The Bottle Baby
We officially have a "bottle baby".
Meet Oliver, the runt pig. He was born last and struggled from the first moment. If I had not been there to rescue him, he would initially lost the struggle out of the birth sac. As such, he wasn't breathing when I got him out and he had to be resuscitated.
Since then, he has been the dreaded "runt" pig. Half the size of his growthy, rowdy siblings, he hasbeen last to get fed and slow to get around. But he was still trying hard to make it, so I let him be.
On Thursday morning, I was doing chores and heard him scream...he hadn't moved fast enough and Mama Pig had accidentally stepped on his jaw. He bled profusely but seemed ok and was walking around later and seemingly nursing, I figured maybe he had bit his tongue. Mama Pig doesn't brook much interference and there wasn't much to do for him, so I let him be.
But by Friday, he was failing. Thin, weak and obviously not ok. I brought him in and tried to feed him with a syringe, but he wasted more energy than he took in by fighting me so I figured I would let him fight it out in the pen. He went straight to nursing again, so I thought "well, maybe he was just having a bad morning."
By this morning, though, he was too weak to walk. I think his jaw or tongue may be damaged so he can't effectively nurse--they need to latch on pretty hard to get the milk to let down. HIs weakened state did allow him to stay calm this time when I brought him in and his hunger did the rest---he sucked up a whole bowl of warm milk like a pro!
And so he is now our "bottle baby" (or bowl baby, as it were). Until I see improvement in his sucking reflex, he is stuck inside. I don't think he is so upset about human interaction this time... a full belly, heating pad and Evie offering him a big plush elephant to cuddle next to seems to have changed his tune.
Meet Oliver, the runt pig. He was born last and struggled from the first moment. If I had not been there to rescue him, he would initially lost the struggle out of the birth sac. As such, he wasn't breathing when I got him out and he had to be resuscitated.
Since then, he has been the dreaded "runt" pig. Half the size of his growthy, rowdy siblings, he hasbeen last to get fed and slow to get around. But he was still trying hard to make it, so I let him be.
On Thursday morning, I was doing chores and heard him scream...he hadn't moved fast enough and Mama Pig had accidentally stepped on his jaw. He bled profusely but seemed ok and was walking around later and seemingly nursing, I figured maybe he had bit his tongue. Mama Pig doesn't brook much interference and there wasn't much to do for him, so I let him be.
But by Friday, he was failing. Thin, weak and obviously not ok. I brought him in and tried to feed him with a syringe, but he wasted more energy than he took in by fighting me so I figured I would let him fight it out in the pen. He went straight to nursing again, so I thought "well, maybe he was just having a bad morning."
By this morning, though, he was too weak to walk. I think his jaw or tongue may be damaged so he can't effectively nurse--they need to latch on pretty hard to get the milk to let down. HIs weakened state did allow him to stay calm this time when I brought him in and his hunger did the rest---he sucked up a whole bowl of warm milk like a pro!
And so he is now our "bottle baby" (or bowl baby, as it were). Until I see improvement in his sucking reflex, he is stuck inside. I don't think he is so upset about human interaction this time... a full belly, heating pad and Evie offering him a big plush elephant to cuddle next to seems to have changed his tune.
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