Goats are remarkable creatures. They are infamous for being able to eat pretty much anything. While it is true that goats have tastes for all sorts of strange things, their digestive system isn’t nearly as tough as most people think they are. All sorts of things can end up poisoning the poor creatures.
Goats can drink gatorade with no ill effects. Gatorade is really just water with sugar and electrolytes, which goats have no problem ingesting. Gatorade can help sick goats recover from dehydration, but some goats may also like to drink it as a treat.
Now you can enjoy the historically delicious flavor of gatorade with your very own pets. Never again will you need to wait for a friend to come crack open a cold gatorade with you. Just grab a goat and a few bottles of branded sugary drinks and pound them down with yout favorite bovine with no adverse consequences.
Are Other Sports Drinks Okay?
Yeah, they’re fine. There isn’t anything special about gatorade that makes goats able to drink it. If you determine that one of your goats needs rehydration and you don’t have the appropriate goat-specific drink on hand, any kind of sports drink from Pokari Sweat to Powerade will be acceptable.
Why is this? Well basically it’s because sports drinks are mostly water with a small amount of a number of additives to help the water digest properly and sugar to make it palatable. These are all things that goats (and most other animals for that matter) need just as much as humans.
Why Would You Want To Give Your Goat Gatorade?
Actually, there are a lot of situations when goats can end up needing rehydration pretty badly. When goats get really sick, their bodies will sometimes shut down their digestive systems in order to conserve energy. When this happens, goats won’t be able to take in the foods that usually give then those crucial electrolytes.
This means that even if you could get them to drink, they wouldn’t be able to use that water the way they need to. Sports drinks like gatorade can deliver these electrolytes quickly and without needing to feed the goat solid food, which can cause serious complications in sick goats.
Some goats also just like drinking things other than straight water, in which case gatorade can be a fun treat for a goat every once in a while. This can help goats to be happy in a limited farm environment, as variety is something that goats appreciate quite a bit.
Gatorade can also help convince goats to drink more water. Goats are very picky as to what they will drink, which means that if water isn’t absolutely fresh sometimes goats will avoid drinking it.
Adding some sports drink to the water can help goats feel more comfortable drinking if they are being fincicky about it.
Why Are Goats Picky About Water?
Goats have tastes that are a lot like humans. They hate water that has been out for a long time or isn’t the right temperature for them. As for why goats are this way, it probably has something to do with an instinct to make healthy choices.
Still water can carry diseases and parasites that could make goats sick, and since even adult goats are weak to parasites they likely evolved a distaste for water that could be risky.
This behavior probably helps wild goats find safe sources of water to live near, decreasing their risk of getting sick and increasing the survival rate of their children.
What Else Can Goats Drink?
There are a lot of different ways to trick goats into drinking water. Goats absolutely love molasses, and you only need to put a little bit of it in the water to make your goats go crazy for it.
A lot of goats also like to have a little bit of apple cider vinegar in their water. It is vinegar though, so you only need about a tablespoon for each gallon of water you give them.
Some goats will also drink milk, although milk is actually kind of difficult for adult goats to digest, so if a goat is sick you definitely shouldn’t give it milk.
Beer, on the other hand, can be very beneficial to sick goats. It does a lot of the same things as gatorade does, restoring electrolytes and rehydrating, but it can also give the goat some calories to help them keep up their energy. This is especially useful if a goat goes off of their feed.
Goats can also drink soda and other carbonated becerage, but it isn’t good for them just like it isn’t good for people. If your goat likes soda you can still probably give it to them every once in a while, as a treat.
You may want to make sure that any soda you give to a goat is flat though, since goats have really bad breath and the carbonation can make them burp, a horrible fate for any humans nearby.
In a similar vein, a lot of goats like kool-aid as well, even though it’s pretty bad for them. In a pinch, if you take your goats to a place where they don’t like the water, kool-aid is a good option to add to the water to get them to drink on a budget.
How Else Can You Trick Goats Into Drinking
Because goats seek out fresh water, you can help them drink by making sure their water is as fresh seeming as possible. There are all sorts of things you can do to make this happen, but a few of the most effective ways involve changing water frequently and making sure that it’s an appealing temperature.
You should always bring put fresh water in a clean bucket for your goats at least every day if not more often. This solves the problem by giving the goats the exact thing that they want.
Goats also like the temperature of their water to be either lukewarm or cold, especially in the summer. Especially if it’s hot outside, bringing fresh cold water out to them a couple times a day can be a great way to make them feel good about drinking.