Goat diarrhea, commonly called scours, is most often caused by internal parasites, dietary changes, or bacterial infections. The specific cause depends heavily on your goat’s age: kids under five months are especially vulnerable to a parasite called coccidia, while adults more commonly develop scours from worm overloads, sudden feed changes, or toxic plants. Identifying the cause quickly matters, because prolonged diarrhea leads to dehydration that can become life-threatening within days.
Coccidia: The Top Cause in Young Goats
Coccidiosis is the single most common cause of diarrhea in goats between 3 weeks and 5 months old. It’s caused by microscopic parasites (Eimeria species) that nearly all adult goats carry in their intestines without showing symptoms. Adults develop immunity over time, but kids haven’t built that defense yet. Once a kid swallows the parasite’s eggs from contaminated ground, bedding, or water, the organisms burrow into the intestinal lining, multiply, and destroy cells as they go. The full lifecycle takes about two to three weeks, so symptoms often appear a couple of weeks after exposure.
Kids raised in confinement are hit hardest because the parasite’s eggs concentrate in a small area. Weaning is another high-risk moment. The stress of separation from the dam weakens a kid’s immune response right when it’s exploring new feed and water sources that may be contaminated with adult feces. The resulting diarrhea is typically watery, sometimes containing mucus or blood. Oddly, constipation can also be a sign of coccidiosis in some cases.
Treatment involves rehydrating the animal and using drugs called coccidiostats that interrupt the parasite’s lifecycle. These are typically mixed into feed or water over a period of several weeks. Prevention is more effective than treatment: keeping housing clean and dry, avoiding overcrowding, and ensuring feed and water troughs can’t be contaminated with feces all reduce the parasite load kids are exposed to.
Worm Infections in Older Goats
In adult goats, internal worms are the most likely parasitic cause of scours. The barber pole worm is one of the most dangerous. It’s a blood-sucking parasite that lives in the stomach lining. A goat carrying as few as 5,000 barber pole worms can die in just over a month if untreated. Diarrhea is one symptom, but the bigger threat is severe anemia from blood loss. Other signs include poor appetite, lethargy, swelling under the jaw (called bottle jaw), and pale gums or inner eyelids.
A fecal egg count is the standard way to confirm a worm problem. Your vet mixes a small stool sample with a special solution, then examines it under a microscope to count parasite eggs. In sheep, which share many of the same parasites as goats, counts above 650 eggs per gram indicate a heavy infection that needs treatment. Counts under 350 are considered light and may not require deworming. Your vet can interpret results for your specific situation and recommend an appropriate dewormer.
Grain Overload and Sudden Diet Changes
Goats are ruminants, meaning their digestive system relies on a carefully balanced community of microbes in the rumen to break down food. When a goat suddenly gets access to a large amount of grain, or when you switch feeds too quickly, those microbes can’t adapt fast enough. The excess carbohydrates ferment rapidly, producing a flood of lactic acid that drops the rumen’s pH. This condition is called rumen acidosis.
The consequences cascade quickly. The rumen essentially stalls, losing its normal rhythmic contractions. Fluid pools in the stomach. The goat becomes dehydrated even as watery, foul-smelling diarrhea begins. You may notice whole, undigested grain in the stool. In severe cases, the acid damage extends beyond the gut, potentially affecting the liver, kidneys, heart, and even the nervous system. This is a veterinary emergency.
Prevention is straightforward: introduce any new feed gradually over one to two weeks, and never leave grain bins where goats can break into them. Goats are notorious escape artists and opportunistic eaters, so secure storage is essential.
Enterotoxemia (Overeating Disease)
Enterotoxemia is caused by a bacterium called Clostridium perfringens that normally lives in small numbers in a goat’s gut. When a goat overeats on grain or rich pasture, the sudden influx of nutrients causes this bacterium to multiply explosively and release toxins. In goats, the disease ranges from chronic watery diarrhea (sometimes with blood) to sudden death with almost no warning signs. It affects both kids and adults.
Vaccination is the most reliable prevention. Pregnant does should receive the vaccine during the last third of pregnancy, which passes protective antibodies to kids through colostrum. Does need two initial doses about a month apart, then an annual booster before each kidding. If you’ve never vaccinated your herd and lose a kid to sudden death or acute bloody scours, enterotoxemia should be high on the suspect list.
Toxic Plants
Goats have a reputation for eating anything, but that adventurous palate can work against them. Several common landscape and pasture plants cause diarrhea when eaten. Oleander is extremely toxic in all parts, fresh or dried, and causes gastrointestinal distress along with dangerous heart problems. Wisteria seeds contain toxins that trigger diarrhea and depression. Japanese privet and lobelia also cause vomiting and diarrhea in goats.
If you suspect plant poisoning, check your pasture and any areas your goat has recently browsed. Look for chewed leaves, broken branches, or clippings that may have been tossed over a fence by a well-meaning neighbor. Plant toxicity cases often need veterinary support because the specific toxin determines the treatment approach.
Bacterial Infections
E. coli and Salmonella are two bacterial pathogens found in goat feces. E. coli is extremely common, detected in nearly 95% of goats in one study of smallholder farms. Most strains are harmless, but pathogenic strains can cause scours, particularly in very young or stressed animals. Salmonella is far less common (around 3% prevalence in the same study) but causes diarrhea, fever, and lethargy when it does strike. Bacterial scours tend to come on quickly and often involve a fever, which distinguishes them from parasitic causes.
Signs Your Goat Needs Urgent Help
Mild, brief diarrhea from a minor diet change may resolve on its own. But scours that persists beyond a day or two, or that’s accompanied by other symptoms, needs attention. The most dangerous complication is dehydration. To check, pinch a fold of skin on your goat’s neck or shoulder and release it. If the skin stays “tented” and slowly settles back rather than snapping into place, the goat is already significantly dehydrated.
Other warning signs include sunken eyes, a dry nose, pale or sticky gums, weakness, and weight loss. Oral electrolyte solutions can help a mildly dehydrated goat recover fluid balance, but if the animal is too weak to drink, won’t eat, or isn’t responding to oral fluids, the situation has become a medical emergency requiring intravenous fluids.
Narrowing Down the Cause
A few practical questions can help you and your vet zero in on what’s happening:
- How old is the goat? Kids under five months point toward coccidiosis. Adults point toward worms, diet, or enterotoxemia.
- Did the diet change recently? New feed, access to a grain bin, or lush new pasture suggest rumen acidosis or enterotoxemia.
- What does the stool look like? Watery with mucus or blood suggests coccidia or enterotoxemia. Foul-smelling with undigested grain points to acidosis.
- Are other goats affected? Multiple animals with scours at the same time suggests a shared cause like contaminated water, a new feed batch, or a pasture-level parasite load.
- Is the goat pale? Check the inner eyelids and gums. Pale color combined with diarrhea strongly suggests barber pole worm.
A fecal sample is the single most useful diagnostic step. It can identify both worm eggs and coccidia oocysts, giving your vet a clear direction for treatment rather than guessing with broad-spectrum dewormers that may not address the actual problem.