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CALF WONT NURSE BOTTLE

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SHORTSTUFF

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LOST A COW YESTERDAY DUE TO HEMROGING FROM PROLASPE.
I CANT GET A NURSING RESPONSE FROM THE CALF ON A BOTTLE. WENT AND GOT A LAMB NIPPLE TODAY, STILL NO RESPONSE. HAVE LET MILK RUN DOWN MY FINGER TO HIS MOUTH , ANY MORE IDEAS????
I POSTED A FEW TIMES AS LONGJOHN, BUT WHEN I CHANGED ISP's THE FORUM WOULD NOT LET ME BACK IN .
 
How long has he been without nutrition? You might need to drench him to get him stoutened up to suck.

I use a pretty good sized hole in the nipple, let it run into the back of his throat (though not too much) and hold his nose up and closed until he swallows. This seems to give them the idea and they get a taste of the milk. You can't do anything until they swallow. So you need to encourage the swallow reflex, buy rubbing the throat.

Good luck!!!!
 
This may sound silly, but the calves I've had to raise on a bottle would start suckin a whole lot better if I wore a baggy flannel shirt that hung down over their eyes.....calf between my legs....bent over em, bottle in mouth.......and most times hafta squeeze the dickens outta the bottle to get it to come out rub the calfs neck and hold it's mouth shut........

I've had to tube a couple.....but to get em suckin this has worked for me several times...
 
Shortstuff-I have run into this several times. Tube him a couple of times per day and try (if you have time and patients) the bottle in between. Last yr. had a calf get real chilled and took him 3 days to get the sucking motion. Some one said put a 1/2 cup brown syrup in the milk because if the calf was chilled it took away lots of sugars from his system and thus the sucking ability. I did that and it worked ( or just happened). Hope something works for you.
 
This has worked for me. Tube him with a bottle of powdered colostrum. Wait around 6 hours and then go back with colostrum in a bottle with a nipple. Take a pocket knife and enlarge the hole in the nipple, so that when you turn the bottle upside down the milk flows out. Once a little milk runs down the calf's throat take your hands and squeeze his mouth shut and pull the bottle the opposit direction of his mouth about 3 inches, the relax your grip on his mouth and push the nipple all the way in again. This simulated the natural mouth reflexes of sucking and there is milk coming out. This usually works almost instantly. Colostrum and/or electrolytes work about 2 hours quicker if the calf sucks the bottle rather than tubing him. Something about which compartment of the stomach in ends up in, cant think of the name of the rings in the throat that directs fluids to the stomach.
 
My calf suck secret is nylon iv tube (I don't think it's actually that but something like it). Fix it in a coke bottle lid with silicone and tap it to the cap. Leave enough length (3 or 4 inches) that it goes to the back of their tongue. Open the lid a crack to let the milk drain a little . If the calf doesn't suck close the lid and let him swallow. Repeat. They'll get where they soon suck and you can switch to a bottle. That nylon hose is easier for them to keep in their mouth without wanting to spit it out.
 
the_jersey_lilly_2000 said:
This may sound silly, but the calves I've had to raise on a bottle would start suckin a whole lot better if I wore a baggy flannel shirt that hung down over their eyes.....calf between my legs....bent over em, bottle in mouth.......and most times hafta squeeze the dickens outta the bottle to get it to come out rub the calfs neck and hold it's mouth shut........

I've had to tube a couple.....but to get em suckin this has worked for me several times...
Click to expand...

I use this same method--minus the baggy shirt. :wink:
For me, massaging his throat seems to be the ticket. Trying to induce the swallow reflex.
 
Rub or scratch it's top hip/hindquarter area. This will make it think that Mom is licking it....you'll see a lot of Momma cows licking the hips of calf when nursing.

Just keep @ it....if it's that young..it might not know how to nurse ...esp if the birth was difficult. It will get the hang of it, but it takes patience. I've got orphan premature twins on bottles now
 
"This may sound silly, but the calves I've had to raise on a bottle would start suckin a whole lot better if I wore a baggy flannel shirt that hung down over their eyes.....calf between my legs....bent over em"

I need to get some more sleep--Too Looongg a storm....I was sitting here this morning half asleep still reading the above portion of lillys post- and then my mind just took off and the baggy shirt comment developed my own visualation of how she was feeding that thar thang- good thing you included "bottle in mouth" to bring me back to reality - Must have been my subconcious flashing back to her reindeer avatar... :roll: :lol: :lol:
 
LMAO Oldtimer.....take a nap wouldja? hehehe

The baggy flannel shirt I think more or less mimicks how the calf would feel if..........n/m I aint splainin it........

puttin my shovel away, cuz I'm just diggin deeper :p
 
This is a topic I feel well qualified to answer lol finally! We have several babies at the barn some on cows others on bottles yes it's a mass confusion at times.

