Description:
This category includes rare, weird problems that we have only seen once. Stillborns are included here because we do see occasional kids who are born dead but we don't know the cause. Perhaps they were in the wrong position and labor was too long. Perhaps they were weak or abnormal in some other way and died of those causes before labor started. Some stillborns look recently dead. Others we call "mummies" because they have been dead much longer and have already started decomposing. Sometimes you will only feel a tiny skull or see lots of nasty discharge to indicate a kid died much earlier.
Brie had 2 stillborn kids and 1 live kid. This may have been because I didn't know to help reposition her kids. It could have also been toxoplasmosis from cat feces which causes weak and stillborn kids.
Cori had a doeling who would never take more than 3 oz at a time, no matter what we tried. She seemed otherwise normal and lived a few weeks but did not grow and eventually starved to death, even with our best efforts. She had a littermate sister who had hydrocephalus and a littermate brother who was normal.
Zoella had one doeling unattended who was found dead. But I delivered a live brother right after who was extremely weak and could not stand or keep his body temp. We wondered if perhaps she had iodine deficiency because we had a weed (flixweed) known to cause iodine deficiency and she liked to eat it.
Brie had 2 kids who were born a month early. They were alive, but struggled to breathe and died a few hours after birth, even though we tried everything.
Raclette had a normal doeling and then in the same litter was one who could not keep her temperature up. She could not stand or even hold her head up. I took her in the house and worked hard to get her temp up to normal, but that caused her to struggle to breathe. She died within a few hours of birth. I wish I would have checked to see if she had a normal heart.
Jude had a kid born this year that seemed to have a perfectly normal front end, but completely shrunken and twisted, abnormal back end. Littermate brother was normal. It was born alive, although with trouble, and put down soon after birth.
Gorgonzola had a stillborn or mummified kid in nearly every litter he sired in 2022. I did not include these numbers from kids who were not born in our herd, but I think it is worth mentioning them all here. We had a lot of healthy kids born this year and didn't breed Gorgonzola to very many of our own does, so we didn't realize this trend immediately. We thought it might have been chlamydia, but we realized it a few weeks before the last birth and treated the doe with antibiotics, which may have saved the kids, but the placenta did not test positive for chlamydia. So who knows if that was a random coincidence, disease or a genetic problem. His litters in previous years did not have any issues.
Rouelle had 3 stillborn doelings in 2023. There were no live kids and the placenta had started to decompose which resulted in her needing a C-section. Niolo was the sire, but the year before, Rouelle was bred to Gorgonzola. We immediately sent the bodies and placenta to the lab, but they found "no evidence of infectious disease."
Chocolat bred to Gastan had 1 stillborn out of 3 kids total. The kids and placenta looked entirely normal. The stillborn kid was malpositioned and I had to turn it to get it out. So I don't know if it died because it was not in the right position or vice versa.
M Panela was bred to M Zorro (half siblings of GL Marcellin) which resulted in 2 normal kids and 1 doeling with extra intestines, which had to be put down. First time we've ever seen that.
A half sibling cross on Giulianni (GL D'Espelette x GL Andre) produced 1 of 3 kids with a parrot mouth. It is noticeable but did not affect his ability to eat. Giulianni had a slight parrot mouth but again it did not affect his ability to eat.
M DropsOHoney bred to M Zorro (so a half sibling breeding on GL Marcellin) had 1 of 2 kids who struggled to suck correctly. She just had an slow suck and we had to use a bottle nipple with a larger opening. One person commented that her jaw did not align correctly. Zorro's littermate sister Dusty Rose (who died unexpectedly from bloat) apparently had an ineffective suck as a newborn but soon learned to suck correctly and didn't have any other issues.
We also had a kid with a crooked/deformed neck that we put down. He was otherwise healthy. Parents were Gardien x Niolo.
