# Weak newborn



## Ctflynn5 (Apr 3, 2017)

I apologize in advance for this long post!
Our nigerian dwarf goat gave birth for the first time to triplets 3 days ago now. The first day, all 3 of them were doing great. I witnessed each of them nurse from mom and I'm guessing they all got some colostrum that first day. The next morning I could hear the kids crying from inside our house. I went out to check on them and one of them was standing outside in the field by himself. He must've climbed up the ramp inside their shelter and jumped off from a decent height. 
This is our first experience with this sort of thing. Lesson learned the hard way and we now have the ramp blocked. However, it was it bit chilly and rainy that day. So I picked him up and brought him back to mom. She licked him and nuzzled him and everything seemed fine. 
Later that day my husband noticed he wasn't doing well. We tried to get him to nurse from mom, but he wouldn't. He became weaker and weaker quickly. We ended up bringing him in the house and scouring Google for what to do. We did everything we could to keep him warm.My husband tried to bottle feed him some infant formula we had in the cupboard just to get something into him but he wouldn't take it. We ended up using a syringe to get some warm molasses water into him. Kept him under a heat pad and wrapped in a blanket. I got up through the night a few times to reheat the pad and give him more molasses. 
The next morning we thought we had lost him. We couldn't see him breathing, no movement etc. My husband dug a hole to bury him, placed him in it and as he did, this kid squirmed and squealed! We rushed him back inside, put him in a warm bath, blow dried him, and wrapped him up again. We ran to the store to get some powdered colostrum, milk replacer and electrolytes. We weren't able to get any colostrum into him then. But gave him electrolytes via syringe every 2-3 hours.
He seemed like he was going downhill fast. A neighbour came over and gave him a selenium injection. Then late last night my husband and I decided to try and tube feed him colostrum. We got 1-2 oz into him. We took him out to my husbands shop and ran the oxygen for the welder near his face then blasted him with the hairdryer again. I got up every 3 hours or so and reheated his heating pad, changed his blankets and fed him more colostrum with the syringe. Today he seems much better. Can hold his head up at times, spends more time standing and even tries to walk around. Seems how the weather is nice and warm today we thought we'd attempt to reintroduce him to mom but she rejected him. I'm not surprised since we've been feeding him things other than her milk
It broke my heart though, he knew it was his mom and he tried to run to her and she ran away from him.
I guess my question is, what else can I do for him? He's still quite weak and won't suckle on anything. He won't take a bottle so I have to give him everything with a syringe. How can I get him to bottle feed? Will it just take time? It takes forever to get a couple oz of food in him with the syringe.
What about companionship? I know they don't like to be alone but I feel like he's too weak to be outside with the others?
Thank you for reading this long post! Any insight or recommendations would be soon greatly appreciated!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

You always want to make sure the temp is over 100 before feeding. Stop the colostrum, it is only good for the first 24 hours. Whole milk would be better than replacer. Give him a B Complex shot.


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## cbrossard (Oct 4, 2014)

So scary! When I have to bottle feed I mix 1 gallon whole milk with 1 can evaporated milk and 1 cup buttermilk. What kind of nipple are you using to bottle feed? If you can get him taking a bottle then you should be able to reintroduce him to the herd. At that point if he is used to drinking from a bottle and doesn't try to nurse from her any more then she shouldn't mind him hanging around. I am no expert, but I would say keep him inside, warm and fed until he seems strong and is taking a bottle well, and then you should be able to reintroduce him to his family. Just make sure to supervise for a while when you reintroduce him to make sure no one is being too violent toward him.

Good luck!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

What is his temp?

Try to stay away from milk and colostrum replacer - they are usually pretty bad and cause unhealthy kids. 

Definitely give him a shot of b complex. 

Keep trying with the dam. Hold her to let him try to drink. She might except him, might not. I would try to leave him with his siblings, and see if the dam is aggressive or just ignores him.


