"Lose" Bowel Movements

This is my first post to this forum and I must say, all you people are fantastic. Keep up the good work!



My question concerns a doe fawn that was born in the early part of May at a farm near me. Her mother died and I ended up with her. When I got her, she was a little malnourished but came back quickly. I kept her isolated in doors for a couple of weeks and allowed her to spend her days in an area that is fenced for our dog. After that, I released her day and night into a good sized area but kept the other adult doe I have away from her until about a month ago.



Everything was fine with her stool (pellets) until about a month ago when she started to nibble at greens and the feed mix I use. Since then, her stool has become lose, not scours but hits the ground much like a cow's (plop into a moist pile! if that makes any sense!). I have her down to two bottles of regular whole milk a day, have given her a wormer and ProBios (sp?) for a bacteria supplement. She also had her fair share of eating dirt. The feed has molasses sprayed on it and she loves it as much as the adult. She looks and acts healthy in every way.



Is there anything I can do to firm her up or will this eventually just "fix itself" as she matures? Anyone that has a good suggestion - please remember that Tractor Supply is about the only place I have available to me other than going to a vet.



Thanks,



Glenn

How much probiotics are you giving her? She may have too much good bacteria in her system.

I only gave that to her once - about a 1/2 inch from the syringe. She was having this lose stool before I gave this to her on the advice of a local deer farmer. He thought that it might help, but it didn't. Like I said, the deer looks and acts completely healthy and is growing like a bad weed. Thanks for replying!

Then i would think it would go away.

you might try a few drops of pepto-bismal in her bottles - worked wonders for us in same situation. Can also add non-flavored yogart to the bottle.

This feed has Molasses sprayed on it, may need to mix dry pellet with to cut it.Dc

I would not be concerned if everything else seems ok. Just my opinion. As far as I am concerned getting them to take to the feed and weening is the major hurdle and you are well on your way.

Go to the store and buy a can of pumpkin. NOT PUMPKIN PIE FILLING, just plain pumpkin. Feed her as much as she wants it will tighten up the stool in one day.

Thank you one and all - I appreciate all the suggestions. I'll post on the topic again in a week or two just to give an update. Again, thank you!

Hello again! I tried the pumpkin but the fawn wouldn't eat any of it. In fact, the adult deer I have wouldn't touch it either! Its just plain pumpkin. Should I mix it in water and give it by bottle? Stools are still loose and in fact may be a little worse than when I originally posted. The fawn however continues to look and act normal and is growing as expected. Any suggestions or should I just leave her alone?

Thanks

dcwhitetails said:

This feed has Molasses sprayed on it, may need to mix dry pellet with to cut it.Dc

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try adding half dry pellet to the mollasses feed, Dc

You can just add the pumpkin to her normal bottle. Good luck. Allen

Yes take the pumpki and mix it i with her milk that you give her....she will drink that right down........as long as the stool is not super watery you should be ok.....sometimes it takes a little bit for them to adjust to eating all those greens......but I would keep an eye o her...if it gets watery then you need to act more swiftly with treatment.......she may regulate herself back to normal all on her own I would just keep moitoring her......good luck

You can give the pumpkin with a syringe or irrigater too.

The trouble may be the mollases... they love it because it is sweet but it also acts as a stool softener. In fact my m-i-law taught me the trick 27 years ago when my eldest son was constipated - adding molasses or dark karo syrup to his bottles loosens up the bowels. Try a feed without the molasses and see what happens.

you can mix the pumpkin with the milk, ive done it b4 and had no problems

Take a stool sample to a vet. and treat as he says.Some of the things we use, yogurt,pumkin,rice cerial or rice bran,a shot of vitamin B complex,C & D antitoxin,Draxxin for loose bowel,oh not all at once ..You should get a stool sample and go from there.It could be more than you know like parasites...gardia,worms,ect.

My gut instinct is an imbalance in pH in her rumen. You mentioned just starting her on grain a month ago, which would put her near 2 months old. For future reference, have grain/ fawn pellets along with fresh greens available from day one to keep a good balanced belly. My feeling is that your problem is not the molasses as my fawns eat feed with molasses from very early on with no problems at all.



I put 1/2 cc of Ivomec Plus in my fawn's bottles at 1 month, 2 months and weaning. Have you wormed her?



Second, give her a full tube of Target Fawn Paste. It will re-establish proper pH and protect her from harmful pathogens. I can overnight you a tube if you do not have it available, just let me know.



In the meantime, the best thing at this point is to take in a stool sample and find out for sure what is going on. Primarily to rule out coccidiosis as it requires a different treatment altogether.



Let us know how it goes.

She needs more "dry matter" intake. Grass and other growing stuff like legumes, pasture and all is very high in water content. She probably went from little to none of this to lots if it. Her gut needs time for the gut bugs to adjust to the feed change and additional dry hay would help a lot. Try spraying some of that molasses on dry hay and feeding it to her. Not a lot of molasses, but enough to get her to eat the dry stuff. Also cut some tiny twigs from a tree, they seem to love maple. You can leave some of the leaves on it to encourage her to eat them. They will then eat the soft woody tips of the twigs as well and that will help firm up poop. All fiber there. You may have to isolate her again and keep her off the grass for a while to get her to eat dry fibrous stuff again. Don't completely take away all the grass as the gut bugs have likely started already adjusting to it, just cut the amount she gets way back to start. My deer will eat giant zucchini I cut up for them ( and are plentiful right now, the size of baseball bats they are), lots of fiber there, and whole pumpkins can be broken open for them, or the canned whole pumpkin or any squash. Lots of fiber there also. But dry hay will firm up the poop quick.

After that start giving more grass a little at a time, a little more each day. Three weeks is about the time needed for gut bugs to adjust to a feed change. Then she should be okay on the pasture forages.

I experienced problems with getting the younguns to eat pellets - they love apples which thanks to a local supermarket who gives us the ones they cull - they get each day. I decided to try cutting the apples up and putting in with their dry pellets.

Now they snarf it down after their bottles - along with the cut up apples.