Bottle Races & Colic posted 3/21/2009 5:43:21 PM | 5 kudos what's this?     report abuse

tentfire

As many of you know by now, my milk goat, Daisy, had quads a couple of weeks ago and two of them are being bottle fed. They are growing so fast and doing great, full of boundless energy! I do believe that they are actually growing faster than their brother and sister that are still with their mama. They are certainly fatter!

I have a total of 13 new little ones this year - a hobby gotten out of hand, I would say. Only 6 goats kidded. It has been a blessed year. 14 were born total, all alive and well, all gave birth on their own, but sadly one mysteriously vanished. It is a site to see them all frolicking around! Santo and Mischief are staying outside a lot during the day now. They seem to be having trouble fitting in with the others. Mischief is beginning to fit in reasonably well, especially with a particular two, but Santo seems to be scared, especially when several of them run up to him at once. Watching him take off running to hide behind my legs is hilariously funny. I laughed so hard the first time I scared him, too. But at night I am still bringing them in to sleep. (they are about the size of an average cat) None of the goats offer them any protection at night and the one dog I had that might, I recently lost. Let me tell you, there's nothing like rolling over in the morning as you wake up and open your eyes to two little goat faces staring at you only a half inch away, as they say, "Booooooootle, Boooooooootle!" And there is no peace until they get it and I stick them back outside.

A few days ago little Santo began to have some problems. Of all things, he developed colic! I have had one goat baby do this before, so I was able to get it under control quickly. He was so miserable. Every time he took a bottle, a few minutes later he would hunch up with a bloated tummy ache. He would stay that way for an hour or so wanting me to rub his tummy to give him some relief. In the beginning I was swiping some of his mama's milk to put in his bottle to give him. Then as she began to run low I mixed it with store bought cow's milk. Now the two are totally on cow's milk as she is barely able to feed the other two, what with only being able to use one teat (the other teat is healing good, but still has a long way to go. It was a nasty gash). Now remember, Santo had great difficulties when he was born, along with not being with her from the moment of his birth, so he is a little more sensitive. So I am occasionally giving him about 1/4 of a children's chewable lactaid tablet and switched him to the special VentAire baby bottle. Those bottles may be expensive, but they are great! They remedy many a baby's colic. So he is back to himself again, no more tummy aches.

And now the Bottle Races are on!! He and his sister can chug faster than any two little goats I ever saw. I do believe they are competing with each other. I know they are because which ever one finishes first tries to steal the other's bottle. They know the sound of the milk jug opening......They know the sound of me getting their bottles out of the fridge.....They KNOW THE SOUND OF THEM BEING WARMED IN THE MICROWAVE.....They hear any of those sounds, especially the microwave, and they come running. I get the caps back on the bottles, give them a shake to evenly distribute the heat (all the while they are excitedly jumping up on my legs like a couple of puppies), then as I turn to walk they race me to where I sit to give them their bottles. They are all about routine. They want me to sit in the same place every time. They even each stand in the same place each time, just as the other kids always nurse on "their side" each time. Santo and Mischief each have their own bottle and do not switch. (Once they are use to it, if you even put in a new nipple they get offended, so you better start with a strong quality one that will last the duration.) I turn the two bottles upside down, they each aggressively grab onto theirs, and the race is on! Aggressive doesn't even begin to cover it. I have to hold a death grip on those two bottles. Oh, how they work those bottles. Santo has his new one (but I had to use his same nipple from the old one) so his flows evenly all the way to the end. He never stops for a breath. But Mischief still has her original bottle that gets air in from time to time. So she releases her suction occasionally, keeping the nipple gripped between her teeth, to keep the flow going. And every little bit she stops to forcefully nose butt her bottle like they normally would their mama's bag, in an effort to get more milk to come down. But she usually ends up butting my fist instead of the bottle, getting it all slobbery. And as they suck down their bottles, each trying to finish first so they can steal what the other has left, foam builds inside the bottle (like when you blow through a straw in your glass of milk) and all around the corners of their mouth. They look absolutely MAD by the time they are finished! The faster they eat, the faster the foam oozes out the sides of their mouth, like an overfilled icee oozing through the straw hole. But they are good little kids and let me wipe their faces off. Then it is off for a nap.

Oh, yes, I almost forgot,

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