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## Ctflynn5 (Apr 3, 2017)

Thanks for the tips so far!
We have been warming his food in a warm bath to 101° F before feeding. 
The only reason I kept him.on the colostrum is because the bag said it was beneficial to continue use if stressed or sick, and the milk replacer bag said to feed it for 2-3 days. But he basically didn't feed for day 2 or 3.
As far as whole milk etc, are you referring to cows milk? Or can you get whole goats milk?
We bought a bottle/nipple from the coop store that is supposed to be for goats but it's quite big. We've also tried 3 different baby bottles/nipples. None of them have worked.
We tried to get him on mom's teat while my husband held her, even squirted the milk in his face. He wouldn't take it and mom was getting g really upset and worked up. I even rubbed him down in her milk hoping maybe that'd work but it didn't. 
I will definitely look into the b complex. Where can you get it from?
Thanks


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## Ctflynn5 (Apr 3, 2017)

His temp was 98.6°F last night. Today it is 100.9°F


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Get a pritchard nipple. It is red with a yellow screw cap. 20 ounce Pepsi bottles work with it. Yes, cow's milk. You should be able to get B complex at any farm store.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Very good advice.


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## Ctflynn5 (Apr 3, 2017)

Thanks everyone!
I'm going to switch his food to the whole milk/buttermilk/evaporated milk mix.
I'm at the pharmacy that provides vet products and all they have is a very concentrated B 12 injectable. The dose is huge for my tiny little guy apparently. 500ug/ml. Does anyone know what sort of dose would be safe? Or can I crush the vit B complex for humans and put it in his food? The pharmacist also thought it was worth asking if it'd be OK to give the larger dose b12 injectable orally? Maybe better tolerated?


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

They don't absorb the oral stuff very well. I'd go with the injectable. You can't overdose vitamins, they exit the goat in the urine. 

I ordered my b complex from Jeffers.


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## Ctflynn5 (Apr 3, 2017)

Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately I'm in Canada, no Jeffers here. I've called around, I can only get vit B 12 as an injectable. I have some B50 complex vitamin for human consumption but I'm not sure if it'd be safe to give him


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Use a 1cc syringe and give a smaller dose.


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## cbrossard (Oct 4, 2014)

Sorry for the delayed reply. Yes, I was referring to cow's milk. And I second that the pritchard nipple is the one you want.


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## Ctflynn5 (Apr 3, 2017)

Thanks for all the help. It is so appreciated. 
Unfortunately, despite injecting the b 12, our little goat didn't make it. He took a turn for the worse early this afternoon and went downhill fast.
I'm heartbroken.


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## catharina (Mar 17, 2016)

I'm so sorry to hear the sad news. You tried so hard! It can really take a long while to get over losing a kid like him--with all the time you spent caring for him, I'm sure you'd really bonded with the little guy.:rose:


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

I'm so sorry


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## ReneeRising (Mar 21, 2021)

ksalvagno said:


> You always want to make sure the temp is over 100 before feeding. Stop the colostrum, it is only good for the first 24 hours. Whole milk would be better than replacer. Give him a B Complex shot.


No colostrum at this time. Another Goatee Mom gave me fresh and frozen goat milk.


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## ReneeRising (Mar 21, 2021)

catharina said:


> I'm so sorry to hear the sad news. You tried so hard! It can really take a long while to get over losing a kid like him--with all the time you spent caring for him, I'm sure you'd really bonded with the little guy.:rose:


Hello Catharina
You know whats odd is he has only been in the world a few days but living in house now and he would walk to me when i asked him to come. He would call for me. Each time i think he will have passed but Gabriel is still alive. He is looking and blinking more and more mouth and tongue movement. Not quite sucking. He is notnyelling out in maybe pain as he had. Its like he wont die...its not that i want him to die..but he keeps living so it makes me feel i gotta keep trying to save him.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Oh no, I am so sorry.


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