In Reply to: bottle raising posted by baby on April 09, 2000 at 00:38:13:

Ok, your joey is under about the most I would say is 15 days OOP max.(Good guess Jacque) So, theres the age, now what is the reason for this joey being handraised? Rejected or pulled? As for the puppy esbilac, I would switch to the Marsupial milk replacer as already mentioned and wean slowly off the puppy esbilac onto the marsupial milk. The marsupial milk is specially made for marsupials and puppy milk isnt. I would keep feeding him every 2 hours like you're doing and dont introduce any fruit until about 6 weeks OOP(just to be safe I wouldnt do this for another 5 weeks from now). For now, get as much marsupial milk into him as you can once you get it(Please do??), later on around the 5/6 week OOP age you can try Vanilla Ensure. When I was having to wean my joey he didnt really like it at first but then started taking it well. Dont forget to be keeping him warm too..you can ask Virginia about this as well since she's doing a great job with hers.

Oh, problems later in life..well if it was rejected then there is no telling what probelms maybe show later in life. Moms usually reject for a good reason, like a birth defect or something wrong inside of it. Stress too, but I am thinking more if there's something wrong with it. Also, think about this... (copied from my issues page)
Humans CAN NOT "teach" joeys which foods are good to eat
and not, it takes a mother to do so. The baby can only go by instinct
and Im willing to bet that most finicky eating habits are caused by
handfeeding.
Just something to think about.

Im sorry I wasnt around sooner but I quit posting on one board altogether and I havent been checking this one as much as I used to either. It would prob be faster to email me and get a reply if you're looking for me.

Follow Ups:

• KIM PLEASE READ!! Jacque 12:22:16 04/09/2000 (0)