7 weeks ago I happened to see a young white tail deer in our back yard that couldn’t seem to walk a day after we saw a doe chase a young deer and heard it hit the 3 rail wood fence. He was sort of flailing around. After two days of seeing him like that, we had animal control come out as we were sure he was going to die a horrible death by starving to death in our back yard, so thought he needed to be put down.
The little button buck couldn’t get up and run away, so animal control was able to check legs and spine and said there were no obvious signs of injury or disease. He thought the little buck probably suffered a concussion hitting the fence. He was too old for wild life rescue so gave us the option to try to rehab the little buck, or he would put him down.
My husband and I are suckers. We don’t go looking to rescue animals, but won’t turn one down if it happens to come to us. So, we decided we would try to give the little guy a chance.
Our local vets don’t look at wildlife and I don’t think we could safely transport him if we could find one.
In 7 weeks we’ve made progress. He still flails frequently, but can now occasionally get up on his own, but has no balance (or strength?) and wobbles a number of steps and falls. If we hold the sides of his back hips he can walk a bit with some control, but our backs don’t last long
.
With that background, I have some questions I’m hoping to get some advice on.
1. Suggestions for a deer sling that would save our backs? We’ve tried a couple different dog slings with no success. One on the front shoulders/chest, but his back legs need more support than the front. So we tried a couple different waiste type slings, but his waist is the same size as his hips so he slips forward out of them and nose dives.
2. He has whacked his little buttons on trees and bushes during random flailing and they start to bleed. They scab up until the next time he smacks them on something. Can I use neosporin on them to be sure they don’t get infected or would something else be better? I’m sure he won’t wear a helmet.
3. Today after working on some walking with him, I sat with him and noticed he was shaking his head so thought there may have been a ked in one. I found he has a bit of yellowish looking goo ( like a slightly opaque honey consistency). Can I use an ear cleaning solution designed for dogs? People? Something else?
Thank you!
The little button buck couldn’t get up and run away, so animal control was able to check legs and spine and said there were no obvious signs of injury or disease. He thought the little buck probably suffered a concussion hitting the fence. He was too old for wild life rescue so gave us the option to try to rehab the little buck, or he would put him down.
My husband and I are suckers. We don’t go looking to rescue animals, but won’t turn one down if it happens to come to us. So, we decided we would try to give the little guy a chance.
Our local vets don’t look at wildlife and I don’t think we could safely transport him if we could find one.
In 7 weeks we’ve made progress. He still flails frequently, but can now occasionally get up on his own, but has no balance (or strength?) and wobbles a number of steps and falls. If we hold the sides of his back hips he can walk a bit with some control, but our backs don’t last long
. With that background, I have some questions I’m hoping to get some advice on.
1. Suggestions for a deer sling that would save our backs? We’ve tried a couple different dog slings with no success. One on the front shoulders/chest, but his back legs need more support than the front. So we tried a couple different waiste type slings, but his waist is the same size as his hips so he slips forward out of them and nose dives.
2. He has whacked his little buttons on trees and bushes during random flailing and they start to bleed. They scab up until the next time he smacks them on something. Can I use neosporin on them to be sure they don’t get infected or would something else be better? I’m sure he won’t wear a helmet.
3. Today after working on some walking with him, I sat with him and noticed he was shaking his head so thought there may have been a ked in one. I found he has a bit of yellowish looking goo ( like a slightly opaque honey consistency). Can I use an ear cleaning solution designed for dogs? People? Something else?
Thank you!