Help Bottle Feeding a Baby Goat

[MandyH]

They have some clear, silicone nipples at TSC that are supposed to fit the drinking pails that are FANTASTIC!! I use the Pritchard nipples for a couple of weeks then switch to those clear nipples. A trick with the pritchard's is to use a razor blade or scissors and SLICE a slit in the tip of the nipple instead of cutting the whole little tip off. They don't leak hardly at all if you do that. But definately try that clear nipple. It is SOOO soft, and looks JUST like a real teat is shaped.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Thank so much for all the expert advice. i just knew i could count on folks here to provide guidance. We let her out in the yard for a bit to roam, watching very closely. Since she was mouthing around i thought maybe i could put a dish of warm milk down and she would take it. Well, my chickens descended on that bowl of milk and it was gone in an instant. Who knew chickens liked milk?

Then inside my husband put her on his chest and fell asleep on the couch. Those two slept soundly for hours. When he finally got up to go to bed, i forced a whole ounce of warm half and half down her, and she didn't struggle too badly. Now she's in her crate asleep. So . . . i feel optimistic.

i'm taking her to my vet tomorrow for a check-up and will get a better bottle and nipple. Now i'm heading to bed. It has been a looooooooong day!

 

[mekasmom]

I just use goat milk from my goats and when that is not enough, I use cow's milk. I like to use a regular baby bottle. If you sit down, let the goat stand with her front legs on your knee. Cup one hand around the bottom of the baby's mouth/chin (just like you are holding her head to kiss her forehead) and put the nipple in her lips.
She will eventually get the idea if you keep trying. Don't put her on the Mama anymore unless you want her to have complete nipple confusion. It takes about two days to get them eating really well, but they won't starve. If they are hungry, they will eat.

I have some pygmys that my daughter used the puppy bottles for. I really don't like them because the nipples fall off. They can be dangerous, so I wouldn't suggest them. Baby bottles work fine. Whatever you choose to use, just keep with it. Switching nipples over and over just makes it harder to get them to nurse.

 

[CaGoatLady]

Congratulations on the new baby! I think I had the hardest time getting my Nigerian to drink from a bottle when he was a baby, but he did within the first day. With him, I would hold him up to my face and he would mouth my mouth and I would have the bottle, a regular baby bottle, up to my own mouth and slip it in his and it worked!
Unfortunately, I have not been cured of this deadly addiction and I recently acquired and little baby La Mancha boy who is about a week old and was raised just fine with his mama until I stepped in and snagged him away from his owners who had destined him to dinner. Pez, the new baby, started out on the Pritchard nipple that I am still using on my 8 week old lamb, but it was too small for him, so I switched to the big black kind that you put on a beer bottle and he is loving it, but at first it was like giving a cat a pill.

 

[KareyABohr]

I am bottle feeding 14 goats right now and I had a few stubborn ones too.
What I did was put them under my arm so you can hold on to the little wigglers and with the same hand under their heads use your fingers to open the mouth and put in the nipple. I use the other hand to hold the bottle and kind of keep the mouth on the nipple.
It litterally is a wrestling match the first few times, but after like day three they just kind of snap out of it and the last three are climbing all over me twice a day during feeding time just like the others.

Good luck with your goats!

 

[luvzmybabz]

I noticed you water water bottle and Pritchard nipple try a sprite bottle. We had issuess with water bottles as the necks are not as tall as the sprite tops ( where the threading is ) is may be different since you are in a different area but the olny tall top we found here was sprite.

Kasi

 

[KareyABohr]

I use dt. coke 20 oz bottles. They have the same shape as the sprite bottles. Stay away from Pepsi as the rounded shoulders at the top make them leak.

Good luck. If you have any questions PM me. I am an expert by now. If she goes too far along you are going to have to tube her and that is an unhappy time for both of you!

 

[Fudgie]

I use a regular human baby bottle for ours. Works great. You have to take a knife to the nipple to open it up a big or they get really mad because it does not come out fast enough for them. Don't open it up too much that they get milk too fast

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Wow, this bottle feeding is time-consuming! i've never had my own baby, but this sure feels like i just gave birth. She's actually doing well so far with this small animal baby bottle. It only holds 4 oz, so i sometimes have to fill it twice.

She follows me around the house like a puppy, then out into the yard when i do my chicken chores. She likes to hang next to the goat pen and say hi to Hillary and Billy. When she's hungry she slams into my legs and wags her tail. Very cute until the bottle runs dry. If she bunts me too many times and doesn't get milk, she sniffs then nibbles my legs. So i have to be Johnny-on-the-Spot with that bottle.

i've been sleeping on the couch with her in my arms each night. But tonight put her in a blanket covered crate. Hoping she doesn't cry too much. i just have to sleep in my own bed, at least for one night. i'm so tired! But she is adorable!

 

[CaGoatLady]

You're my kind of goat person! People freak out when I tell them that I let the goat sleep with me; I think they release some kind of sleepy drug when you hold them because even when I'm outside with them, they put me in some sort of semi-conscious state.