My doe Honey kidded at 11:30am today with one large buckling, one slight small buckling who was stillborn and one very tiny doeling. The large buckling is doing just fine, up on his feed drinking from mama Honey pretty much immediately. But the doeling was barely alive. She could not hold her head up, or move around at all. But she was breathing fine on her own and all airways clear. I wrapped her in a towel, dried her off, rubbed her, gave her some of Honey's colostrum. She was so weak, I have no idea how much she actually swallowed. I also have her a squirt of Nutri drench, wrapped her is several towels and put her in a box. She has been in the house with me sleeping in the box next to me, breathing well. She weighs 1pound 8 ounces. She woke up just now and was holding her head up (good sign!). I tried to give her more colostrum, not sure how much she took. She exhibited a very clear preference for staying snuggled in my arms and as weak as she is, she let me know that she did not want to lay back down in the box!
I have 2 questions:
1)What else can I do for this sweet little doeling other than keep her warm, try to give her colostrum and pray that she lives?
2)Honey's colostrum is so thick. This happened last time she kidded, last year. One teat was blocked completely, eventually it unplugged and this thick yellow colostrum oozed out, almost a paste consistency. It is slightly less thick now, but still way thick and oily. Is this a problem? Is there something wrong with her Colostrum? Does she have an infection? I have some colostrum in the freezer from another doe from earlier in the week, she kidded with just one beautiful doe. Should I give my weak little doeling some of this saved colostrum or give her here mama's colostrum?
Any thoughts or advice would be so much appreciated. Thanks.
Replies
Good to hear! :-)
As of tonight, both buckling and doeling are doing well. I think we'll be OK. 3 does kidded, one more to go. 6 kids, and just one casualty. Thanks for all your help!
If the buckling is with mama 24/7, he is probably nursing when you're not around. A couple of months ago when I was laid up with a back injury, my poor husband was worried sick that a couple of doelings were not nursing, but it turned out that they were nursing when he wasn't there. As for the little one, if she is in the house with you, so you know that she is not getting milk, then you just need to be patient and hold the nipple in her mouth until at least half an ounce has dripped down her throat. That shouldn't take more than 5 to 10 minutes. If you go too long between feedings, she can get wind up getting weak.
Good luck!
The good news is that this morning our little doeling was able to stand up and walk a bit, although she is very wobbly. And she is pretty alert. The bad news is that I can't get her to eat. Actually that is also true for her big brother. Even though they both fed from mama yesterday, today there is nothing. When I hold them up to her teat, they fiercely with full goat stubbornness keep their little mouths shut! I have tried to pry it open and squirt the milk in thinking it would stimulate their appetite, but no luck. I don't want to end up with bottle brats, but I was really concerned so I got out the pritchard teats and bottle. The buck eventually took maybe a few cc's of milk but that was it and then he crashed into a deep sleep. The doeling just got her mouth wet, I doubt she really got much at all. So at this point I am sleep deprived and exhausted (one other doe kidded successfully earlier in the week, and I have 2 first fresheners with contractions right now) and may be not thinking clearly. Is there something I am missing? Am I being overly concerned?
That sounds awesome! Keep us posted!
Thanks Deborah. This afternoon the little doeling was doing much better and she was holding her head up on her own. Tonight we held her up to her Mama Honey and she surprised all of us and sucked away for a really long time! Then she crashed and slept a few hours. She is still not able to stand up but tonight I am much more optimistic. She is very alert.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Congratulations! As for the little one, it all sounds good. Some does just have VERY thick colostrum. We've had some as small 1 pound, 4 ounces that have survived. In fact, we just had one a couple of weeks ago, and she's a spunky little thing now! Just keep doing what you're doing. If she is 24 ounces, that means she needs at least 2.4 ounces of colostrum (10%) within the first 24 hours AND half of that (1.2 ounces) she needs to have within the first six hours. I got really lucky with this little darling that was born here a couple of weeks ago, as she had a terrific sucking reflex, and she sucked down 2 ounces at birth. But the good news with those tiny one is that you don't have to get that much down them to make sure they'll make it. However, I generally let them have as much as they want the first few days. Good luck!