Here's my method to get a calf to suck. I straddle the calf so that my legs are holding his neck tightly so he cannot escape from me. I then pry open his mouth and put the bottle nipple in. Then using my free hand I move his mouth so that it's like he is sucking. Once he gets the sucking part down it helps to rub back by his hip like an old cow licking.

If a calf is to weak and just won't eat then that calf gets drenched. Sometimes it helps to start them on a smaller nipple too.
 
THANKS FOR THE INPUT. THINK I HAD TRIED EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE IV TUBE AND THE BAGGY SHIRT.
WHEN I GOT TO HIM THIS AM I STUCK THE NIPPLE IN HIS MOUTH AND HE TOOK HOLD LIKE AN OLD PRO. GUESS I WAS FRUSTRATED LAST NIGHT.
WE HAD THREE DAYS OF COLD WIND BUT FINALY GOT ABOUT A FOOT OF WET SNOW OUT OF IT. FEEL REAL GOOD TO SEE MOISTURE.
 
Them getting hungry can be the key but there is that fine line between hungry and nutritionally challenged. The latter sometimes they just don't recover from.
 
I've been trying to get one to suck since last Thursday. I fight about a pint or slightly more twice a day. This hard headed booger just wing suck the dam bottle. Suggestions? I have her a combo shot of banamine, baytril, multi min on Tuesday. She sucked a bottle dry about 30 min later. Hasn't sucks again yet! Have her a dose of banamine yesterday. Still won't suck.
 
Besides all the advise from 2006, I have discovered a nurse bottle called "Peach Teats" that works much better! Our local vet supply store couldn't get them in this year but I did find a few on Amazon.
Sometimes a bit of sticky syrup or molasses on the tip of the nipple then just barely stick it in its mouth till it tastes and reaches for it.
Another shot of vitamin B.
I hate to, but drench it a few times until it knows what full means, giving an oral probiotics with the last drench. If he still won't suck in twelve hours try waiting 24 or less to try again. Sometimes just the probiotics is all he needs to get his gut working.
Did he get colostrum?
 
Peach said:
Besides all the advise from 2006, I have discovered a nurse bottle called "Peach Teats" that works much better! Our local vet supply store couldn't get them in this year but I did find a few on Amazon.
Sometimes a bit of sticky syrup or molasses on the tip of the nipple then just barely stick it in its mouth till it tastes and reaches for it.
Another shot of vitamin B.
I hate to, but drench it a few times until it knows what full means, giving an oral probiotics with the last drench. If he still won't suck in twelve hours try waiting 24 or less to try again. Sometimes just the probiotics is all he needs to get his gut working.
Did he get colostrum?
Click to expand...
Yes. She did get colostrum. Was up running around stealing milk from other cows when i got her from the pasture. She was wet and cold from recent flooding rains...

HAPPY UPDATE....
Went to barn yesterday morning, opened door, mooed like a cow a couple times where she couldn't see me yet. She perked her head right up. I rounded the corner and mooed again. She got up and was looking at me like what the heck! I put nipple in her mouth and she sucked it dry! I repeated this process yesterday evening and again morning & night today. She's finished her bottle every feeding! I'm not convinced she thinks I'm a cow, but i think she's figured out i got the good stuff for her!!!
WHATEVER WORKS to save her life!
 
Pokeyjoe63 said:
Yes. She did get colostrum. Was up running around stealing milk from other cows when i got her from the pasture. She was wet and cold from recent flooding rains...

HAPPY UPDATE....
Went to barn yesterday morning, opened door, mooed like a cow a couple times where she couldn't see me yet. She perked her head right up. I rounded the corner and mooed again. She got up and was looking at me like what the heck! I put nipple in her mouth and she sucked it dry! I repeated this process yesterday evening and again morning & night today. She's finished her bottle every feeding! I'm not convinced she thinks I'm a cow, but i think she's figured out i got the good stuff for her!!!
WHATEVER WORKS to save her life!
Click to expand...
Oh happy day! 😊
 

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