# Runt help questions



## meinmdusa (Jan 12, 2011)

Tuesday, 2/28/12, when the children came home from school one of our pregnant does gave birth to twins. A boy and a girl. The boy was the first born and was the larger of the two born. At first mom loved both little ones even the little girl and was licking on her and everything. I just happen to leave them for a short period of time after I made sure both had drank a while from momma and then heard all kinds of commotion from our little mother hut and I went running. The mother apparently was head butting her and did not want her around so I quickly scooped her up and took her into the house because she had a deep gash on her back and I had concerns for her safety. Never beeing in this situation before I had to make arrangements for her to be housed in the house until we knew she was out of danger. So now we have her in a cage in the house until I can figures something out. She is really small. I had read someplace that if their mother is unable to be milked and you don't have anything on hand to give them vitamin D milk. Okay the first evening she barely drank and then all of a sudden she started to drink from the bottle and has been enjoying it ever since. She is up to about 9 ounces now since Wednesday morning per feeding. We have been feeding her every 4 hours as that is all we are able to handle and she is adjusted very well. I tried to take her to introduce her back to her mother and she still did not want anything to do with her. We almost think that she has a sight problem but is still getting around well and very active and still very petite. 

Guess now that you know what is going on my question is I am asking for your opinion on what to do with her now since she can't stay with her mom anymore and she is the only bottle fed kid we have ever had and not sure what to do with her now. At this point with her crazy eye sight I don't think it would be safe to incorporate her in with our herd. Yes I am sorry she has a sight problem but we plan to love her just as much as our other goats. The only other animals we have are chickens, ducks, and cats. We have no dogs or any other animals she can hang with. Do I build another pen next to the goats we already have so she can learn from them or what do I do? 

She is currently only getting whole vitamin D milk. How long do you bottle feed and when and what, if any, should I incorporate other food in her diet? Is that good enough for her or do I need to incorporate anything else in with the milk. How long is she allowed to be on whole milk? 

Any and all suggestions and opinions are greatly appreciated.

As you can see in the pictures she was fine and then all of a sudden momma didn't want her.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Since no one has posted yet, Ill give it a shot. I have only had a handfull of bottle babys. I gave them goats milk and stopped about 3 months old. The one bottle baby that I have is almost 3 weeks old. I keep him in his play pen at night since it is cold, and during the day let him out to play with the other babys, and I figure he will learn things that the other babys have learned from their mom, like how to eat grass, hay ect. If you have other babys running around I would put her out and just watch and make sure no one picks on her. Is she all the way blind? Just went back threw the ?'s. If she is blind and you dont want her in the house, I would make a little pen off to the side. If you want to keep her forever you might want to later on get her a friend. I have a friend with a blind horse and the other horse they have is his eyes. But be careful about moving things around, animals are smart, the lady cut down a few trees and he was lost for about a month. Hope this helps you out.


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

Oh she is precious! Mumma probably realised there was something wrong with her eyesight, thats why she rejected her. They are pretty clever that way. 

If she is blind, and you plan to keep her, absolutely she needs her own pen. I would move her out there as soon as possible (weather permitting) so she grows up in the pen and learns where everything is. Dont move things around in there. Keep the food and the water and the shelter in the same places and make sure she learns where they are. She will learn to move around things and not bump into them eventually. 

I would also consider getting another bottle baby the same age, for her to grow up with. That way she will have a friend for life, and if you put a bell on her friend she will learn to be led around by her buddy by listening for the bell. 

The vit D milk is fine, I just use normal cows milk from supermarket when I dont have enough goats milk. You can start providing her will hay and a little grain at about a week old, she wont eat much of it to start with but she will explore it. You can show her what it is by playing with it, 'eating' it with your hand (or I've actually chewed on it sometimes), or just putting a little bit in her mouth so she gets the taste of it (I do this when they are a bit older, 3 - 4 wks). Also she should have water available from day 1 in a shallow bowl that she cant drown in. 

Good luck with her, she is just beautiful.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Congrats on the babies... they are adorable....I agree with Keren...

Do you have her and the babies in a stall by herself or was the kid in an area with other goats? If so.. she may of gotten hurt because either another Doe hit her or her momma was confused ...slamming her not realizing it was hers.......

I'd tie up momma and one back leg and make her feed the baby or milk out moms milk... if she has enough and feed it to the baby..... 
So the mom doesn't have enough milk or is she difficult to handle? I would be the boss and tie her up and make her...if that is the case...

vitamin D milk...is OK

Glad she took the bottle..

Eye site thing...are you sure she is blind? Does her pupils react to light and movement ...when you move your finger close .. in front of her..... 
If she is blind... I agree ...she needs to be treated with care.... Maybe get a vet to confirm this...

Some goats do well with their herd mates with issues...all you can do is watch her and make sure... she is safe out with them.... if they are mean to her or she cannot find her way around then ....she needs even closer observation in a smaller area...without obstacles....

You have to bottle feed her... until she is at least 2.5 months old.... 

Around 2 weeks of age ...they may nibble on things.. so... that is when you can introduce other feeds....


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## myfainters (Oct 30, 2009)

Did she get enough colostrum from mom for the first 48 hours? Very important.


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## meinmdusa (Jan 12, 2011)

Sorry took me so long. Have had another goat give birth to tripletts (another runt may have to join this bottle fed girl, still keeping eye on her as she is not nursing very much at all compaired to the other two kids) and have been exhaustingly busy. 

Anyhow, I have put a couple of handfuls of hay in the pen with her and I will put a small bowl of water so that she can try that out also (didn't know about that). 

She was born 2/28/12 and the newest 3 :kidred: kids where born 3/6/12. 

Well we think that she can see but not out of maybe part of the left side. So she is only partially blind. 

OMGoodness.....she is such a joy to see play around. Took her out with me to do my chores and she kept coming back to me to sniff me to make sure I had not left her. She has also been introduced to the first male kid that was born this season to our little herd and she did not care one little bit that he was there. She just wanted me. I am thinking we may have a problem and hope I can get her to learn she is a goat and not a human. 

I need suggestions if you have any how I can get her incorporated in with the other goats. 

She is actually bigger than her brother now drinking about 10-12 ounces 4 times a day of the whole vit D milk from the grocery store. 

Have tried to take her back to mom and mom still does not want her. :shrug:


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Your doing good! Thats how I started Gizmo out, just take her with you, walk around the other goats. The bigger ones might butt her, but I think its a good thing, she need to learn to kinda stay away from the big ones and know that if she mess with them they will get her, it will happen with 'normal' kids as well. Just be with her to make sure they dont hurt her too bad. Shell get the hang of it and realize those other kids are fun to play with. A week after Gizmo was born he was spending the day with the other goats, and now he even goes out in the field with them. I think your doing great, keep it up!


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