Sarnia was doing horrible before kidding. She was having a hard time walking and losing weight. She wasn't really eating well, and about ten days before her due date, we figured out that she had Ketosis. With Ketosis, the doe ends up giving all of her body's resources to the kids and can even start breaking down tissue and muscle to keep the babies alive. The only option was to induce labor, and get those kids out of her, otherwise we would lose both Sarina and the kids. We had her induced to kid around noon Saturday, but she didn't go into labor until about 14 hours late. When she finally went into labor, the first kid was fast and came out easily, it was small, roany buckling. We didn't have to wait long for the second, a brown doeling, who came out just as easily. We dried them off and waited, we thought Sarina was done, but when I was checking her, another wave of slime alerted us to the arrival of another kid. We waited, but Sarina seemed content to lick her other two babies and wasn't pushing. When the last kid finally came out, a splashy brown buckling, the other two kids were dry and trying to stand. The last kid was the weakest of the bunch and he seemed to had swallowed a lung full of slime. Try as I did, I couldn't clear his lungs and get him to start breathing on his own, and he died. Sarina passed one tiny placenta after about five hours and another tiny placenta later the next day. The other two kids were weak, but not unmanageable. They are now doing fine and are as strong as all of the other kids, and for the days following the kidding, Sarina got stronger and she is doing much better now. We have decided that this will be the last time Sarnia kids, for her safety. She will continue to live here as a pet and is already dried off.
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