Mare dried up, 6 week old foal...tips on encouraging bottle feeding?

Sparkles

Sparkles

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Got a foal last night as it's mum dried up on it...he's about 6 weeks old. Happy enough to have a scratch all over once caught but obviously not handled much!

Tried bottle feeding him, but he's just not really taking to it. He had a bit, but had to be quite forceful with making him drink it.

Got the vet coming out in the next hour, so shall see what they advise.

But any tips on how to encourage bottle feeding at all?
 
Don't use a bottle at all, go straight for a bucket. Not only is it much easier (because you'll eventually have to teach him to use a bucket anyway) but he's well old enough to use a bucket; I reared fortnight old foals straight from their dams onto a bucket very easily.
I used D & H Equilac milk replacer; it's very easy to use and any D & H supplier can get it for you. There is a guide inside to how much to give them and at 6 weeks old, ideally, feeds need to be every three hours including through the night. You can also start giving a handful of Suregrow for him to nimble; it has everything in it he'll need other than ad-lib hay and turnout. Do you have a same age companion for him or can the mare stay with him which would be easier but I can't stress how important it is for him to have company, not just for playing but to learn to socialise with others too.
If you need any more help. do pm me and I'll do my best.
 
Thanks. We tried a bucket last night as were told to do that too, but he just didn't get it and was scared of the bucket.
We tried doing it so we were dabbing our fingers in the milk and putting them in his mouth, and then closer to the bucket each time too. But he just wasn't even paying attention to it so tried bottle-ing him as vet said down the phone just to get something in him but no luck with that either really.
Will he just gradually figure it out then?
I think that's the milk replacer we've got, we rang the vet and picked up all the supplies this morning. She should be here any sec so I'll let you know what they say.

He's not with the mare, we picked him up last night and took him back to ours. We do have other colts which are 10-12 months old approx who possibly go in the box with him?
 
Can you get a shallow, light coloured bucket?

Sometimes when they are bucket-shy they find a shallow bowl less scary as they don't have to put their head in so far.
 
Try a small bowl. like a washing up bowl, many don't like the height of the bucket to go above their eyes and the lighter coloured it is the better, they don't like black! I'd carry on as you are TBH, but don't pressure him; if he's hungry he'll take it but don't over face him although I know the directions make you think they're not getting a lot, it's totally sufficient for them. You could try syringing some milk down him to get the taste of it if he really won't take the bucket but do be careful how you do that. To start with, until he's taking it well, I wouldn't let him have a water bucket in there as you don't want him filling up on that and not able to drink the right stuff.

Can he talk to others through the bars of the box at all as yours might be a bit too old for him for a while but as long as he can have contact with them, that will help. Holiday on here had to rear Arthur from birth last year, she might be able to give you some pointers but it might be a bit different as he's had so long on the mare. Was he turned out with other mares and foals or just with his dam?
 
He'd have been out with others as well as mum, I'd hazard a guess. The stable he's in has a grill across the side wall to the next stable that they can nose through, he seems to have bonded with his neighbour...who's currently the 17.3 showjumper lol!!! He's fascinated by him and stays by him and talks to him most the day.

Vet came earlier and gave him an IV drip of fluids as he was a bit dehydrated. Brightened up a lot after that and started taking the bottle, has drunk quite a bit and vet advised us how much every 4 hours.
Has been bottle feeding fine all this afternoon, shall get a shallow clear bucket first thing tomorrow....that's a good idea, thankyou.

Thankyou all! Much appreciated. I'll post updates and get some pics of the little fella :)
 
With dairy calves, you literally force them to drink from the bucket. Have you got calve/smal bucket? Hold it, with foal in a corner, under foals nose. If you can get foal sucking on fingers, great. Put fingers in milk. Or just put fingers in mouth, then hold its mouth just in the milk (so not going up nostrils!)
They learn very soon!
But that is calves, I have no experience of hand rearing foals and that may be a too farmer-esque way fo looking at things. One thing I would ask, when did foal last have a feed?
 
No, you're right ST. Had to do that with Freddy just a couple of times but once he got it (after a while), he was away and never looked back; it's definitely worth persevering with the bucket rather than going for a bottle as you only have to teach them to dring from a bucket later on when they're bigger and not as easy to handle when they get frustrated as they can smell the milk but don't know how to drink it.
 
I would also totally agree regarding the bottle they take in too much air and end up gassy or colicky

We used a large metal dog bowl with our orphan foal and that proved really successful and shallow enough for him not to have to put his head to the bottom of a bucket!!!!!!

Good luck he should be fine once up and running it just takes a bit of time and perserverance!!!!!!!
 
I have successfully got a 6 week old orphan on to milk replacer by spending time with him holding a white plastic mixing bowl under his nose,at first he wouldnt have anything to do with it,would push it away and try to get out of the corner I had backed him into, but with persistance in the end he started to splash his nose in it and then eventually took some. It did take time and one thing I have found with foals is that the more u try to force the issue, holding their head down etc the more they resist, its better to lift the basin push it up to their muzzle so that it gets all over their mouth and take it down and repeat. The mixing bowl is ideal as it is wide and not too heavy to hold in one hand especially if u are working alone! A companion is very important for the foal and we usually use a calf as a companion if we're stuck, we did have an old mare who took on her grandson when his mum died and did everything a mother would, kept others away and taught him manners, we just fed him! however paragons like her are hard to find. The above foal was switched on to a TB mare, whose foal was born dead, after 3 weeks on the basin and as soon as he saw her all he wanted to do was suck so dont give up on finding a foster mum if one becomes available and if it doesn't he will be perfectly fine on the replacer. Good luck and when frustration sets in, and it will, take a break for 5 minutes or so and he will be happy to see u back if only for the companionship:
 
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