House training a 1 month old Pygmy goat?

I got a pygmy goat yesterday and he is a bottle baby. It is too cold for him to be outside, so we have him in a crate that is for a large dog. He has been on the bottle his whole life and is really attached to people. I let him roam around, but he is quite a peebody. When I catch him in the act I pick him up and put him in his crate. Once he finishes I let him out. Will he get the connection?

On another topic, I had to change his formula because I don't have the same brand in my area. Is there any way to reduce the occurrence of scours? Will scours definitely happen from making this move? It has the same measurements as the formula used by the breeder.

You can't house train a goat, they go where and when the urge hits, they don't care where they are and will often soil their food and water.

Always mix two different kinds of food together, slowly adding more of the new and less of the old, best if done over the coarse of a couple of days. It's not so much scours you should be concerned with but causing bloat. All increases or changes in a goats diet should be made slowly. Will our goat have a friend? Single goats are lonely goats.

The best you can hope to realistically do for a goat is get them to mostly house trained for urination only, they will still drop beans at random pretty much 24/7... You will never get them anywhere near the level of house trained you see from dogs and cats...

Also as said above, they need companionship of other 'herd' animals like themselves and any diet changes should be gradual or else you can have issues, up to and including death...

I have 3 dogs and 11 chickens that all roam the backyard together. We are in the introductory phase, but so far they are all fine with one another. I want him to get a little size on him before they are fully integrated.
He won't be in the house long-term. Just until we make a pen in the back with a shelter.
I am nervous about the food situation. I am not increasing his food intake, but I do not have anymore of the other food that she gave I wish I was thinking before we left and got the formula at her feed store. I used the 2 feeding sage gave me before my feed store opened today (last night and early morning).

MaLoTu said:

I have 3 dogs and 11 chickens that all roam the backyard together. We are in the introductory phase, but so far they are all fine with one another. I want him to get a little size on him before they are fully integrated.
He won't be in the house long-term. Just until we make a pen in the back with a shelter.

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Chickens and dogs are not acceptable companions for a goat. I don't think you understood either OldHen or MeepBeep, so I will repeat it for emphasis, goats are herd animals.

In order to be healthy and stress free they require another herd animal. Herd animals all behave in a similar way, and cannot be replaced by a dog or a chicken, who do not behave in the same way. If you cannot get another goat in order to keep your little guy properly, rehoming him to a home with other goats would be best for him.

It is time to start some research, which should have been started long before you considered bringing home a new animal. If you'd have done that, you'd know that keeping a single goat is not proper husbandry. Single goats suffer in the long term.

I know it might sound brutal for someone to say re-home your new pet, but honestly goats require at least one other goat or another a similar sized herd animal to be happy so this has to be taken serious... If they don't have a 'herd' companion they will be under constant stress looking and searching for said companion as they are hard wired to travel in a herd with their own kind... This can cause all sorts of behavioral problems over and above the stress of being lonely... They will forever be looking for a companion, this can lead to them constantly trying to escape to go searching on the other side of the fence while they will spend their days calling for other goats or roaming around looking for other goats, it's simply not healthy for them and can even result in the goat being put in danger that it otherwise would not be...

I am more concerned with someone insulting my intelligence. I completely understand what was being said and I am open to looking into my options. However, I spent many years doing research (on various topics, mainly related to psychology) and one thing I know is that if you look enough you can find evidence to support any position. I have seen many testimonies of goats being perfectly happy with dogs, although I understand it is not the norm. Additionally (and I do not know why I am even dignifying this with a response), I did do research and I spoke to a couple different breeders about my situation, as well as other people I know who have had some experience with goats. I find that in the real world people are a lot less zealous and opinionated than they are on here.

Either way, I have to get him eating alfalfa before I look into taking on another (older) goat. He is starting to understand that he has to go to the kennel to pee, but obviously I am not expecting too much. If I catch him in the act I just move him to the kennel.

I know that the responses had good intentions and I will take them under consideration.

The research you did should have clued you in on the fact that feeding male goats alfalfa hay or pellets, usually ends up in an episode of urinary calculi. In other words, kidney stones, which can/will kill a goat if the do not get medical help quickly enough.

I personally never meant anything bad, there are some strong cases of goat's bonding with other species, I just meant he would be happier to have another goat to butt. I wouldn't recommend alfalfa being fed to male goats as that and grains can contribute to bladder stones which is a horrible thing to deal with. Sorry if I offended you it never was my intentions.

enola said:

The research you did should have clued you in on the fact that feeding male goats alfalfa hay or pellets, usually ends up in an episode of urinary calculi. In other words, kidney stones, which can/will kill a goat if the do not get medical help quickly enough.

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That is what the breeder was starting him on and what the feed store recommended.

oldhenlikesdogs said:

I personally never meant anything bad, there are some strong cases of goat's bonding with other species, I just meant he would be happier to have another goat to butt. I wouldn't recommend alfalfa being fed to male goats as that and grains can contribute to bladder stones which is a horrible thing to deal with. Sorry if I offended you it never was my intentions.

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No, you were fine. It was the other poster. I am a reasonable person and if the facts are laid out before me I can come to a reasonable conclusion for myself and my family. Many of the issues that come up on here I equate to debates about moms working vs. staying home or homeschooling vs. public school ... We should respect everyone's decision to do what they ultimately decide is best for them. Of course I want my animals to be happy and healthy.