IDIOT DOE!!!! Best way to warm/clean kits????

[Kyle@theWintertime]

My utter moron of a doe kindled last night. ON THE WIRE. The kits fell through the wire and gods alone knows how long they crawled around in the mud before I found them.

I've washed off some of the dirt with warm water, towel-dried them, had my dad's hair dryer on them on low...now they are wrapped up in a dishcloth on top of a hot water bottle, and they STILL feel cold to the touch. What more can I do?!<br /><br />__________ Tue Jun 25, 2013 9:36 am __________<br /><br />Dang it...lost a peanut kit. The other peanut kit doesn't look good. The three viable kits are warming a little but still seem sluggish.

 

[ladysown]

do you have another litter you can stick them in with? Tuck them in on the sides to get warmed up through and through?

 

[skysthelimit]

the fastest thing and easiest is to put them under your shirt and keep them there until they start moving or you are sure they are gone. There are oher ways, but this on has worked the best for me.

 

[Bad Habit]

I use the dog, but I don't know if you could do that with yours. I know many members put them in their bras... but considering you're probably even less endowed than I am, that won't work for you. Maybe lay down, put them on your tummy and put your shirt over them? Or a towel warmed in the dryer is often suggested.

You're going to lose both peanuts regardless, so don't beat yourself up about those. That's genetic.

 

[Flemishstar]

I get a metal pot with a lib line it with a warmed towel and close up the toel and put the lid on, and put the pot on a heating pad on low, half on and half off the pad

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I warm several towels in the dryer, then make a hollow in the middle and place the kits in it and cover loosely with the end of a towel. I then shut the door of the dryer and tell everyone "There are kits in the dryer! DO NOT turn it on!"

I hope you have already gotten them warmed up, and that they will be okay. :clover:

 

[Cottie]

Maybe Breezy will kindle soon and you can foster?

skysthelimit's suggestion is probably the best. "Kangaroo care" is very helpful for lots of animals. Your body heat will warm them more gently and thoroughly than anything else.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Thanks guys, hadn't thought of body heat or the dryer...I sat with them in my hands wrapped in a dryer-warmed towel. That got them moving a little again. Two of the three viable kits look...moderate, the third doesn't look good. The last peanut is just twitching a little, no normal movements.

I built a nice nest for them in the nest box, wrapped them up in hay and fur, and put the nest box with the three normal kits back in there. This peanut is on his way out, poor thing. I don't want him to die and chill the litter, so...he's just here being kept warm by my laptop. I don't expect him to make it much longer.

I bred Breezy and Liz on the same day, hoping they'd kindle on the same day, my fear was the first-timer Breezy might do something stupid like this and I wanted fostering to be an option. Little did I know it would be LIZ to make the stupid mistake!!! If Breezy kindles today (please oh please, Breezy, KINDLE TODAY!!!) I'm gonna immediately cull any peanuts and put these three normal Liz-kits into Breezy's litter. Her nest box has a nice nest in it, I think she'll do a better job of raising them.

Drat it all, my first Mini Rex litter, too!!! I think all three of the normal kits are otters, too. EXACTLY what I wanted from her.

It was kinda traumatic...when I fed last night, Liz seemed disinterested in pellets, so I figured maybe she'd kindle in the night. Last night we had a really heavy storm, enough that it actually woke me a few times. When I got up this morning, I thought Hey, I wonder if I have babies today! I casually put on my shoes, asked my dad to put the coffee on, and went out to see...and nearly stepped on a kit. As soon as I saw one, I saw three (the peanuts took a little more in-depth searching) and they were just in the mud, not moving. It was clear what happened...she kindled on the wire and the kits fell out of the cage (note to self: BABY SAVER WIRE, when you get a chance, Kyle, BABY SAVER WIRE) and landed in the mud. It rained all night, and while the cage blocks are sheltered under the lean-to, it's just dirt underneath. Poor little souls, I thought they were just dead.

Cursing Liz's incompetence under my breath, I picked one up, and it moved and made a really weak peep-ing sound. Cue the utter HORROR...it was sad enough to think they chilled and died in a puddle in a storm, even WORSE to think of them suffering and alive in that mud puddle!!! I grabbed them all, hunted down the peanuts, and came charging inside hollering at my dad to get some hot water on. He was as horrified as I was, we washed the dirt off and began trying to warm them. He kept saying "but we made those nice special boxes for them! Why wouldn't she USE it?!" I had to explain to him that some does don't have good instincts. It boggled his mind that a doe's natural maternal instincts might be lacking. He gawked in horror when I told him I know a gal who had a doe eat the ears off her kits!!!!

Anyways. The storm is raging on out there. If any of these tiny little beings survives, they are SO getting named after this storm. I hope Breezy kindles today...I think she'll have them in the nest box, she's built a great nest in there for them already. If she does, I will give her Liz's kits.

However I'm not hopeful. Those kits don't look great right now. Their tummies are wrinkly. Liz doesn't seem to have any desire to do anything but eat the hay out of the nest box. I'm just very disappointed right now.

