# URGENT: bottle feeding piglets info desperately needed.



## Carla D (Dec 10, 2018)

We had ten baby piglets three days ago. We are down to three now. I think the only way we will manage to save them is if we take them away from their momma and bottle feed them. I’m going to need some fast tips on how to bottle feed them. 

***Will they drink from Pritchard nipples? 
***How much milk replacer should they get per feeding? 
***How often will they need to be bottle fed? 
***Will they survive overnight without being fed for 10-11 hours? 

Any help with these questions would be greatly appreciated. Their momma, Thelma is showing very little desire to feed them and had either trampled on, laid on, or killed the other babies some other way. We initially thought they were dying because we put too much bedding in with them. That no longer seems to be the case.


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## luvmypets (Dec 11, 2018)

So sorry you have lost the little ones. First thing is you want to get their body temperature up. I do this by running the babies under hot water for a few seconds. Be careful not to get any water into their face. Stick your finger in their mouth, that will give you a general idea of how warm the baby is. My first bottle baby, her mouth was ice cold when I stuck my finger in.

In my experience feed them what they will eat, they can learn to use a nipple easily. However try pan feeding it is 10x easier than bottle feeding, and if they are hungry they will figure it out quickly. I use the unimilk replacer, you can get it from tracter suppy. It has all the directions and such on the bag.

Let me know how it works out and best of luck!


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## lovinglife (Dec 11, 2018)

When I was growing up my Father brought me a baby pig to care for, his mom had too many babies and this was the runt.  I remember having a short glass of regular milk and he stuck his little snout in that glass and sucked it all down.  Baby pigs are awesome, I loved that job.


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## Carla D (Dec 11, 2018)

@luvmypets, I wanted to give you a quick update. I got our XL dog kennel set up for the baby piglets. There’s a hanging heat lamp in one end of the kennel. The other end has a heating pad under the floor of the kennel. I have a bowl of formula in the end with the heating pad. I also have piglet starter pellets in there as well. I am completely blown away about two of them diving right into the formula. The third one is now drinking out of the bowl as well.


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## luvmypets (Dec 11, 2018)

Yay! Been checking back for a reply, glad that they are adjusting well!

My girl was 6 days old when I brought her in, I think she ate the first few days of her birth but by the third day she was just too small to compete with her siblings. I put a little paper plate down with milk replacer and she loved it. Then I let her snuggle in my lap, she was pampered. 

This is how tiny she was, now she is a big chubby sass monster. She is my profile pic


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## Carla D (Dec 11, 2018)

lovinglife said:


> When I was growing up my Father brought me a baby pig to care for, his mom had too many babies and this was the runt.  I remember having a short glass of regular milk and he stuck his little snout in that glass and sucked it all down.  Baby pigs are awesome, I loved that job.


They are so awesome. We brought this little guy home to warm him up. He is such a snuggler.


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## luvmypets (Dec 11, 2018)

They look quite healthy besides the other factors. More pics maybe?

Also heads up, piglets sleep very deeply so you may go to check on them and they are limp, try not to freak out like I did. They also twitch a lot in their sleep.


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## Carla D (Dec 11, 2018)

luvmypets said:


> Yay! Been checking back for a reply, glad that they are adjusting well!
> 
> My girl was 6 days old when I brought her in, I think she ate the first few days of her birth but by the third day she was just too small to compete with her siblings. I put a little paper plate down with milk replacer and she loved it. Then I let her snuggle in my lap, she was pampered.
> 
> ...


No way! She’s your profile picture? Wow!


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## Carla D (Dec 11, 2018)

luvmypets said:


> They look quite healthy besides the other factors. More pics maybe?
> 
> Also heads up, piglets sleep very deeply so you may go to check on them and they are limp, try not to freak out like I did. They also twitch a lot in their sleep.


Kinda like big ole lazy dogs. Sleep deeply, snore like crazy, and won’t be woke up unless they want to be.


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## luvmypets (Dec 12, 2018)

Carla D said:


> No way! She’s your profile picture? Wow!


Yup! That was from june though. She is still smaller than the others but she is growing out very nicely.


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## luvmypets (Dec 13, 2018)

How are they doing?


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## Carla D (Dec 13, 2018)

They are doing really well. They were so hungry when you husband went out there around 7am. He gave them water because he didn’t have any formula with him. They drank the water, all of it. When I got there at 9am they were clamoring to get out the door to find food. 

I’ve read that hand raising new piglets is heartbreaking at least 50% of the time because they are hard to hand raise. These little piggies are making it quite easy for me. Thank goodness.


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