Like other internal parasites, coccidiosis in goats can be a serious problem, and it’s something that almost all goat owners have to deal with sooner or later.
Our veterinarian identified that it’s a significant problem in our area, and that many types of young livestock (sheep, cattle, goats, etc.) get it from early spring on.
Everyone dislikes dealing with it – one of the symptoms in goats is diarrhea and dealing with livestock with diarrhea is not fun.
What Coccidiosis (Coccidia) In Goats Is
Coccidiosis is a disease of the intestinal tract caused by the parasite coccidia. Coccidia are almost always present in the goat’s environment, and goats are generally infected with small numbers of the parasites that do very little damage.
Adult goats usually have sufficiently robust immune systems to resist the coccidia, but young or sick goats are susceptible to developing an overload and disease.
How It’s Spread
The disease is spread through contact with infected feces, and it takes from 5 to 13 days after contact for the goat to exhibit the illness. The main indicator is diarrhea, which is followed by dehydration, weakness, and death if not treated.
It’s a very serious disease for young goats and needs to be dealt with immediately. Older goats can have a problem with coccidia too, and stressful situations will often cause an outbreak. Bringing home a new strain of coccidia rom a show or new goat can result in diarrhea in both young and mature stock.
Treatments for Coccidiosis in Goats
Treating Coccidiosis
A fecal sample taken to your Vet can be used to confirm coccidia, but after dealing with it a few times, it’s easy to recognize an outbreak. Our Vet suggested using Corid (amprolium) at 1 cc/20 lbs. for five days or alternatively Albon (sulfadimethoxine) also for five days to treat it.
Corid is a Vitamin B inhibitor, so when using Corid the goats should also be given Vitamin B. Also, Corid isn’t effective against all stages (there are two stages of life for the parasite) of coccidia, so the five days of treatment may need to be repeated. That’s another reason everyone hates a coccidia outbreak – a minimum of five days of administering drugs to kids with diarrhea is not fun either.
As an alternative, many breeders are now using a drug that was developed to combat both stages of coccidia. It’s given in just one dose (and in the case of an outbreak may be repeated in 10 days) and is generically called Baycox (toltrazuril coccidiocide). It can be found here.
The dosage is 1 ml per five pounds weight administered orally as a drench for prevention or 1 ml per three pounds weight for treatment. It should be refrigerated and for treatment, the dosage may be repeated in ten days. It certainly is easier to give one dose of Baycox as opposed to Corid and Vitamin B to multiple goats every day.
*B CH Bramblestone Celtic Quinn – Grand Champion Buck!
In addition to administering the drugs above, it’s important to keep all the goats showing signs of coccidia hydrated. If the signs of an outbreak are caught quickly, the goats are treated promptly and kept hydrated, then they usually recover fully within a few days.
Remember that taking goats to shows can stress them, or can expose them to new strains of coccidia. One year, after showing the yearling boys (and Celtic Quinn winning Grand Champion Buck – see photo of him above), all of the younger kids showed signs of coccidia within a few days. The older boys never did, but probably brought the coccidia back with them.
Haley says
When using corid, how often do you give vitamin b?
Lesa says
Hi Haley, I give vitamin b daily when using corid. Vitamin b is a vitamin that they just eliminate if they don’t need it but use it if they do. So, it’s hard to really give too much (within reason).
Gina M says
Hello! I have a pet therapy program where we use livestock and go to nursing homes, hospitals, and schools. Our two goats are 14 years old and we bought some new goats two weeks ago: 2 year old Nigerian doe, 1 year old Nigerian doe, three month old twin Miniature Nubians, and a bottle fed lamb, also three months old. Two days ago, one of the twins developed stinky, watery diarrhea. I took stool samples to my vet and he diagnosed it as coccidia and strongyles. He has the new goats and the lamb on Tribrissen (tablets crushed and put in syrup, given orally) and Panacure (also given orally). Have you heard of those being used for coccidia? All the years I’ve had sheep, goats and llamas, I’ve never dealt with this. Thank you in advance for your help!
Lesa says
Hi Gina, I’m sorry your new goats have coccidia. I have never heard of Tribrissen being used for coccidia. The three drugs I mentioned in the blog post above are the only things that I’m aware of being used for coccidia.
Sharon says
With the baycox how often do you dose for preventive and at what age this is our first time I usually feed medicated but I am switching to a natural feed without medicated so just want to make sure I am doing what is best for them
Lesa says
Hi Sharon, how often you dose and at what age depends on your farm situation. I know of farms that dose at 3, 6, 9, and 12 weeks of age for kids. We don’t seem to have that much of a problem with coccidia so I usually dose before weaning at 8 weeks because the stress of weaning does seem to cause issues. I sometimes see issues again a few weeks later so I will dose again at about 12 weeks (or of course if anyone shows signs).
Eva says
My vet said in the thousands. My highest goat has 750. So I am using Molly’s Dewormer. I do not want to wait till it gets serious. My goats do not have any diarrhea. Sometimes their poops are clumpy. But they show no symptoms. Hope this helps.
Kim says
So we received Nubians from friends because he was downsizing even though we are a Nigerian Dwarf family. Well, we have been milking these large lovely beast (I prefer my dwarfs) and noticed loose stool in their pen after my husband consumed the milk. I immediately started corridor drench and thankfully kept them quarantined from my herd with that initial gut feeling of concern of contamination. Do you know if the milk we collected the first day is contaminated – should we dump the rest? I can not find anything on the net. I am so glad I came across your site a few years ago as a newbie – you have really answered a lot of questions for me.
Lesa says
Hi Kim,
All adult goats have small numbers of coccidia in their systems, it’s when they become sick, stressed, or exposed to a new strain of coccidia that the coccidia can get out of control. When the coccidia get out of control then you must treat to get them back under control or the goat(s) will die. Coccidia are intestinal parasites and really have nothing to do with the milk, so I wouldn’t think that the initial milk that you got from the new goats would be contaminated. However, now that you’ve treated them for the coccidia, depending on what you used to treat them with, there is a milk withdrawal time for that drug during which the milk should not be consumed.
Lady Lee says
Lesa, how do you administer it? Orally?
Lesa says
Hi Lee, yes administer it orally, typically we use a small drenching tool.
Laurie says
Thank you so much for posting this, I have used Corid in the past but the B vitamin injections made it tough treat. I have an outbreak with 5 kids right now and was really happy to read about the toltrazuril. I received it today and dosed the affected kids, hoping the two little ones will pull through. I have been keeping them hydrated and adding electrolytes to the water so fingers crossed! Just wanted you to know how much I appreciated finding your post.
Lesa says
Hi Laurie, I’m so glad you found it and hope everyone recovers well. I was very appreciative learning about it when we had our first coccidia outbreak too!
Alisha says
What numbers on a fecal are considered dangerously high for coccidia in goats?