Hello everyone :)
Please can I ask your advice?
I have a week old orphan foal (her mother was put to sleep an hour after she was born :( )
I have been bottle feeding her with a black pull on lambs teat and pop bottle.
I would like to try and get her on a bucket feeder and have bought a grey bucket that has a lid and 5 teats...however the teats are red and much shorter than the black teat that she likes and she won't drink from the red teats..I've tried a red calf teat but that is too big.
I tried fixing the black teats she likes onto the bucket but they leak everywhere...I bought some non vac teats which are about the right length but didn't realise you have to cut the ends off otherwise nothing comes out...now I've cut the ends off they leak too :(
I don't know what they call the red teats that work with a bucket so don't know what to search for?
Please can anyone help?
Thankyou x

Very often in Wales we hear an appeal on the Welsh language radio for a foal or for a surrogate mare so I assume they must be quite difficult to rear artificially. Perhaps if you asked around someone in your area might have a mare that's lost her foal that would take yours?

I no what you meen about those big calf teats I can never get a calf to use them never mind a foal

We use a latex one that is in between a calf one and a lamb teat this may do

 we have used the pull on ones on a watering can years ago for calfs that we could not get to drink

Cant you get lamb bottles that let the air in as the lamb sucks? I think I have seen some fair sized ones at mole valley I could be wrong though

henarar:

Cant you get lamb bottles that let the air in as the lamb sucks? I think I have seen some fair sized ones at mole valley I could be wrong though

Volac make a calf size bottle that has the same size top as their lamb bottles.  A bucket is really only an improvement if it doesn't leak and you can clean it properly.  Have you tried asking a horse rescue centre for advice? 

sorry to hear about your mare, i have added 2 links to suppliers who does parts for what might be similar to the bucket feeder you have bought? hope it helps, and good luck with your foal. http://www.jamescountrysupplies.co.uk/lambing-calving/lamb-milk-buckets/cat_52.html http://www.molevalleyfarmers.com/mvf/store/search;jsessionid=5B588B376F9C6CE467E7029A87B735B5?searchTerm=lamb+teats&site=Products

Hi everyone :)

Thankyou so much for replying.

I've managed to find some bucket teats that are a little longer and am waiting for them to come in the post.

The problem with the pull on teats or bottle teats were that they had a hole in the end, whereas the ones for the bucket had two little slits like this 'X'

I had been in touch with The National Foaling Bank and of course my vet has been here.

We did try a fostermare that had just lost her own foal but it didn't work out and there was no maternal instinct at all :(

She's strong and healthy so far and we did manage to feed her all of her mothers colostrum the first day.

 

Thankyou again for your help :)

Leigh x

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You look to be doing a brilliant job, as soon as you can it would be a good idea to see if you can find a horse friend for her, maybe an older pony or kindly ex brood mare. My experience of orphan foals is that they can get a little over friendly with humans and need to learn that they are horses.