 

[Cottie]

Oh no. The same stormed that claimed some of my turkeys claimed some of your kits. =(

Just keep them warm. I've heard of people putting chilled chicks in a flannel shirt pocket and wearing them. I'd that do for these guys.

Now, this is going to sound REALLY strange BUT, if you have a friend available who is - *ahem* - well endowed, I would ask for her assistance getting the surviving normal ones over the hump. That area is biologically engineered to keep babies warm. Just sit down for a movie and let them snuggle up in there.

 

[Miss M]

Are they all nice and warm now?

You might make a little sugar-water and give it to them very carefully in an eyedropper, just to give their bodies a little fuel until she feeds them. She probably will feed them eventually; it just sounds like the instincts are kicking in a little late.

Maybe bring the nest box in and take it out a couple of times a day for the first couple of days. By then, her "okay, the babies are already born" instincts should have kicked in.

:clover: Just keep them warm, maybe the sugar-water, and hopefully it will work out. You can try the formula, but I haven't tried feeding brand-spanking-newborns... they've been a couple days old at the youngest.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Yep, all three of the normal kits are warmed, but that doe is still questionable. I built a nice nest of hay and fur for the kits...she's eating their hay. :roll: I felt worried about them...those tummies are soooo wrinkly and the kits seem so weak, so I mixed up a warm slurry of an egg yolk and some sugar water, just to try and get some fluids and energy into them.

One of the kits wouldn't take a drop. That one is the weakest, I don't know if it will make it. The other two took a few drops but that was it. One of those two...I pried open it's teeny little mouth and got a drop of the slurry in there, and it spat it out straightaway with a shockingly big clod of dirt!!! I'm now worried that they may have aspirated dirt or mud during their ordeal. After it hacked up that chunk of dirt, though, it took a few drops of the slurry.

They're back out there now, I hope that doe clues in soon...they still look so wrinkly. I have no idea what I'll do if she won't feed them.

 

[Miss M]

Yikes... well, at least it got the dirt out! :shock:

I'd keep trying now and then with a few drops of that slurry, since they're weak. It can take forever with very young kits, but I imagine every drop you can get into them will improve their chances of being able to nurse when she goes in to feed them for the first time.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

I'll keep at it until I have to leave for classes. Honestly my hope is that Breezy kindles very soon, something tells me she's their best hope for survival. I'm betting she's having a small litter anyways, plus if she has any peanuts I'll remove them right away to make space for Liz's kits.

 

[LauraNJ]

I'm sorry. Hopefully she gets what she is supposed to do quickly.

I am forcing my one beveren to go nurse babies once a day. She hates it but I don't care. I make her go into the box and sort of hold her there for a moment, then buns nurse, I let her go and she stays and nurses them on her own. I watch and keep my hand there until I see kits letting go and going to sleep with full bellys.

My mini rex Sarah lost 3 kits first litter, this second litter she had 10 with 8 surviving (1 still born and 1 possible peanut). She has done great this time so maybe your doe will get it. It seemed to click for Sarah on about the 3rd or 4th day for her first litter.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Well I had that second peanut in here on a wad of cut up Angora fur, right next to my laptop fan so he'd get some nice warm air...I figured he was pretty much a goner because earlier he wasn't making any voluntary movements, just the occasional reflexive spasm. Well! He was lying real still, I figured he'd passed...and when I touched him he squeaked and started crawling! A little time and some warmth and he rallied.

I know the peanut won't make it, eventually...but in the meantime, the more warm bodies in the nest box, the better.

 

[Ivory]

Oh Kyle, I'm so sorry you're having these problems, I do hope Breezy kindles soon and you can foster them onto her. Good luck.

 

[Sinnfox]

Maybe try giving the mother some parsley...it is supposed to help their milk come in...if the milk comes in making the mom uncomfortable enough maybe she will get the hint to feed the little ones sooner?

 

[Miss M]

Is the peanut really a peanut (two dwarf genes), or is it a runt? A runt might make it, though you would have to decide whether you wanted it to or not. But I have had plenty of runts make it to freezer camp, and not all of them ended up smaller then their siblings.

Hopefully, Breezy will kindle soon! :clover: And they would probably need only a feeding or two from her, before their mom is finally ready to be a mom. Hopefully.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

It's super-deformed and literally two thirds smaller than the smallest normal kit, it's for sure a peanut. The other was even more deformed, the heads on these peanuts are ridiculously shaped and it's like they have almost no hindquarters.

I won't cull the peanut until I have to though, it's warm and wiggley so it stays. But if Breezy has too many normal kits to deal with (her own and Liz's) I'll cull all peanuts to give more milk and a better chance to them.

Parsley? Hmm. I will look for some. I think we have some planted somewhere...

 

[Sinnfox]

only thing about parsley is it can stimulate labor as well so only give it to them after they kindle...also kicks them into season if you give it to them for a day or two