13 day old will not suck the bottle

put a bowl of milk down maby she will lap it up.

Some fawns can be difficult then there are others that catch right on.......I actually used a piece of tanned whitetail deer hide and put it so the nipple kind of stuck down through the fur....it made it more realistic and my difficult fawn started taking to the nipple after that.......not saying it will work but it might be worth a try .....it did work for me.......also cup YOIR hand over the fawns eyes when trying to get her to nurse this has also helped in the past.........just some ideas I hope it works out for you!!

Give her back to mom!??????

I'm certain the doe will take her as long as the doe has not started to dry up........

Change nipples. Sometimes we have to try 7 or 8 different nipple styles before they catch on. Also cover its eyes when you put the bottle in its mouth. Good Luck!

AND....patience...patience...patience. Bottle feeding those difficult fawns always took me to test...and I lost! Marsha(wife) was my saving grace to get the job done!

Just keep on keepin on and one of these feedings the fawn is apt to surprise you, and just take hold and suck away.

Putting the fawn back on mom is a possibility I guess, but is she feeding another at this time? If not, and you have a doe yet to fawn, it might be more assured that a new mom would take over feeding the fawn, BUT I would make DARN SURE I made all attempts possible to find the fresh after birth from the potential new mom and rub the fawn down with it. To ensure fresh after birth being available, you might have to be right on top of the new birth in order to obtain some before the mother eats it all, which could mean you might have to almost interupt her before she is done birthing to get some.

You got some good advice above, but even with the best advice in the industry, things like these can be VERY trying, so I will pray for you and the fawn. I hope the best for you and your fawn!

try to make the hole in the nipple bigger so it drips when you hold it upside down have had same trouble until i used a knife to make the hole bigger also use lamb nipples they seem to work the best for us

2cc Vitamin B in the muscle stimulates the appetite and helps us get them started. We also use a product from SavAcalf called Electrolytes Plus it mixes orange colored and is kinda like Tang.Even our most hard headed fawns have taken right to it! We have had really good luck using it for thier first feeding then we switch em to Red Cap next feeding. I know my does usally won't take one back hours later.............let alone 13 days!



Best of Luck!

If you are using brand new nipples, wash them thoroughly? I just got my Novac bottles from Henry. The first thing I did was put the nipple in my mouth. The powder like substance on a brand new nipple has a very Fowl taste and actually made my mouth tingle. After washing and sterilizing the nipple it had no taste at all. Good luck! Hope this helps you!

also a green water hose makes water taste like it came out of a hose if you know what I mean , But a white hose is for drinking water, no bad taste. Boat owners know this.

Chad that is gross......LOL.....didnt your Mom teach you to never put dirty things in your mouth......Lord knows where that nipple was.......yuk

Oh Lord!



I didn't think about that Dennis.... It's Probably been in Henrys hands also. And there aint no telling where they been!!! HeHeHe

my Rosa liked Gerber baby bottle nipples the best...

We had same thing try stimulate rear while the fawn has nipple in mouth. Put another fawn in with this one and mix half teaspoon of sugar with half cup of warm water put in syringe no needle and slowly give it in corner of mouth. We did this and our fawn was eating great within hours Go figure.

Charlie blaschko said:

We had same thing try stimulate rear while the fawn has nipple in mouth. Put another fawn in with this one and mix half teaspoon of sugar with half cup of warm water put in syringe no needle and slowly give it in corner of mouth. We did this and our fawn was eating great within hours Go figure.

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Good idea Charlie. I had forgotten about that. Stimulating their rear end can help because it is duplicating exactly what happens when mom is feeding them. We have used this trick before with some success as well.

Hey - Gotta try all the tricks you can, cause there is not one trick that works for all, but all have one that will work for them.

a doe grunt does wonders too for the hard ones. it takes 2 people for some of those tough ones....one to grunt and wipe and the other to keep the nipple in the mouth. also try covering the eyes. that has worked many times for me.

I will dip my finger in milk and put it in fawns mouth. If it won't suck your finger try rubbing the roof of its mouth until its sucking hard. I pull it out and try it again until it is sucking my finger every time I put it in. After a bit I will slip the nipple in and usually they will start sucking. I also use nipples that are older to start fawns with. They are usually streched out and softer. I also make sure the milk is warm enough. Fawns like milk 101 degrees are so. I had a friend that was having trouble and we noticed the milks temp was luke warm. Stuck it back in a hot water bath until it felt warm(not to hot to touch but verly warm) to me and tried it again and they took it. Also you might try holding it the first time you feed.Iv'e seen some respond better as it feels more secure. Keep the area quiet without distractions. I swear I had one that couldn't tolerate any noise at first when feeding or it would freeze up and head for cover. Rick

I hope this saves somebody the time I have spent on a trouble fawn. She is now three weeks old. We pulled her off the mom at 1day and started bottle feeding, all types of nipples and she would not suck. She would suck a handful of sucks and quit. I sometimes got the impression that maybe the milk bothered her stomach. It would take me an hour to get her bottle down her and on me. We lost our best fawn to pneumonia I sure didn't want to lose our 2nd best. After 10 days I put her back out and hoped someone would take her. If she was going to die it wasnt going to be trying to bottle feed her. I left her out for 2 days. I did see her nurse off a doe the first day. The second I wasnt sure. I brought her back in and she nursed (actually sucked) the bottle for a day and a half, AND THEN she went down hill quickly. She bloated and was like a limp rag. I pulled her off milk and started her on pepto/activated charcoal, ringers and honey. Over the night she was extremely better. However when i started her back on milk she started getting gassy. Early on she was not gassy. We feed zoologic and I had already tried goats milk. This time I put her on red cap. This is our second season for fawns and I felt I needed to talk to someone that feeds hundreds of fawns. I called the gals at Applecreek and we came to the conclusion to start her on gas drops. She suggested gas x. I found lactase drops and gripe water (never heard of it). So the next feeding I gave her 2cc of gripe water before the bottle and 4 drops of lactase in the bottle. She mouthed 8 oz right down and was acting better in minutes. Hopefully she will start sucking soon.