This category includes rare, weird problems that we have only seen once. Stillborns are included here because we do see occasional kids who are born dead but we don't know the cause. Perhaps they were in the wrong position and labor was too long. Perhaps they were weak or abnormal in some other way and died of those causes before labor started. Some stillborns look recently dead. Others we call "mummies" because they have been dead much longer and have already started decomposing. Sometimes you will only feel a tiny skull or see lots of nasty discharge to indicate a kid died much earlier.
Brie had 2 stillborn kids and 1 live kid. This may have been because I didn't know to help reposition her kids. It could have also been toxoplasmosis from cat feces which causes weak and stillborn kids.
Cori had a doeling who would never take more than 3 oz at a time, no matter what we tried. She seemed otherwise normal and lived a few weeks but did not grow and eventually starved to death, even with our best efforts. She had a littermate sister who had hydrocephalus and a littermate brother who was normal.
Zoella had one doeling unattended who was found dead. But I delivered a live brother right after who was extremely weak and could not stand or keep his body temp. We wondered if perhaps she had iodine deficiency because we had a weed (flixweed) known to cause iodine deficiency and she liked to eat it.
Brie had 2 kids who were born a month early. They were alive, but struggled to breathe and died a few hours after birth, even though we tried everything.
Raclette had a normal doeling and then in the same litter was one who could not keep her temperature up. She could not stand or even hold her head up. I took her in the house and worked hard to get her temp up to normal, but that caused her to struggle to breathe. She died within a few hours of birth. I wish I would have checked to see if she had a normal heart.
Jude had a kid born this year that seemed to have a perfectly normal front end, but completely shrunken and twisted, abnormal back end. Littermate brother was normal. It was born alive, although with trouble, and put down soon after birth.
Gorgonzola had a stillborn or mummified kid in nearly every litter he sired in 2022. I did not include these numbers from kids who were not born in our herd, but I think it is worth mentioning them all here. We had a lot of healthy kids born this year and didn't breed Gorgonzola to very many of our own does, so we didn't realize this trend immediately. We thought it might have been chlamydia, but we realized it a few weeks before the last birth and treated the doe with antibiotics, which may have saved the kids, but the placenta did not test positive for chlamydia. So who knows if that was a random coincidence, disease or a genetic problem. His litters in previous years did not have any issues.
Rouelle had 3 stillborn doelings in 2023. There were no live kids and the placenta had started to decompose which resulted in her needing a C-section. Niolo was the sire, but the year before, Rouelle was bred to Gorgonzola. We immediately sent the bodies and placenta to the lab, but they found "no evidence of infectious disease."
Chocolat bred to Gastan had 1 stillborn out of 3 kids total. The kids and placenta looked entirely normal. The stillborn kid was malpositioned and I had to turn it to get it out. So I don't know if it died because it was not in the right position or vice versa.
M Panela was bred to M Zorro (half siblings of GL Marcellin) which resulted in 2 normal kids and 1 doeling with extra intestines, which had to be put down. First time we've ever seen that.
A half sibling cross on Giulianni (GL D'Espelette x GL Andre) produced 1 of 3 kids with a parrot mouth. It is noticeable but did not affect his ability to eat. Giulianni had a slight parrot mouth but again it did not affect his ability to eat.
M DropsOHoney bred to M Zorro (so a half sibling breeding on GL Marcellin) had 1 of 2 kids who struggled to suck correctly. She just had an slow suck and we had to use a bottle nipple with a larger opening. One person commented that her jaw did not align correctly. Zorro's littermate sister Dusty Rose (who died unexpectedly from bloat) apparently had an ineffective suck as a newborn but soon learned to suck correctly and didn't have any other issues.
We also had a kid with a crooked/deformed neck that we put down. He was otherwise healthy. Parents were Gardien x Niolo.
Inheritance:
We have no idea if these have any genetic basis or are random mutations or are caused by the environment.
We have no idea if these have any genetic basis or are random mutations or are caused by the environment.
Parents Involved: