[SafeHaven]

I've taken on three mollies this year.  One was a tiny triplet who was pulled from the ewe and put on a bottle from day one so is no problem.  The other two came off a ewe, both come from triplets, and so were much harder to get onto a bottle.  One has got it no problem now.  But one just is not drinking much at all.  They are all about four weeks old now.

Further information on the lamb in question... I had him at the vets last week because I thought his front legs looked not quite right.  She agreed, and said he was bending outwards and suggested it might have been a deficiency in utero (selenium?) and said there was nothing I could give him now to correct it.  She filed his hooves down on the inside to tilt him inwards when standing and said I should repeat that weekly.  He was also slightly bloated so she gave him antibiotics (and painkiller for his legs).  Said to put yogurt in his milk for his rumen flora.

I'm lucky if I can get him to drink 50-60ml per feed.  The tiny lamb has now overtaken him in size.  The other two lambs are bouncing around like lambs do, but he is much more subdued, never bounces.  He comes running when I appear with bottles, but is very hard to get him to take it, and when he does, his suck is a bit lacklustre and he gives up quickly.  I have to be very persistent to keep the teat in his mouth, but eventually he just struggles away and spits it out.

They do have ad lib creep and hay/straw and water and I have seen him nibbling creep but he can't be eating that much as I can see what's left at the end of the day, and the other two stick their noses in too.  He's obviously getting enough to just stay alive (so far), and he's not dehydrated, but I wouldn't say he was thriving.  Last night he seemed quite depleted of energy, so this morning a short time before bottles, I gave him a dose of kick start, just to see if it perked him up enough to take a decent meal (yes I know it's for newborns, but when things are like this, you try anything).

I'm at a loss as to what to do for this little guy.  Has anyone had this before?

[twizzel]

As per my post on another thread, similar situation with a 3 wk old lamb, she did drink in the end but it took a week of perseverance. First couple of days drank 400-500ml split over 4 feeds, then stopped completely so tube fed 250ml 3 x a day for a couple of days. One day of straight electrolytes too. Then a couple of days of real hunger she missed every other feed if she didn’t drink properly.  On day 8 it was like a lightbulb moment and finally drank a proper amount. This one really tested my patience but got there in the end 

[SafeHaven]

Well, I've had these guys since the 10th March, so it's been ongoing for well over three weeks now.  I get excited when the little guy drinks 1" of milk from his bottle (500ml water bottle with a Pritchard teat on). That's a good feed for him .  He's a sweet little thing, but does not take anything like as much milk as the others.  The other two have almost 1.5L a day each over their feeds... but not this guy!     He starts off drinking and then seems to almost fall asleep and from there it's hard to get him to keep going.  If he wasn't drinking at all, I'd consider tubing him, but I wouldn't want to overload the poor fella.  And he IS taking some at each feed.  So I feel like it would be too risky to start tubing at this stage.  But that's just my guess... I'm not from a farming background.  I've only been doing this for a few years.  I'm still learning!

[Richmond]

I had a lamb a bit like this last year. One of twins whose mother had mastitis and could only feed one although mothered both (they stayed out in the field with her). Never did get her to take to the bottle. She wouldn't have anything we offered and existed on grass alone for most of the year. Finally started eating coarse mix in November. Over the winter she grew and grew and is now only marginally smaller than her sister. She's strong, lively and healthy, and leaps around just as much as the new crop that were born 2 - 3 weeks ago.

So your little guy might come around in the end, even if he doesn't take much milk.

[Fleecewife]

Trying to get a slow feeder to take a bottle is one of the most annoying and frustrating things in farming - makes me want to scream  .
As a consequence I have rarely bottle fed lambs!  One trick I remember though is to provide a hand for them to bump their heads on, as lambs do when feeding from the udder. I would tend to hold the bottle near the top, with the heel of my hand over the lamb's head and face, pulling on the bottle slightly.  Apparently it stimulates the sucking reflex.  I expect you already do that and I'm trying to teach granny to suck eggs 

[SallyintNorth]

It's a common query....   Here's one previous thread

and another (with a happy outcome)

another

On the bent legs, is the lamb getting any sun?  Often that will sort 'em.