Bloat in the kids has been a problem here until the last few years. The first symptoms I'd observe would be the kid standing alone, head hanging, maybe a little dusky around the muzzle and, of course, a big belly. Later symptoms might include screaming. See kid rearing for more information.

So in 1997 when I thought I had the bloat beaten, I found a kid of about 4 weeks old with similar symptoms but not quite. She was dusky round her muzzle and doing a lot of yelling. Oh no, here we go again, I thought.

I watched her for a while and then made the decision to take her to the vet in case this was the tip of the iceberg and more were going to get it

My vet checked her over and decided she had a respiratory problem of unknown origin. He gave her a bronchodialtor to improve her breathing and we stood there chatting while waiting to see if the injection would help. If he had any ideas about what was wrong with her, he didn't let on.

After what seemed like a short time to me, Kimba (the kid), started thrashing and coughing, yelling and pawing at her mouth. I looked at the vet, who more or less just stood there, thinking this kid is surely about to die. I reached down to try and calm her at which point she stood there heaving like she was going to vomit and out of her mouth came a leaf. Yes, a leaf!! All that commotion and expense for the sake of a leaf which a goat eats naturally.