warming orphan kids, any extra ideas

[possumom]

I got an emergency call at about 4pm today from a lady thats goat had abandoned her bb's last night. Wish she had of called me then but anyway by the time i got there they were barely breathing and had mucous around their mouths. I have them home now and got some milk from mom. I have them on a heating pad and have been trying to warm them , knowing of course not to feed them till then but she had already tried to feed them milk before she called me. At the wildlife rescue i worked at we would sometimes use a warm water bath but with other animals it was forbidden. I am wondering if anyone does this with goats. I have them on the heating pad with a warm magic bag and a hot water bottle but they don't seem to be coming around much. Any ideas would be wonderful. I also did a sweep of their mouths and tried to syringe the mucous out. It will be 24 hours since their birth soon . How long can they go without feeding? Thank you for any input.
Barb

 

[mikayladawn]

The warm bath is good for goats. hold their head above the water and rub their legs to get the circulation moving. Once they are warm, feed them colostrum as they need it within the first 24 hours. If they have already had their first colostrum, you are supposed to feed them every 2-4 hours. Make sure they are warm first as they can't digest if they are not. If they are too weak to bottle feed, you may need to tube-feed. Good luck!

 

[sprocket]

I usually use one or more of the heat lamps we also use to keep our chicks warm.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Make sure you get plenty of the colostrum from mom.

 

[possumom]

Thank you both , I will go ahead with the warm bath and make sure they are really dry then i think i will pop them in bed with me for a bit to see if that perks them up and i do have a heat lamp that i will set up. I do not have a small enough tube for tube feeding though so i am really hoping they will perk up enough to feed. I have a larger tube for adult but no small tube.
Thank you again
Barb

 

[possumom]

I have about 5 oz of colustrum arghhhhh spelling lol
I will go back over in the morning for more if they make it through the night. They are just soooooo cold. One just let out a little mewl a minute ago. The lady was told to just let them die and that was why she waited so long to call me. They really want to live and i want to give them the chance if at all possible.
Barb

 

[doxiemoxie]

warm food in their belly will make a tremendous difference. Anyone in the future reading this- feed them ! A warm bath is great as long as you can keep them warm after removing them from the bath.

 

[bcnewe2]

Saved a hypothermic lamb with the warm water bath and a blowdryer. I've hears of goat people doing it to goats too. I used a 5 gallon bucket and held their head out.

Hope they make it for you.

 

[mikayladawn]

warm water bath and a blowdryer

X2

How are they doing?

 

[possumom]

Thanks everyone. Well we made it through the night and I am getting guardingly optimistic. Did weights this morning and one is 2pounds 11oz and the other is 3pounds 4oz. The littlest one is standing but barely, she always looks like she is going to do a face plant lol. I am feeding about 2 to 21/2 oz every three hours right now but they are still hungry when i am done but i don't want to over feed either. Would that sound right to others that have fed tiny bb's?
Again I want to thank everyone for their help. If it were squirrels or opossums , even skunks i would be in my element lol
My own goats don't seem to have much extra milk and the lady where they came from has said that the mom is not allowing her to milk from the one side and that it seems really sore but no heat or redness , no obvious sign of mastitis. My goats are mostly spanish, kiko . These bb's are Alpine /Nubian Xs.
Have a great Day
Barb