats milk doesn't have enough fat in it for growing pups, if they aren't getting any milk from the mom you have to add more calories to what you are feeding. I fed the mixture recommended on the Leerburg site. I wasn't that impressed with esbilac.


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## RedCrown (Feb 23, 2005)

Hi Barb! Good to "see you" too!







I bred Tyranny my APBT- no GSD puppies for me for a very long time (if ever!) you can read about the breeding here: http://www.workingpitbull.com/future2.html

GS Mom, thanks for the input- I am treating them with Albon right now, even though the fecal came back negative for coccidia.. its just easy to miss. I am going to worm them again with strongid, just to clear them out, and then continue with interceptor. 

I fed the formula from Leerburg's site also, and had great success with mine.. I am just wondering about the unpasteurized goat's milk because the pups that I had initially were perfectly fat and healthy, with good formed stool. I also wormed momma dog with interceptor halfway into the pregnancy.


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## Barb E (Jun 6, 2004)

I do hope you'll keep us up on the litter even if it's not GSD - Sounds like it's an amazing breeding!!


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## djpohn (Jun 27, 2003)

I would say it's more from the "stress" (on the body) to a forced weaning and a new environment. A healthy body can usually keep the parasites in check and when it is stressed the worm/parasites start to flourish. Stressers for a puppy are usually around weaning when you start introducing food and again when they go to their new homes. While your pups were weaned, they were still in a familar environment. Also your pups got way more calories per feeding than the ones eating plain goats milk. I would suggest ordering Puppy Gold this should help boost their immune systems.


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