newborn pot belly

Question
I have rescued a 5 day old pot belly and have tried bottle feeding him with a powder milk replacement but can not get him to take the bottle yes I've tried different sizes. Any suggestions? I've also soaked pig pellets in warm water and milk. No such luck please help

Answer
It can be difficult to get little babies to eat. Bottle feeding can be a problem. It's very easy for the piglet to inhale liquid from the bottle, and that can cause pneumonia or lung infections.

Pan feeding is recommended over bottle feeding, even for babies just a few days old. Goat milk is the best, but sow replacement is fine. Warm the milk up to about room temperature or slightly warmer, but NOT HOT! Use a very shallow pan, like a pie pan. Put the baby in a small, enclosed area, like a play pen or kennel crate. Put the pan with milk next to the baby, and leave them both alone for a few minutes, so the baby can concentrate on the food. Baby should figure it out in a very short time.

Baby should gain about 1 lb a week. Keep the baby warm, but watch out for over heating. Also, give baby lots of nap time until he's two or three weeks old. Look out for weight loss, runny eyes, constant shivering, or sluggishness and lethargy, and diarrhea. These are warning signs that something serious is wrong.