I have a fawn not eating help if you can
I have been a squirrel member for about a year on here. The problem I have is not a squirrel problem but I hoping someone can help. This is only the 3rd fawn I have had.
I have a 20 day old fawn that I have been hand raising since she was a couple of days old. I had her on goats milk for about a week and transitioned her to red cap. Everything has been fine up until 3 days ago. For the moment I keep her in the house and take her outside regularly to stretch her legs and eat. She will eat dirt, nibble on grass, and about 4 days ago she started eating Oak tree leaves. At first I notice she wasn’t capering around the yard, which was odd because she is usually all over the place. I also noticed that she wasn’t eating as much as normal. Each feeding got less and less. She drank about 2 ounces at midnight. 8 hours later and she hasn’t drank a drop. She will lick the nipple and just turn her head. Her rectal temp is 101.6. She peeing and pooping regularly. Last night when I took her outside she was walking around with her tail stuck straight out. A few minutes ago she pooped twice on her own without me stimulating her. She has always peed on her own but I have always had to stimulate her to poop. Could she be constipated even though she has normal bowel movements? Could the Oak leaves hurt her gut? I made her stop eating them because that’s when I started noticing the difference in her behaviors. Her poop does appear normal. It is a very dark greenish-brown. It is tiny pieces clumped together. Most of the time it does have some opaque mucus in it. I can tell she just doesn’t feel very good. I can see it in her eyes. Any advice would truly be appreciated.
Update** it’s about an hour later
I have her 6 ml of sugar water and 1 ounce of Pedialyte with a syringe. She licks me and wants to suckle on my ears, but she WILL not take her bottle. She just sucks on my ears and makes her normal kitten sounds. Could the red cap milk be the problem?
Another update**
Her nose and ears are cold. Her nose is usually very warm. I’ve turn her heating bed back on to see if that helps. She keeps following me around like she does when it’s time to eat. I got her to suck the bottle for a min. She drank maybe 1/3 ounce. I stuck it in her mouth a couple more times. As soon as the milk goes in her mouth she jerks her head. I’m about to go get her some real goats milks and see if she will take that. She still wants to lick my neck and nurse my ear.
Update**
I just got 3 ounces of Pedialyte down her with a syringe. Afterwards I noticed her hunkering like she does when she is going to pee. She did pee a little the she hunkered again and pooped a little slimy turd. A few minutes later I wiped her and it was runny. It is a very dark olive green color. I will say the last time I gave her Pedialyte is made her poop runny then as well. I hate to give it to her but at the same time I don’t want her to get dehydrated. I’m not entirely sure it’s the Pedialyte giving her loose stool.
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
I posted this on a deer farmer forum earlier this morning but haven’t had any luck there.
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Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
Her is poop from her last bowel movement. Her poop this morning was normal(little clumped together pellets that form a turd). After I started giving her Pedialyte it started getting loose like this. I don’t see any worms in the poop. I do have some Valbazen wormer on hand. I’m just afraid I could make things worse for her.
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Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
Hi chipper. I’m not wildly experienced with fawns, but I would be inclined to believe the milk is the problem. I would continue to hydrate, and also reintroduce goats milk. If I were you I would call FoxValley and have deer formula shipped immediately. I hope your baby pulls through! Hopefully someone a little more knowledgeable will be along with advice as well.
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
Quote:
Originally Posted by
hwood
Hi chipper. I’m not wildly experienced with fawns, but I would be inclined to believe the milk is the problem. I would continue to hydrate, and also reintroduce goats milk. If I were you I would call FoxValley and have deer formula shipped immediately. I hope your baby pulls through! Hopefully someone a little more knowledgeable will be along with advice as well.
Thank you. I am going to get the goat milk now. I just can’t help but think there is something else going on. I took her outside again. She nibbled at the grass some and stayed right by my side the whole time. A few days ago she was running circles when I took her.
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
I have NO idea if this is pertinent, but having been a horse owner, I know that any parts of the red oaks are trouble - leaves, acorns, bark - I assume the tannins will make horses VERY ill. Every barn I have been to up here has removed all of the oaks from their paddock areas because of this.
Deep have very different digestive systems from horses though, so this may not apply - just wanted to throw it out there.
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CritterMom
I have NO idea if this is pertinent, but having been a horse owner, I know that any parts of the red oaks are trouble - leaves, acorns, bark - I assume the tannins will make horses VERY ill. Every barn I have been to up here has removed all of the oaks from their paddock areas because of this.
Deep have very different digestive systems from horses though, so this may not apply - just wanted to throw it out there.
I know deer eat both but prefer white oak acorns. I’m not sure if leaves are an issue. She didn’t eat any acorns. She only chewed on some leaves and buds.
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
I just offered her a bottle of goat milk. She took two to three good suckles and quit. It’s like a baby when they want to nurse but can’t. I’m going to look in her throat when my husband gets home.
Her temp is 101.6 still
I force fed her 4 oz of goat milk with a syringe.
