My two week baby goat wont take a bottle!! Help!!

[CaramelKittey]

Hi,
Do you own a milking stand? If so, you could try holding the dam still and letting the kid nurse. If not, a trick I used with my doeling Gracie is to gently pinch his/her cheeks around the edge of his/her mouth and slide the bottle in there. It takes a lot of time and paintence. Believe me, Gracie wouldn’t take the bottle for a long time and her Mother wasn’t present as we recently bought her. Make sure you are holding the bottle in an upward position. The kid will/should eventually catch on and begin sucking the bottle. Do you heat the milk before feeding it to the kid?

 

[SurferchickinSB]

I have 2 two week old baby nubian goats and one of them is taking the bottle really well and the other one is not! She wont eat more than an ounce at a time and now is super floppy and doesn't want to eat at all! It's almost like I have to force her to take her bottle and she'll just chew on it and not suckle! I need advice please! I also gave her a shot of that bose vitamin to try and help. I'm really scared she will die and my husband will freak out on me!

Is there anyway you can tie up the mama goat and let the baby suckle off her?

 

[ShannonR]

I like to force the bottle into their mouth as described above, and then cup my hand around the entire muzzle of the goat(don't suffocate her, be gentle) so it is harder to squirm around or spit the bottle out

 

[cassie]

I don't know how to do that and all the farm stores are closed for the night

What you need for tube feeding you won't get at the farm store. You need to get it from a vet or a vet supply. You need a 60cc syringe with a catheter tip. Then you get a urinary catheter. To tube feed, I take the plunger out of the syringe, attach the catheter, put the baby on my lap, put the catheter down the kid's throat and fill the syringe. You want to make sure you are in the stomach and not the lungs. Listen at the end of the syringe. If you hear air rushing in and out (breathing sounds) pull the catheter out and try again. Before you start, you might want to put the catheter along the side of the kid and measure from the mouth to the last rib. Mark it and when you insert it, just insert it to that mark. Please check on line. I may be wrong. It may be the first rib. It has been so many years since I have tubed a kid I forget. Meanwhile, take some honey, or better yet, corn syrup, and put it in the kid's mouth. If a kid goes too long without food, it is no longer hungry. The sugar will break this cycle. Corn syrup is pure dextrose. It can be utilized by the body immediately. It does not have to be digested. That said, I have known kids to starve themselves to death rather than take a bottle.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

What you need for tube feeding you won't get at the farm store. You need to get it from a vet or a vet supply. You need a 60cc syringe with a catheter tip. Then you get a urinary catheter. To tube feed, I take the plunger out of the syringe, attach the catheter, put the baby on my lap, put the catheter down the kid's throat and fill the syringe. You want to make sure you are in the stomach and not the lungs. Listen at the end of the syringe. If you hear air rushing in and out (breathing sounds) pull the catheter out and try again. Before you start, you might want to put the catheter along the side of the kid and measure from the mouth to the last rib. Mark it and when you insert it, just insert it to that mark. Please check on line. I may be wrong. It may be the first rib. It has been so many years since I have tubed a kid I forget. Meanwhile, take some honey, or better yet, corn syrup, and put it in the kid's mouth. If a kid goes too long without food, it is no longer hungry. The sugar will break this cycle. Corn syrup is pure dextrose. It can be utilized by the body immediately. It does not have to be digested. That said, I have known kids to starve themselves to death rather than take a bottle.

Actually, "lamb tubes" are commonly available at most chain farm stores in the animal health section, as are 60 ml cath tip syringes used with them.....

 

[Cyprus]

Actually, "lamb tubes" are commonly available at most chain farm stores in the animal health section, as are 60 ml cath tip syringes used with them.....

This is true. They are readily available here.

 

[cassie]

Actually, "lamb tubes" are commonly available at most chain farm stores in the animal health section, as are 60 ml cath tip syringes used with them.....

That is good to know. It has been MANY years since I have had to do any of that. At that time there were only two places I knew to get the tube feeding supplies and that was from the vet and from caprinesupply.com. Glad to know they are now readily available.