# Rejected Kid due to Frostbitten Ears?



## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

I guess there is no knowing for sure - but I've got a first time boer doe with buck twins that is rejecting one of them.

Two things happened - today when I got home, he had squeezed through the fence in to the next jug with another doe with two kids. He was nursing her from behind while she was eating.

When I picked him up to put him back with his dam, I noticed his ears were very poofy - kind of fluid filled looking. I'm guessing that is frost bite? He is in a draft free place & none of the other kids have it so I'm not sure how that happened.

His dam goes after him with her head, and will bite him if she smells his ears. However, if he sneaks up and feeds and she just smells his bum she usually ignores him. But can get quite aggressive when she realizes after a minute.

We forced her to nurse him, although he wants more & more (maybe he didn't eat all day) and put some hiding places in the jug for him to get under/in away from her. I put vanilla extract on his ears, his tail, his twin's ears & tail, and the dam's nose.

Headed out the door to buy whole milk for the recipe in case he needs a bottle in the morning. If she still beats him up in the morning and he willingly takes a bottle then we may have to sell him as a bottle kid. Hopefully the person will have other kids for him to be with... 

Any suggestions?


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## FutureHopeFarm (Feb 4, 2014)

A few of our kids got frostbitten ears. Don't rub their ears or warm them up and then let them get cold again. We didn't have a problem with the mama's rejecting them because of that. If it's filled with fluid it doen't sound exactly like frostbite


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## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

Could they be filled with fluid because the mama keeps biting them? My goats bite each other's ears and they tend to swell....


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

Yes - it is possible the ears are damaged from biting instead of frost-bite! I just assumed frost-bite because when I search for swollen ears on here that is what a lot of threads suggested. Maybe I've got it backwards!

I guess maybe he got too much scent from other does on him. I'm really hoping there is improvement by morning but not feeling very confident as she so adamantly hated him this evening.


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

I seriously doubt that she rejected him due to frost bit ears. I also doubt that his ears have fluid in them - frost bite/frozen ears causes swelling and it also causes the ears to have a thick, dead, rubbery kind of feeling due to the tissue damage. I would be more inclined to suspect that yesterday was not the first time he got through the fence into the next jug and snuck a few meals from the Momma next door. Every doe imparts a different kind of smell to her kids through her milk and, if he has been getting through the fence, he no longer smells like her kid. First timer's can also be very dicey due to inexperience, lack of mothering instinct, confusion, interference, and the pain of a full udder. As far as frozen ears/frost bite goes, it doesn't take much for fragile ears to freeze - especially if they are wet. Unless she has been really chewing on his ears, I doubt if her biting is causing the swelling and edema you're describing.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

Thank you for all the input. Things are not improving. Next years we will have completely different kidding jug design so there are no escapees/confusion. 

Do you think the doe deserves a second chance? I'm leaning towards yes.

I successfullly fed the rejected kid a bottle tonight and am arranging a bottle baby home for him as I type. I'm hoping he is okay in the barn tonight. (he can come & go from his mom's jug and the aisle.) I tried bringing him to the house to bottle and he just would not stop screaming. (since I don't have other bottle kids for him to be with...)


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

P.S. she bit one ear until it bled today and the swelling disappeared. The other ear is still swollen.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Yes I would give her a second chance. If her kid took on the other doe smell, that is understandable in my book.


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