The littlest of the three remaining kids from the quad birth is very little and has only sucked two times. Every few hours I try a bottle ( no sucking) here either, so I squirt some into her mouth. She is walking but weak. The mom has very runny stools and not feeling great (working on that also ) she isn't paying much attention to any of the babies. The other two girls are stronger and have nursed more. Another goat had twins today and she usually has triplets . So I got the mom ( actually her grandma) To accept the little one as her own. Figure she will have much more milk as a third time mom. But the other two adopted siblings are like twice her size and nursing like crazy. How do I get her to suck either from mom or a bottle. Any advice? Thanks
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I would not have thought much about this a few months ago. However, two months ago we lost a kid because her mother got her leg caught in the kid's coat. Somehow her leg went through the neck hole and the front leg hole. When my husband went out there in the morning, the doe was dragging around the dead kid on her hind leg. Kids being cold is really not a problem, assuming they're inside and not in the wind. You should really only use a coat if you are seeing negative consequences, such as kid losing its sucking instinct because it gets hypothermia. That usually only happens within the first day of birth. After that, kids can deal with temperature variations just fine, even if they're small. In our case, we put the coats on the kids when they were only a few hours old for what I just explained. The really sad thing is that after they'd been wearing them for about 24 hours, I told my husband that the kids didn't need the coats any longer, and he said he's remove them "in the morning." That adorable little guy looks big and healthy.
Bev Sieminski, Winding Rvr Farm said:
I have made a couple of little coats for babies that need extra warmth, they are nylon lined with fleese. I have a little boy that just can't seem to stay warm at night. He is several weeks - healthy, runs around all day but cold at night. It really seems to help. He was the littlest of quads and is getting a bottle also. Here is a picture of him all dressed up. He only wears it at night and our weather is warming this week so will probably not need it.
I have made a couple of little coats for babies that need extra warmth, they are nylon lined with fleese. I have a little boy that just can't seem to stay warm at night. He is several weeks - healthy, runs around all day but cold at night. It really seems to help. He was the littlest of quads and is getting a bottle also. Here is a picture of him all dressed up. He only wears it at night and our weather is warming this week so will probably not need it.
Thanks a lot deb. We followed your advice and brought her in last night. We are in Michigan but it's kinda cold at night time. Although they do have a heat light. She has got alittle colostrum from mom and when grandma kidded about 20 hours later I also gave her some of that. She wasn't sucking so I had to drip it down her throat. This morning she sucked a little from a bottle. Yeah. And I took her out to grandma ( grandma think it's her kid) and she nursed alittle only about 5-6 sucks but its a start. She is with grandma and the other two kids. Her mom is still not feeling good, running stool, I gave her ivermectin and e electolyte water. I will continue to bottle feed the little one, so the two big kids don't get it all. She seems to get about 1 teaspoon down then have no desire to eat more. It's been a crazy 20 hours. 6 kids born in 20 hours, for for total so far this year 7 girls 2 boys. One goat left to kid. It's my third year kidding goats and my first boy. There's always something to learn.
You really need to get milk into the little one with a bottle or tube feeding. If she is that small and weak, there is no way she's going to get enough from any doe, regardless of how much milk the doe is producing. The bigger kids will knock her out of the way.
The main reason kids don't suck is hypothermia. I don't recall where you're located or what your weather is like, but if it's cold outside, and she's less than two pounds, she may not be able to maintain her body temperature without a heat lamp or a little coat. You might need to get her warmed up with a heating pad. Don't wrap her in it. Just lay her on top of it. Wrapping her in it could cause her to overheat and have seizures, which could kill her. If she's laying on it -- I usually put them in a laundry basket in the house -- their body can release heat from above. (Think about how much heat we humans lose from our heads in winter when we are not wearing a hat.)
Some kids are more challenging than other to start on a bottle, but it's all a matter of the three Ps ... practice, patience, and persistence. Just hold the bottle in her mouth, squeeze to get a few drops in there, if you have to, and just keep at it. With newborns, it can sometimes take 15 minutes to get 2 ounces into them.
If she did not receive at least 5% of her body weight in colostrum within the first six hours after birth, and 10% by the first 24 hours, her chances of making it are not good.
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I would not have thought much about this a few months ago. However, two months ago we lost a kid because her mother got her leg caught in the kid's coat. Somehow her leg went through the neck hole and the front leg hole. When my husband went out there in the morning, the doe was dragging around the dead kid on her hind leg. Kids being cold is really not a problem, assuming they're inside and not in the wind. You should really only use a coat if you are seeing negative consequences, such as kid losing its sucking instinct because it gets hypothermia. That usually only happens within the first day of birth. After that, kids can deal with temperature variations just fine, even if they're small. In our case, we put the coats on the kids when they were only a few hours old for what I just explained. The really sad thing is that after they'd been wearing them for about 24 hours, I told my husband that the kids didn't need the coats any longer, and he said he's remove them "in the morning." That adorable little guy looks big and healthy.
Bev Sieminski, Winding Rvr Farm said:
I have made a couple of little coats for babies that need extra warmth, they are nylon lined with fleese. I have a little boy that just can't seem to stay warm at night. He is several weeks - healthy, runs around all day but cold at night. It really seems to help. He was the littlest of quads and is getting a bottle also. Here is a picture of him all dressed up. He only wears it at night and our weather is warming this week so will probably not need it.
Baby gets cold.JPG
You really need to get milk into the little one with a bottle or tube feeding. If she is that small and weak, there is no way she's going to get enough from any doe, regardless of how much milk the doe is producing. The bigger kids will knock her out of the way.
The main reason kids don't suck is hypothermia. I don't recall where you're located or what your weather is like, but if it's cold outside, and she's less than two pounds, she may not be able to maintain her body temperature without a heat lamp or a little coat. You might need to get her warmed up with a heating pad. Don't wrap her in it. Just lay her on top of it. Wrapping her in it could cause her to overheat and have seizures, which could kill her. If she's laying on it -- I usually put them in a laundry basket in the house -- their body can release heat from above. (Think about how much heat we humans lose from our heads in winter when we are not wearing a hat.)
Some kids are more challenging than other to start on a bottle, but it's all a matter of the three Ps ... practice, patience, and persistence. Just hold the bottle in her mouth, squeeze to get a few drops in there, if you have to, and just keep at it. With newborns, it can sometimes take 15 minutes to get 2 ounces into them.
If she did not receive at least 5% of her body weight in colostrum within the first six hours after birth, and 10% by the first 24 hours, her chances of making it are not good.