Have a bottle fed buck fawn about 6 months old who hit the fence a couple of days ago. Now his neck has a lump and appears that his entire neck does not align correctly with his body. He obviously does not feel well. We think his neck is broken. Anything we can do for him - other than put him down?
Joined Jul 2009
1,215 Posts | 0+
Deer Park, Alabama
Yes. He does get up and move around. He (and three other bottle feds) were still in the nursery area until we had all the adult deer arranged for the fall when something must have spooked him and he hit the fence. We have moved the other three down to the pens and he appears to be content to be by himself. He is eating some. As a bottle baby, he doesn't mind if I am in his space. The fact that he is not stressing about being by himself leads me to think he is hurting.
Thank you! If the swelling can be reduced, will that possibly allow the neck to heal straight?
SmokeWT:
If the deer's neck is actually broken there will be no way to reverse the damage. If, on the other hand, it is bruising and swelling around the neck then it can be treated. The problem is that it is hard to know if it is one or the other.
As to whether the deer will recover, it depends on the extent of the injury. I had a yearling buck hit my fence without much force but at a bad angle. During the first day he layed up and then the next day we noticed his neck had a huge bulge and was shaped like a C. He was unable to move his neck and instead had to throw his whole body around to see behind him and was completely unable to turn to his right side. I started treating with Dex and Banamine, however, I think the stress of the darting process made the matter worse. One dose is not enough and that means more stress. After the first darting he became very wary and as soon as he would see me he would go to the other side of my pen and I would have to follow him around. Alot of stress. Also, the mere impact of the shot would send him running through the pen and he would fall over etc. From first site my vet diagnosed it as a broken neck and suggested putting the deer down. We decided not to and it was a bad decision. Eventually the injury got more and more severe and one morning I found him completely paralyzed on one side of his body and unable to get up. He had to be put down immediately. Consult with your vet and if you find out that the deer will not recover then you have an ethical decision to make. I would be glad to talk to you about my experience.
Hope this helps.
Daniel Zola
www.hollowroadwhitetails.com
If the deer's neck is actually broken there will be no way to reverse the damage. If, on the other hand, it is bruising and swelling around the neck then it can be treated. The problem is that it is hard to know if it is one or the other.
As to whether the deer will recover, it depends on the extent of the injury. I had a yearling buck hit my fence without much force but at a bad angle. During the first day he layed up and then the next day we noticed his neck had a huge bulge and was shaped like a C. He was unable to move his neck and instead had to throw his whole body around to see behind him and was completely unable to turn to his right side. I started treating with Dex and Banamine, however, I think the stress of the darting process made the matter worse. One dose is not enough and that means more stress. After the first darting he became very wary and as soon as he would see me he would go to the other side of my pen and I would have to follow him around. Alot of stress. Also, the mere impact of the shot would send him running through the pen and he would fall over etc. From first site my vet diagnosed it as a broken neck and suggested putting the deer down. We decided not to and it was a bad decision. Eventually the injury got more and more severe and one morning I found him completely paralyzed on one side of his body and unable to get up. He had to be put down immediately. Consult with your vet and if you find out that the deer will not recover then you have an ethical decision to make. I would be glad to talk to you about my experience.
Hope this helps.
Daniel Zola
www.hollowroadwhitetails.com
Thanks for all the information. We are going to wait and see for a bit as we are also concerned about the darting stress. For now he is not stressing being by himself, so we will let him heal. We did talk to the vet today and his response was along the same lines as all the replies: if you can keep the stress down, then the dexamethasone and banamine are good; if it will stress him, leave him alone. The vet said he has seen a few recover to the point you would not know their necks had been broken. Maybe we'll be lucky.
SmotekWT said:
smotek, im just getting in to this , and the hards thing im haven is its not if its WHEN your going to have a deer hit the fence / or what have you and lose one ! I FEEL YOUR PAIN
SmotekWT:
I think you are approaching it the right way. Good luck and Let me know how it turns out. If you have any other questions feel free to call me.
Daniel
I think you are approaching it the right way. Good luck and Let me know how it turns out. If you have any other questions feel free to call me.
Daniel
Just an update on our fawn with the broken neck: He became agitated in the nursery by himself a couple of days ago so we moved him down to the pens to be with the other three bottle fed fawns. His neck seems to be fairly straight, still has a lump on the side of it, but seems to move his head normally in all directions. He runs straight now - instead of sort of sideways. Hopefully it will heal well enough before they begin tussling and he gets whacked with a hoof on it. I guess time will tell.... Thank you for your guidance!
SmotekWT:
Excellent progress. Glad to hear it. Keep me informed.
Daniel Zola
www.hollowroadwhitetails.com
Excellent progress. Glad to hear it. Keep me informed.
Daniel Zola
www.hollowroadwhitetails.com