Goat kid not taking bottle and 102.9 temp

[superbouncyballs]

We got a 3 weeks old kid last night.
Not taking bottle.
102.9 temp
He has energy and active
Took probios
Under eyelid color is quite good.

Was think watching temp see what it does and possibly start penicillin.

Any thoughts

 

[Latestarter]

At 3 weeks old, the kid should be accustomed to the bottle unless he's never been on one, in which case it's going to be a challenge to get him to start. He's gonna need to get pretty hungry before he finally decides it's bottle or nothing. I'm kinda surprised the seller sold you a kid that wasn't already bottle trained. Give it a day or two and just keep offering/trying.

Oh... ETA: what are you trying to bottle feed him with? That can also contribute to the issues. If a formula, hope it is NOT soy based, as that seems to create issues per others reports here on BYH. Best to go with fresh goats milk if available. 2nd choice is plain old whole (not 2%/low fat/skim) milk from the store.

 

[superbouncyballs]

We have always used whole milk from the store. Did milk replacer once and not again.

He sat in my lap earlier. I got the nipple in and would give the bottle a little squeeze to get milk in his mouth. He would swallow, but just no interest. And then feel asleep in my lap
He does nibble at hay.
May try some gatorade latter too.

He came from an auction. So there was no history. Any other goat we've had before would drink from a bottle or a bucket

 

[Wehner Homestead]

He probably just needs time. Keep trying.

(I’m not an expert but that’s what I would do.) One of the tricks I’ve heard to try was the cover their eyes with one hand as they can’t see when they nurse from Mom. Maybe that’s what he’s used to??

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Also sometimes different nipples work better...some dip the nipple in molasses or karo syrup just enough to interest them.

 

[superbouncyballs]

We've tried 2 different nipples.
forgot about the sweeter on the nipple.
When we brought the bull calf back in the barn for the night he tried to nurse on him. We all got a good chuckle from that.
I was able to get him to drink a little bit he'd rather chew on the nipple. But making progress.

 

[babsbag]

Poor baby, it irks me to see them at auction at this age. To me that is totally irresponsible. I had a doe die when he kid was three weeks old. It took me three days to get him to take a bottle, I seriously thought he was going to starve to death first.