When to wean?

[Narcissus]

Kaluha, a vey small malnurished female came to me february 13th with a male and another female. She delivered a 56g kit on april 21st. We call him "button" .After two days of the kit losing weight, he dropped 8 grams, I fostered him out to an older female “peggy" who had littered a single kit 3 days prior. She took to him right away and I thought all was well. He dropped another 6 grams over the next two days. I started hand feeding and keeping him with peggy to keep him warm and cleaned. He fought hand feeding horribly, after 5 days of fighting him and no weight gain (or weight loss) I gave up. I left him with peggy and finally, he started gaining weight. peggy's kit is doing wonderful, he weighs 160 grams. I plan on weaning him at six weeks to give button a couple weeks alone with peggy. My dilema is, button only weighs 65 grams... He is 4 weeks old. How long can I leave him with peggy? I know they can breed at 8 weeks old, but I dont think he will be any where near 200 grams by 8 weeks. Any suggestions?

 

[EMSChins]

It sounds like he is not getting enough milk. Do you have the kit dry mix formula in the cage for him to eat? If not, I would immediately supply this and keep it in the cage along with pellets and hay for the kit to eat.

I got the recipe from JAGS. The formula to make it is:
1 part calf or goat milk replacer (a dry formula-purchase at a feed store such as Tractor supply)
1 part crushed pellets (you can use a coffee grinder)
1 part 50/50 mixture of dry rice and oatmeal baby cereal

I also try to handfeed fresh goats milk, sometimes if they don't take it from a dropper, I will hang it on the cage in a small bottle, many times it doesn't look like they are drinking it but I have found that sometimes they get enough that it jumpstarts their weight.

If this doesn't work to increase the weight on the little dude then there just might be something wrong that he cannot gain weight but I highly suspect that mom is just barely putting out any milk.

 

[Zoaea]

There might be something functionally wrong with the kit too but i'd keep trying!

I recently had to hand feed my kit and she fought goats milk too. I tried many different formulas before I found one she would accept. It was whole milk (cow), mixed with a little bit of baby food. Try different temperatures too, I've been told most like it warm.

Mixture that finally worked for her:
1 tablespoon (15ml) whole milk
1/4 TEAspoon (1.25ml) baby rice cereal with bananas and apple (jar form but powdered would work too and can be used for the dry formula too)

Goat is easier to digest but if they won't eat it doesn't help. =(

Also, get some of that dry formula mix, my kit will chow down on it and I hear the mom's like it too. I hope he perks up for you. =(;

 

[Dreamlite]

I had a kit that refused hand feeding for almost 3 weeks. I know the mother had next to no milk and the kit wasn't gaining anything. I would keep trying to supplement. Are you sure the other kit isn't pushing him away?

 

[tunes]

I personally would not use cows milk, I would try the goats milk. Try adding just a drop or two of black strap molasses to it, as well as some baby cereal, and that may help. I would also use the dry formula as Juanita mentioned. Mom can eat it as well and it won't hurt her. Get the goats milk replacer. It smells and tastes better (yes, tried it). Goats milk is also the easiest to digest and is often recommended for human children when they cannot handle cows milk.

There are kits who just cannot grow for the longest time, then will spurt out of nowhere; however, 65 gm at 4 weeks is really stretching that. I also wouldn't worry about the 8 week mark at this point. The logistics of it just wouldn't work, IMO, should he even be interested in breeding with Peggy. Get his weight up and then worry about weaning.

 

[Narcissus]

I forgot to mention, I have been taking peggy's kit out every 2-3 hours to give button time alone with peggy. I believe peggy is producing enough milk, ive used her as a foster before with no issues and in her younger days with the bredder I got her from she raised many set of trips and quads with no issue. I will add the dry formula and see if it helps. I have continued to try and hand feed but button with have nothing to do with it. Ive added molassas, ive hung bottles, ive even tried other formulas. He drinks NONE of it. Him and I just end up covered in milk. I put the drop on his lips amd he just rubs it off on my hand. I guess what baffles me the most is when I pick him up his tummy always feels full. He has a TON of energy! He popcorns off the walls of the cage, uses peggy as a spring board, and when peggy's baby is in the cage they play together playing king of the mountian on top of peggy. Ive added pictures of button (standard) and also pictures of button and hank (peggy's baby). Maybe there is just something wrong with him.....

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

I've seen kits that don't gain as they should grow once they were older. Keep trying. Hopefully he will be fine. I would also leave him with mom as long as he needs to be with her. An extra month is fine. Good thinking on weaning the other kit at 6 weeks.

 

[seachin]

I agree with the above posts. Keep at it and keep us posted!

 

[Zoaea]

Tunes is right you should try goats every thing first, like I said I only use cow as a last resort. There is fresh, canned, you can add the baby cereal. I also didn't have a foster. I did the math and your kit did gain 20grams in the last two weeks, he is behind but he is gaining! Hopefully this next week he will have a growth explosion.

 

[SteveD]

Last year we lost a mom of quads when the kits were 10 days old. We farmed one out with a foster mom and hand fed the other three. We found that they liked the canned goats milk better than the fresh. We also mixed a little Dyne with the goats milk. Once they got a little older we hung it on the cage. They would only drink it if it was warm, so we warmed it up every couple of hours and replaced it twice daily. They all survived. One of the black velvet males just took reserve champion black velvet male at the Ohio State Field Day show this past weekend.

 

[Spoof]

Canned goats milk has sugar in it which is why they they like it more.

Good advice here and it sounds like you are doing a great job with him. Like mentioned above he may just have issues from being a kit from a malnourished mom. So long as he doesn't feel super bony and is very active he'll likely be just fine. )

 

[Cuddlebug]

If he was not getting anything he would lose weight and be lethargic. Keep up the good work.

 

[Narcissus]

well, button is finally growing. He weighed 112 grams tonight. He is still small for his age, but at least he is growing!

 

[Zoaea]

<3 Yay, I'm glad he is improving. It's sad to loose a baby that you have already gotten to know.