I have a doe with a very sensitive nose. She loves her babies until they are disbudded. When I bring them back to her I give her their rears. As soon as she smells the head she does not know that is her babies. The vet tried making her groggie, poured alcohol down her nose (ohhhhhh!) tried knocking her out all the way and nothing worked. Has this happened to anyone and what did you do about that? All her babies end up bottle fed.
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This happened with my FF doe last year, and in fact that's why I have her. Her previous owner decided not to keep her when she rejected her single doeling right after disbudding (at two weeks). At first she literally beat it up, and they had to pull it out of the stall. Slowly she seemed to warm up to it, but never let it nurse voluntarily again. Because I'd agreed to buy the doe, and I wanted to milk her if I could, they held her to let baby nurse for a week until I could get there. Even after a week she never would let it nurse without her being held.
In that case, though, the little doeling wasn't thriving even before the disbudding. She seemed to tire easily and breathed at a much faster rate than normal when she was active. I'm not sure what ever happened to the little girl.
I am hoping that it doesn't happen again, but I have no big ideas to keep it from happening. I have plans to at least put pepermint on her nose and bring babies, butt first, directly to her and try to get them nursing before she notices. Other than that, patience and holding her to let babies nurse is all I can think of.
After disbudding, what should be applied to the affected area? Do I need to apply Blue Kote or Alu spray to keep away any infection or just leave it alone. It will be March and it is not a fly time. I'm in Massachusetts.
Shaving the horn bud area definitely helps with the smell. Only twice in ten years have we not shaved that area first! It makes a big difference -- at least to human noses.
I was wondering if next time I should shave the kids horn area so there is less of a burnt hair smell?? My doe wasnt thrilled either - but did accept it again after a bit. I rubbed as much as I could and not touch the disbudded area - the kids head on the mama's vulva area. Thought that might help.... the buck was polled, she did favor the boy anyway....as long as he was here.
It sounds like you may have given up too quickly, and your vet just made things worse. It is not unusual for a doe to reject her babies for a few hours after disbudding. Some people dab something on the doe's nose like peppermint or Vics Vapor Rub (do NOT pour it down her nose). The idea is only to disrupt her sense of smell briefly.Pouring something into her nose actually sounds dangerous and counter productive. I can only imagine how upset the poor girl must have been at that point.
It is also more common for a first freshener to do this than an experienced doe. With a bit of time and patience, she may have come around fairly quickly the second time she had kids, especially since she was looking for them. I know someone who grafted kids onto a doe whose kids died a week earlier. But it takes time. You can't expect her to just accept them instantly.
Personally, when I've had this happen, I have just left the kids with the doe, and she has accepted them again by five or six hours. If you disbud at a week or later, the kids would be fine for six hours without nursing. Taking them away from her will only increase the odds that she won't let them nurse again. If she has not let them nurse after five or six hours, you can just hold her and let the kids nurse. I've only had one doe permanently reject a kid, and it was due to a multitude of factors over several days. Even then, I would hold her so the kid could nurse, but after about four or five days, I finally gave up and switched the kid to the bottle.
On my doe Nike she has a super sensitive nose. She thinks everything stinks. She is fine when she kids but then I call the vet out to do the disbudding as I am aweful when it comes to that. She has been bred twice now and both times we got the same reaction. I give the babies back butt first. She gets one whiff of the heads and swears those are not her babies. The vet made her groggy to see if she was thrown alittle bit off if she would respond. She did by kicking and actually trying to bite them. Then he poured alcohol down her nose and that just pissed her off even more. Then he knocked her out all the way and when she came out of it she still did not have anything to do with them. She walks around calling for her babies and its the saddest thing because her babies try to respond but she says no. I stay with them to make sure she does not hurt them and end up putting them on a bottle. The vet says she is a spoiled freak. I admit she may be spoiled a bit but its more than that. Now I did see one of the catalogs that they have a spray to help moms accept their babies I dont know if it works or not. I even tried to give her the babies the next day and she still wants nothing to do with them. What do you think
Hi! This actually happened to us. The next time we used peppermint to trick her nose and it worked out find. Our doe denied them for two days, but then it worked out. Hope that helps.
