Goat emergency - newborn kid needs help NOW

[ruth]

I have a goat emergency. Confetti gave birth during night or early a.m. to triplets. One is dead, looks like it was stillborn and still covered in slime One is running around looking pretty healty and mama is starting to wash it but hasn't let it nurse. Other one is very frail looking and is in my lap right now. It is shivering. Mama has not cleaned it off and it has dried goo all over it and she keeps head butting it when it gets near her. I know I need to run to feed store and buy colostrum (sp?) but I don't think they open for another half hour. Other than keeping this little one warm, what else can I do? It seems very frail and skinny not like the other one at all.

Monique

 

[cluckychick]

you can milk the momma out and feed the colostrum to the babies with a bottle. You could also tie momma up and force her to give it up with ur assistance. You need to wrap them babies up or get them some heat to warm them up.

good luck and sorry about the lost one.

 

[MissPrissy]

Get the baby warm. Heat lamps in the barn and maybe even a blanket for now.

Harness your doe and make her stand for the baby to suck. Get the baby on her teat even if she doesn't like it. If it is too difficult, milk her out and bottle feed the baby.

The baby needs that first milk. If the other one isn't sucking get it on a teat too.

Send someone else to the store while you work with the babies.

For quick energy mix up some warm molasses water about 101 - 102F. It will warm up that cold baby's inside and give it a little boost.

Good luck, Monique. You'll have your hands full every 2 hours for a couple days now.

 

[Mourningdove]

Oh gosh lets see...does momma ever let you milk her? Do you have any baby bottles around so you could feed it?

 

[ruth]

Thanks all. I PM Greyfields because I saw he was online and had posted on another goat thread. He too suggested tying the mama so that's what I'm going to do. I have the baby wrapped in a sweatshirt and cuddled against my stomach. It has finally stopped screaming and shivering. Only problem is I'm here alone. DH saw the triplets had been born this morning and came and woke me up but he was on his way to Covington to meet some repair people and couldn't stay here and help.

I'm off to tie up a wild mama. I really want her to raise these babies. This one just looks so skinny and like it can barely walk. The other one is running and jumping all over the place. By the way, the healthy one looks just like Bitsy. The frail one is black and white. I'll post pics later. I didn't clean up the still born one to see what color it was. I'm so sad over losing one but I'll post more later.

 

[PortageGirl]

If you can get them both to nurse and get them both cleaned up with the same towel, (damp but warm to help with the 'goo' if you need to and if you can get a heat lamp in there) so they both smell similar.... after they both drink and poop, mama might accept them both.

You may have to tie her up for every nursing for a day or two or three, but don't give up! Once she is more comfortable, (her udder is probably stretched and sore) and both babies eat and poop and smell the same, she may calm down. We managed to get a mare to accept twins but it wasn't easy. (think multiply size and strength by... ?? heh... well, a LOT!) and it took days of this. Hopefully your goater will settle easier.

 

[ruth]

Thanks all - I posted this separate thread this morning hoping there would be goat people online. I had to practically hog tie the mama and nearly got killed in the process but I got her head in a leash and all four feet tied so the frail baby could nurse.

I'll continue all updates on my regular Nigerian goat thread so as not to have duplicate posts running. Hopefully the mother will accept both babies and in the meantime I will continue to conduct my own little rodeo and tie her to milk her if necessary. Did I mention she was rather wild and had never been handled?

Here's my regular goat thread - I've posted pics from today of the two babies. I'm still so sad she lost one. Didn't look like it had ever been alive - still had the film sac on it best I could tell. But I'm so happy we have two little babies. My regular thread will continue to have pics as they grow.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1396687#p1396687