In the middle of the feeding she peed a little and was hunkered over to strain a couple of times to pee or poop. Not sure which she was trying to do but she did pass a small piece of slimey, round shaped, poop. I then used a diaper wipe to try to relieve her. She pooped a tiny piece and them a little bit of mucus. But I kept wiping just to see. She kept hunkered and straining and her hole gapped but nothing came out. She had a very good bowel movement this morning and has had a couple of small bowel movement since. If she is constipated I don’t know how. She has a least two good bowel movements every day. But until today she has never pooped on her own, so I don’t know if it’s because she is straining so hard that she is pooping, or what.
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
Do you have a wildlife friendly vet you could consult? IF it is constipation there are so many options you could try... When I raised a raccoon with a VERY wild tummy we were able to help relieve her constipation by putting a little bit of light Karo syrup in each bottle. This also enticed her to eat a little more since it’s sweet. That might be worth a shot? You could also try mineral oil or castor oil. If you feel like it could be diarrhea then Kaopectate would be my go to... I’m just spitting out ideas here. She just definitely needs to continue getting nutrients!! I have sent you a private message if you could check your inbox.
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
I just had a thought. Is there any chance she could’ve ingested a foreign object that could be causing a blockage? I saw a story about a puppy who died after having somewhat similar symptoms (i.e. eating less, strange bowel movements, lethargy, etc.), and the puppy had eaten a rope toy. It was causing an intestinal blockage that created all the problems. Just a thought... :(
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
So last night I gave her some gas drops and gave her two or 3 ounces of Pedialyte around 11. I just left her alone for the rest of the night hoping she had an upset stomach.
This morning at 4:45 as soon as she seen me get up she jumped up and started wagging her tail. Good sign...I thought. She even nudged my neck and started trying to nurse my ear. So I went and fixed her a bottle. She would nurse about two or three good suckles and quite. This went on until she finally drank about 2 ounces. Then she got where she would just lick the end and then turn away. It’s like she want to drink but can’t. My husband and I have both looked in her mouth. We can’t see anything. We can’t see the back of her throat though.
I gave her only ounce with a syringe. I don’t want to do that too much though because every time I have to force her mouth open. I’m afraid I’m going to make the sides of her mouth sore.
***Another thing I noticed is her urine is kinda strong. Even her poop, even though it wasn’t much, smell strong of urine.
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
If she has a UTI, what would be the best meds for her?
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chippergray
If she has a UTI, what would be the best meds for her?
Chippergray, that’s not a simple question. I could easily tell you which antibiotics are used for a UTI BUT the problem is which antibiotics are safe for a deer is a bigger question. You have to be very careful giving antibiotics to animals that eat hay as their digestion is different from other animals. The microbiota of the GI tract is very important so you wouldn’t want to use an inappropriate antibiotic. It could lead to deadly bloat. As much as we would like to help, squirrel rehabbers aren’t really qualified to answer questions about deer. I know there are a few deer rehabbers on the board but not many. I hope you can find a deer rehabber that can give you the answers you need.
I LOVE baby deer but we don’t have many deer where I live.... a few but not many. The baby is adorable. :)
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
I just wanted to put this on here just Incase someone has the same problem as me.
As stated above, my 3 week old fawn’s appetite started decreasing and she wasn’t running around playful like usual. I knew something was up. She finally has starting refusing food altogether and even though she isn’t lethargic, (she will get up and walk around) her poop has went from pelleted to diarrhea within 24 hours. I took a stool sample to the vet this evening.
She has Haemonchus, also called the Barbers Pole. They said it could have been transmitted from her mother, but it also lives on the tips of grass, which she does eat daily from our lawn. It is common in whitetail deer, goats, and sheep and can lead to death because it causes anemia and severe malnutrition.
They prescribed her Cydectin (which can also be purchased at TSC if you need much). She only needed .5 cc because she weighs 7 lbs. she has to take another dose in 3 weeks. They also sent home some Endosorb to help clear up the diarrhea. I also stopped at TSC and got a tube of electrolyte gel and a tube of probiotic paste for goats since she hasn’t been eating much.
I hope this help someone in the future.
Thank you Squirrel Board Members, I know fawns aren’t your area of expertise, but I was desperate to get her help until I could get her in to see the vet.
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
Thanks for the info. That’s very interesting. I’ve never heard of that parasite.
I just looked it up. I found it interesting that in deer it is associated with haemonchosis/malnutrition syndrome. It sure makes sense when you consider that she almost stopped feeding.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7463602
Another interesting thing is that it’s resistant to the typical wormers we use. Thanks for sharing.
Re: I have a fawn not eating help if you can
Quote:
Originally Posted by
HRT4SQRLS
Thanks for the info. That’s very interesting. I’ve never heard of that parasite.
I just looked it up. I found it interesting that in deer it is associated with haemonchosis/malnutrition syndrome. It sure makes sense when you consider that she almost stopped feeding.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7463602
Another interesting thing is that it’s resistant to the typical wormers we use. Thanks for sharing.
She would die for sure if I hadn’t gotten her something. She still won’t hardly eat. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.
