Tips on getting reluctant calves to suck a bottle

摘要

There are several reasons why calves will not or cannot suck. Here are some of the main ones:These make sucking very difficult, such as a cleft palate. This should always be ruled out from the start by opening the calf s mouth and checking inside.A cleft palate is a defect in the roof of the mouth where the soft and hard palate have failed to close during development. As a result, the calf has a linear gap in the roof of its mouth which communicates directly with the nasal canal. A cleft palate can be seen or felt if the mouth is held open and the roof of the mouth is viewed with a light or head torch.Calves with a cleft palate have difficulty drinking milk because much of what they take in comes out through the nose or is inhaled, putting them at risk of aspiration pneumonia.