This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Immobile Fawn

Joined Apr 2009
259 Posts | 0+
IA / USA
Looking for advice, I have a bottle fed doe fawn that did not come up for treats 3 days ago. (FYI, the fawns were weaned from the bottle 2 days prior to this.) Anyway, I found this fawn laying immobile with her head laying back to her side. I quickly got her out of the pen and got a water bottle, which she took no problem. She was really pretty limp and could not set up or anything. My vet shot right out and we gave cortisone, nuflour, thiamine and bo-se. I have since given thiamine twice a day plus another dose of a different antibiotic and a shot of Bannamine.

She is better to the point that she will set up now, but her head always wants to stay tucked back to her right side. She will straighten her head out to take a bottle, but right away it goes back against her right side. She has a good appetite and drinks water and milk from a bottle (I put her back on the bottle until we figure this out). She has good stools and beside the fact that she can't get up and she cocks her head to one side she seems healthy. Any ideas would be appreciated...
 

Attachments

  • Tontee df.JPG
    Tontee df.JPG
    86.8 KB
  • Tontee and Behr sized.jpg
    Tontee and Behr sized.jpg
    75.9 KB
Barry,

had you considered worming? We had a buck fawn a few years ago that done something similar to this. I loaded him up and took him to the vets office, where we gave iv fluid and some other meds, comparable to what you listed.



We also gave ivomec plus injection as vet thought is might be some sort of worm or parasite between the skull and brain. For the life of me I cant remember the name of the parasite or worm.



We moved the fawn to a health pen where we would pick the fawn up 3-4 times a day and help it walk and exercise, as well as to prevent sores from it laying.



After 3-4 weeks the fawn was starting to walk on its own but its balance was a little off. After about 3 months, you couldn't tell anything was ever wrong.



Good luck and if you get a chance give me a call...



John







.
 
The vet just left here, he says she seems perfect in everyway except for the neck area. He thinks it has to be either a brain or neurological issue. So I guess we will just keep doing what were doing and see what time has in store for us...



Jay- she is a 90 day old Tonto/Waylon fawn...



John, thanks for the info and yes I did think of wormer, but I had just done that this morning, 5/8 to 3/4 cc Ivomec(didn't have plus or I would have used that). Guess I'll just have to give things time to work and see what happens.



Thanks all for the responses...
 
Barry it is important to try and get her up on her feet a few times a day becaus eif she just lays there 24/7 she will develop other problems......just an opinion.....good luck with her.



dennis
 
Dennis, I agree it is important to get her up often and I have been trying to do that. I've made it my goal to do what it takes with this girl to get her through this, if at all possible... Thanks Dennis



Scott, I've given her quite a few Thiamine treatments of 2cc, but never Sub-Q, I will do so this evening with 3cc. Dex, vet did give that this evening, not sure how much, but it appeared to me that 2cc was close to what was in his syringe. Thanks Scott.
 
Barry I`m just guessing here but ask your vet about listeria. I haven`t seen it in fawns before but have seen it in yearlings. The rigid neck is a good sign. Eyes may be a little buggy maybe redened, twitches and shakes. I`ve treated with big doses of Tetradure and banamine. keep her hydrated !!!!!!
 
Gosh, poor thing. I hope she comes around. I am anxious to watch her recovery so keep us posted.



My first instinctual guess when I saw the photo was a luxated vertebrae. She could have hit something just right and shifted one just right to mess with her neck and lower extremity control. Oddly enough, they can have fractured vertebrae and still move their limbs, just not bare weight well. That's a heck of a fawn and maybe worth at least an xray.



Had a buck this year that was down, could kick just not get up. That poor boy had 6 broken vertebrae.



Well, good luck Barry and keep us posted!
 
Update on the fawn; no noticeable changes this morning...



Mitch ~ her neck is rigid but showing none of the other signs. Non the less I will certainly mention Listeria to my Vet. Thanks Mitch!



Hey Holly ~ Good advice, X-ray is next on the list for this little girl...



Scott ~ Thanks for the reminder on the probios, I hadn't given that much thought, until now.



Thanks guys and gals for all the replies...
 
Thought I'd give an update on Tontee. Today seems to be a brighter day for Tontee. She has much better control over her neck and head, plus she has been trying to get up. Although she can't stand as of yet I see it as a good sign she is trying. I don't see her standing today but I'm hopeful she will be on her feet soon.



It appears that she suffered some kind of a neck injury. I'm guessing one of those crazy fawn runs that went bad. You know the kind of playful run that ended without a plan, no where to go but a collision (just a guess). Anyway, all of a sudden things are looking up for Tontee... We are crossing our fingers for her... Barry
 

Attachments

  • Tontee 8-23-09 edited.jpg
    Tontee 8-23-09 edited.jpg
    64.4 KB
Hi Don, No I haven't, my script must have run out a while back. Sam told me your article was in there though. How does it look? My wife is in town today I'll call her and see if she can find a copy. Good to hear from you Don...
 
Barry,



I am glad to here that she is showing some postive progress. Please keep us updated as she progresses. I am really interested to see how thing go with her. I personally have never dealt with anything like this so I am really following your post here. Thats what makes these forums so great. Best of luck to you.....
 

Recent Discussions