Deer Farmer

Melissa3

Hello, we have a 2+month old fawn, after feeding her every 3 hrs for weeks (after she was found almost dead by a neighbor)she now comes and goes as she pleases. She comes every morning for a morning bottle and grazes the rest of the day (with the occasional evening bottle). She has had diarrhea for about a week, I thought it was due to the wild raspberries growing and her possibly eating to much fruit (new food to her system). She now has a few small patches of missing hair at the back of her neck and now a thin scratch of missing hair down her side? Almost as if a branch scratched her hair off, but her skin looks normal, just missing hair. Her ears also look weird. The tips are missing hair and look dark in color purplish color. I have not dewormed her yet. Is this works or something that I can treat? Thanks for any help, this is my first time raising a deer. Keep in mind she is completely free range so it's hard to find where she poops for me to check for worms. She also hangs out with wild deer and comes here for love and a bottle then goes back with her deer friends , so her deer friends may have gave her lice? Haha

Jack

It is the time of year when the winter coat comes in so the ears look that way at this time of year. The scratch down the side was more than likely caused by another deer when it hit her with it's hoof.
Worming is easy with a bottle fawn just put Valbazen or Ivermic in her bottle and she will drink it. Do it again in ten days and she should be quite clean of worms. Ivermic will control lice to some extent but she will get them back from her deer friends so would be a losing battle.
Sounds like you did a good job letting her become wild.

billpie

Maybe add some pumpkin to her bottle to tighten up her poop. you can get it canned in the grocery store like you'd use for making a pumpkin pie. I would just start adding it gradully and just always make it a part of her bottle.