Stomach Tubes

• For attaching to large catheter tip syringes (140cc #553000 or 60cc #553100).
• For stomach tubing lambs and kids. The amount recommended for a newborn 10 lb lamb/kid is 4 oz 5 times a day if he is not being supplemented by mom.

• Red tube is a flexible rubber and is 15.5" long.
• Clear tube is stiffer plastic and is 15.25" long.

By using the following method you can feed both weak and stubborn lambs/kids quickly and safely.

1. Be very careful to gently extend the animal's chin so that its neck is straight before carefully inserting the tube. If the light is good you can visually observe the bulge of the tube sliding down the neck. In bad light, we use our fingers to feel its presence. If you can neither feel nor see the tube, it may well be in the animal's hard hollow trachea and thus the lungs. Be cautious of this. If the tube enters the lungs instead of the stomach, pneumonia and starvation could result.
2. Pull the tube out gently and restart it. The chance of wrongly inserting the tube is not as great as it may appear. Simply be sure that the tube is inserted in a straight line from the animal's mouth to its stomach.
3. Continue to pass the tube into the stomach. The usual distance is 11 or 12 inches. You cannot pass the tube too far, but it is very important to pass the tube far enough. If it is in the correct position you will hear a gurgling sound through the empty syringe.
4. Should the solution not run, the cause could be an airlock or possibly with older animals, the teeth could be clamped on the upper part of the tube. If an airlock occurs, slide tube in and out about 1/2 inch.
5. Do not ram the milk into the stomach. We usually do not actually insert the plunger unless using thick colostrum which will not flow on its own. If the plunger is used, gently push the milk into the animals stomach.

Be sure milk has had time to flow out of the entire length of tube and into the lamb's stomach before withdrawing tube from the animal. Doing otherwise may accidentally allow milk to enter the lamb's lungs as the tube is being removed.

Clear plastic tubes are a little easier to insert because they're less flexible. However, when it's cold (Midwest USA cold), clear tubes are stiff and may cause injury during insertion (a greater concern with goat kids). Red rubber tubes remain flexible. Though we used plastic for years, we've switched to rubber tubes at Premier.