# Quadruplets - Help



## Temptations Mom (Jan 24, 2012)

Hello Goat group. I am new here, and come with questions lol. We have a lovely Nubian Doe who we thought was unable to kid, as she was with a buck for a couple years and never was pregnant... in Nov she started showing signs of being pregnant so we were ready for a baby.... today she gave birth to quads... we currently have no other milking goats, and will need to bottle feed at least two of these little ones... We are currently in the middle of a blizzard, of course, and live in the middle of nowhere... SO... questions... one- can we feed human formula if we have to? two- there is a store, an hour away that sells Lamb formula, but has no goat formula... can we use lamb if we have to?... 

Mama is doing ok, but she is weak... kids all seem ok... there is frozen colostrum we are using to make sure they all get enough. Ideas??? 

Looking forward to getting to know you all as we do have a couple of pack goats and lots of plans 

Thanks!


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## feederseaters (Nov 8, 2009)

Hi and welcome to the group. You can use regular cows milk (whole). I have raised lots of healthy kids with cows milk. Sometimes the replacer products are a bit harsh on the kids bellies and will cause belly aches and diarrhea. Make sure the bottle babies get colostrum for at least 48 hours before they begin regular milk. 
Congratulations on your new arrivals!


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## feederseaters (Nov 8, 2009)

Oh, and YES use the frozen colostrum if necessary at the end of the second day or begining of the third day. Usually MOM will have enough for all her babies. I would try to milk some out of her and put it in the bottle for the babies. At least for the first 2 days. After that the absorption reduces then I would follow up with the frozen. If there is a VERY small amount of colostrum and the kids get weak, add milk.


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

Here is a link to a previous topic that has a great milk replacer recipe. It is the fourth post from the top viewtopic.php?f=15&t=419


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

When I had a dog that had 13 pups. I split the pups up during the day. fat ones, smaller ones. Every hour or two. I would take out one group and replace with the other group.
At night I left them all together. In the morning I took out fatties first. 

Mommy hound seemed to increase her milk supply to compensate for the additional mouths. Of course with pups you can monitor tummys. to make sure they are all getting
some food. 

Congradulations.


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## Cazz (Jun 9, 2010)

How are they all going Temptations Mom? We've had several lots of quads before and there were two little, two big in both batches. All of them needed different amounts of milk/colostrum, but their mum (with 4-4.5 litres) had enough for all of them and they all thrived. We've got one little, one big from the same set of quads and they are pretty much the same size, however you can definitely see the 'big ' one is well propertioned and looks adult, while the 'little' one (who was especially tiny at birth) is a more awkward looking shape, and doesn't look as big. She is the boss of almost all of our goats though - seems the little ones are more determined to survive. 
All the best,
Cazz


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