My does look at them and sniff and shy away for a little while but never had one reject them. By the end of the day they have forgotten about it. Maybe she doesn't like being taken in to the clinic and the whole thing is what freaks her out? I burn my own here at home. Does are not bothered. I catch the babies up do them then turn them loose. Mommas are looking for them but it is all soon forgotten.
I have had does temporarily not recognize the kids, but none that permanently rejected them. How many times has this happened? How many kids? How old is she? How long did you leave the kids with her after disbudding? How long are they separated from her? Are you taking them to the vet and leaving her at home?
Replies
This happened with my FF doe last year, and in fact that's why I have her. Her previous owner decided not to keep her when she rejected her single doeling right after disbudding (at two weeks). At first she literally beat it up, and they had to pull it out of the stall. Slowly she seemed to warm up to it, but never let it nurse voluntarily again. Because I'd agreed to buy the doe, and I wanted to milk her if I could, they held her to let baby nurse for a week until I could get there. Even after a week she never would let it nurse without her being held.
In that case, though, the little doeling wasn't thriving even before the disbudding. She seemed to tire easily and breathed at a much faster rate than normal when she was active. I'm not sure what ever happened to the little girl.
I am hoping that it doesn't happen again, but I have no big ideas to keep it from happening. I have plans to at least put pepermint on her nose and bring babies, butt first, directly to her and try to get them nursing before she notices. Other than that, patience and holding her to let babies nurse is all I can think of.
We don't put anything on them. The iron is 1000 degrees and kills everything.
After disbudding, what should be applied to the affected area? Do I need to apply Blue Kote or Alu spray to keep away any infection or just leave it alone. It will be March and it is not a fly time. I'm in Massachusetts.
Shaving the horn bud area definitely helps with the smell. Only twice in ten years have we not shaved that area first! It makes a big difference -- at least to human noses.
I was wondering if next time I should shave the kids horn area so there is less of a burnt hair smell?? My doe wasnt thrilled either - but did accept it again after a bit. I rubbed as much as I could and not touch the disbudded area - the kids head on the mama's vulva area. Thought that might help.... the buck was polled, she did favor the boy anyway....as long as he was here.
It sounds like you may have given up too quickly, and your vet just made things worse. It is not unusual for a doe to reject her babies for a few hours after disbudding. Some people dab something on the doe's nose like peppermint or Vics Vapor Rub (do NOT pour it down her nose). The idea is only to disrupt her sense of smell briefly.Pouring something into her nose actually sounds dangerous and counter productive. I can only imagine how upset the poor girl must have been at that point.
It is also more common for a first freshener to do this than an experienced doe. With a bit of time and patience, she may have come around fairly quickly the second time she had kids, especially since she was looking for them. I know someone who grafted kids onto a doe whose kids died a week earlier. But it takes time. You can't expect her to just accept them instantly.
Personally, when I've had this happen, I have just left the kids with the doe, and she has accepted them again by five or six hours. If you disbud at a week or later, the kids would be fine for six hours without nursing. Taking them away from her will only increase the odds that she won't let them nurse again. If she has not let them nurse after five or six hours, you can just hold her and let the kids nurse. I've only had one doe permanently reject a kid, and it was due to a multitude of factors over several days. Even then, I would hold her so the kid could nurse, but after about four or five days, I finally gave up and switched the kid to the bottle.
Hi! This actually happened to us. The next time we used peppermint to trick her nose and it worked out find. Our doe denied them for two days, but then it worked out. Hope that helps.
Tammy
My does look at them and sniff and shy away for a little while but never had one reject them. By the end of the day they have forgotten about it. Maybe she doesn't like being taken in to the clinic and the whole thing is what freaks her out? I burn my own here at home. Does are not bothered. I catch the babies up do them then turn them loose. Mommas are looking for them but it is all soon forgotten.
I have had does temporarily not recognize the kids, but none that permanently rejected them. How many times has this happened? How many kids? How old is she? How long did you leave the kids with her after disbudding? How long are they separated from her? Are you taking them to the vet and leaving her at home?