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Hi all! Soooo, long story. 6 am yesterday morning I get a message from a friend who lives an hour and half away. They are inexperienced in bottle babies but for some reason decided they would buy a 2 day old buckling. Kiko/boer cross. Well the little guy was refusing to eat. So, I drove the 3 hour round trip to pick him up and bring him home (he is in the house where its warm and cozy). I have helped with stubborn eaters in the past with success but this one is throwing me off my game and running me in circles.
I did take his temp before we left for home, 100.4...slightly low, but I cranked the heat in the truck, gave him a goat coat, and held him the whole way home. Got him home, settled in a little, he relieved himself (waterworks is working great), so I attempted to give him 2 ounces of milk replacer, he drank 1.5 ounces, better than before. Also gave him a little nutri-drench to give him a little boost. About 15 minutes later took his temp. 101.4. It didnt go 10 minutes, my daughter asked why his ears were so cold. Sure enough, temp dropped to 99.7. (My house is set at 74°) Wrapped him in warm towels sourround by hot water bottles and temp has been holding at 102-102.5. But now the little guy has diarrhea, watery pudding consistency, dark brown. So I gave a dose of SpectraGuard, pulled milk replacer and giving electrolytes. He is not very active, still really wobbly on his little legs. Sleeps most of the time and just seems off. I am attempting to feed every 2-4 hours (depends on his intake) he would take about 1-2 ounces every time. Just gave him 2 am electrolytes. He drank 1 ounce and laid down.
As for colostrum, I cannot be positive. The breeder they got him from said she didnt have time for him, she did say the doe did let him nurse at least once that they saw, but then rejected him, but accepted his twin. She said she pulled him and he was eating well, but did say feeding was a struggle. From 8 pm Monday night until 9 am yesterday morning he only drank 1/2 ounce of replacer. I have not seen any colostrum poop, and neither did my friend. She said he was still passing the meconium until this morning and she never saw pellets or yellow pasty poop. He did have small slightly tacky brown-ish pellets when I first got him home. I do have colostrum replacer, but at 3 days old would he still absorb it properly? I do know the first 24 hours is the happy hours for colostrum and absorbsion rate can decline from there. Should I try it? He does cry a lot, wimpers in his sleep but will settle when I lay on the floor with him or if he can cuddle with my dog (Good boy, Atticus). Activeness is low for a 3 day old, i am used to my alpines bouncing around at this point, he struggles to walk at times, still pretty wobbly. I do not know CAE status of the herd he came from, nor did my friend know to find out.
I am wondering if I should just make my own formula with cow milk, buttermilk and condensed milk and switch him over slowly. Possibly a milk replacer issue? They were using Nurse All replacer and gave me what was left.
My apologies for the run on, I am running on less than 4 hours of sleep in 48 hours. Its been interesting.
I did take his temp before we left for home, 100.4...slightly low, but I cranked the heat in the truck, gave him a goat coat, and held him the whole way home. Got him home, settled in a little, he relieved himself (waterworks is working great), so I attempted to give him 2 ounces of milk replacer, he drank 1.5 ounces, better than before. Also gave him a little nutri-drench to give him a little boost. About 15 minutes later took his temp. 101.4. It didnt go 10 minutes, my daughter asked why his ears were so cold. Sure enough, temp dropped to 99.7. (My house is set at 74°) Wrapped him in warm towels sourround by hot water bottles and temp has been holding at 102-102.5. But now the little guy has diarrhea, watery pudding consistency, dark brown. So I gave a dose of SpectraGuard, pulled milk replacer and giving electrolytes. He is not very active, still really wobbly on his little legs. Sleeps most of the time and just seems off. I am attempting to feed every 2-4 hours (depends on his intake) he would take about 1-2 ounces every time. Just gave him 2 am electrolytes. He drank 1 ounce and laid down.
As for colostrum, I cannot be positive. The breeder they got him from said she didnt have time for him, she did say the doe did let him nurse at least once that they saw, but then rejected him, but accepted his twin. She said she pulled him and he was eating well, but did say feeding was a struggle. From 8 pm Monday night until 9 am yesterday morning he only drank 1/2 ounce of replacer. I have not seen any colostrum poop, and neither did my friend. She said he was still passing the meconium until this morning and she never saw pellets or yellow pasty poop. He did have small slightly tacky brown-ish pellets when I first got him home. I do have colostrum replacer, but at 3 days old would he still absorb it properly? I do know the first 24 hours is the happy hours for colostrum and absorbsion rate can decline from there. Should I try it? He does cry a lot, wimpers in his sleep but will settle when I lay on the floor with him or if he can cuddle with my dog (Good boy, Atticus). Activeness is low for a 3 day old, i am used to my alpines bouncing around at this point, he struggles to walk at times, still pretty wobbly. I do not know CAE status of the herd he came from, nor did my friend know to find out.
I am wondering if I should just make my own formula with cow milk, buttermilk and condensed milk and switch him over slowly. Possibly a milk replacer issue? They were using Nurse All replacer and gave me what was left.
My apologies for the run on, I am running on less than 4 hours of sleep in 48 hours. Its been interesting.
