# Please Help! Newborn Kid Won’t Eat!



## Leah

As a quick recap of this little doeling’s entry into the world . . .

Our eight year old Boer doe has been down (unable to walk or stand) for about six weeks. The doe, amazingly, has done quite well despite that, but she needed to be induced yesterday (day 145) due to developing complications.

This afternoon, with a lot of assistance, she delivered two beautiful, energetic doelings that are standing, bleating, and appear to be doing well physically.

We had milked out as much of our doe’s colostrum as we could and were able to bottle feed each kid about 1 ½ to 2 ounces of that.

Then we began feeding them Manna Pro's Kid Colostrum Supplement.

The bigger of the two kids (~ 9 lbs. 8 oz.) is eating fairly well.

The second and smaller doeling (~ 8 lbs.) ate somewhat well at first, but now won’t even suck when we put the bottle in her mouth.

We’ve tried all of the ‘tricks’ that we have read about, and nothing has worked so far.

This is our first time with baby goats and ANY advice or tips would be greatly appreciated! We really don’t want to lose these little girls.

Thank you so much in advance!

(By the way, this is Leah's sister Sarah posting for her since she's down with the kids, and I don't have an account here yet.)


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## critergiter09

i have read somewhere on here before that you have to make sure they keep warm, that the kid or kids wont suckle if their temp is too low. other than that im not sure unless she is just being a stubborn little girl. i wish you all the best of luck with your new babies, and ill be praying for the little girls. i dont have alot of experience myself yet with goats.


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## goathiker

Here I would give 1/2cc Bo.Se SQ, a vitamin E gelcap squeezed on the tongue, and 1/2cc B complex SQ. All of these things will help wake up her brain and get her going a little. All of my kids get these on advise from my vet. They need that Colostrum in the first 12 hours if at all possible. Has she passed the first dark poo yet?


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## Happy Hobby Farmer

goathiker has some great advise for you!

If you put your finger in her mouth, does it feel cold and does she have any suckling reflex? If her mouth is cooler/cold inside her temp is too low and she won't be able to suck or properly digest her food. She needs warming up pronto!


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## KW Farms

If she has a normal temperature then you should be able to get her drinking, but if she's got a low temp, don't feed her until she's warm. Get her in the house with towels and start rubbing her...i've had excellent success with using blow dryers on high warmth too and just kind of moving it all around the body.

If her temp is fine...have you just opened her mouth, stuck the bottle in, and held it there until she starts sucking? Sometimes they will cry and gargle the milk a little bit, but just hold it there until she drinks and when she stops take it out...she'll soon get ahang of it.

Good luck...hope she picks it up easily for you! :hug:


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## HoosierShadow

If she's not cold and doesn't have a sucking reflex I'd definitely consider selenium deficiency and get her some selenium and vit E ASAP! If you can't get Bo-Se from a vet, then you can go to your local grocery or a store that has vitamins and get selenium tablets and vitamin E capsules. When I had to do this I crushed the selenium tablets and disolved them in water in a syringe and drenched them with it, then did the same with vit E capsules if I couldn't get it to open, can't remember how much I gave of each though.

Since then I ordered the selenium E gel from Jeffers and we use that on the does 4 weeks before kidding, then give the kids a dose after they nurse, and sometimes give the does another dose too.


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## SarahM

Thank you all so much for the replies! The advice was very much appreciated.

Both kids were in a little stall outside with a barrel kid warmer that had a 100 watt light bulb in it, but when we went out for their 11:00 feeding last night, they seemed cold and shivery so we did bring them inside (right before I first posted here) and worked to warm them both up. We also gave them a bit of Nutri-drench at this time.

And it looks like being too cold was the problem! After getting warmed up and with lots of patience and work, she finally started sucking a bit! Each feeding since she has improved and at their last feeding, both doelings took 4 ¾ ounces which was a big improvement. They're each sitting at about 14 ounces total so far since their births yesterday afternoon.

They're looking great, and yes, both have passed stool. Hopefully from here on they'll keep getting stronger!

Here's a photo of them taken this morning . . . they are so cute! (The little one in the front is the one who wasn't eating.)










Thank you all again!

~Sarah

P.S. My account was approved now, so I'm the same one who posted about, but am under my own name now. =)


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## toth boer goats

I am so happy ...they are doing OK.... they are adorable......congrats.... :thumb: :hug: :hi5:


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## myfainters

I'm glad they are doing better....they sure are CUTE!


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## critergiter09

Yay! That is great news!! And beautiful babies!!!! Glad to hear they are doing much better!!!! :leap:


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## Happy Hobby Farmer

That's great news!!

You have a couple of real beauties there!!


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