We had triplets yesterday afternoon, two are doing fine, but the third is struggling a bit: trouble getting up from lying down, wasn't immediately interested in nursing but then developed an appetite when presented to a teat, continued weakness in legs, which seem a bit long for her frame. Mom has accepted all of them. Gave the struggling kid an injection of B complex a few hours after birth, and that seemed to help, plan to continue 1ml/day for the next few days.
What is weird, though, is that this struggling kid was born with visible gobs of white, waxy stuff – almost like goat lard – in the birth sac, and there were flakes of it stuck all over the kid herself. I thought her mom might clean it all off for her, but this morning (less than 24 hours after kidding) she still has some stuck in the middle layer of her fur, mostly on her underside – her back and head are free of it. It's very hard to get out, I tried combing it, but I'm concerned I'm taking too much of the kid's fur. The kid is still a bit damp, I guess from this waxy residue stuck in her fur, limiting evaporation, as her siblings are fine and dry and fluffy. Luckily it's fairly warm out, but I'm not sure the best way to get this poor little doeling cleaned up. I wouldn't be concerned about leaving it on her, except it seems be interfering with her getting fully dry and properly insulated, and she's struggling
Anyone ever experienced something similar? Apparently newborn humans often have a white coating of waxy stuff over them, called vernix caseosa (I'm just learning this) but I can't find any online resources that mention goats ever having a similar phenomenon (sea lions, apparently, are the only other animal ever observed having such a thing, previously it was thought to be a uniquely human phenomenon).
I'm thinking of trying a warm bath, to hopefully soften whatever this thick, white, waxy substance is and make it easier to comb out, but I also don't want to risk throwing the kids smells off and have her mom reject her. Maybe bathe her only in water, no soap, so she keeps most of her smells? I've read a few tricks amout rubbing a towel over the mom, then over the kid after a bath, or wiping some droppings from another kid over the rejected kid, but I'm still reticent.
Thoughts?
