Congestion, now not eating

Hi al,l new here.
I am not a farmer, and I hope I do not get looked down upon for this.

A week ago we had a newborn fawn wandering our property, and crying all day. It was obvious the mother had abandon her, or something had happened to her. It was not the typical case of the mother coming back in a few hours. She had already crossed the road twice, and nearly got stuck in the swamp.

By late afternoon I had to do something, or I knew that she would be a snack for the coyotes that night, so I took her in.

I am not new to animals, and have raised many types over the years, but this has been a new experience and I have spent hours and hours of study to do what I can for her.

Anyway, as near as I can figure she was a newborn, 1 day, 2 days old at the most. She seemed healthy other than she has been congested since I found her. Sounds like her nose is full.

She has been eating well, starting off about 2-3oz. per feeding, and increasing from there.

Yesterday morning she pounded down 6oz. for her morning feeding.

Last night and today she is back to only about 2oz. and I have to almost force it down her. She wants to chew on the nipple instead of suck on it. She will only hold it in her mouth a couple of seconds, and then turn her head. She is still hungry though as she will lick my arms, try to suck on my shirt, or go to my wife and try to suck on her shirt.

Her congestion seems to have gotten some worse, and she has discharge from her one eye now. It almost seems like she cannot nurse and breathe at the same time.

I gave her a shot of Tylan 50 about 6 hours ago. It seems to have perked her up a lot for her last feeding, but she is still not eating well. She is urinating well, but not passing a great amount of stool.

I have also been using VetRX on her nose, to try and open her up a little.

She is still up and about at times, seems strong, about 8-9 days old and weighs about 9lbs. at this point.

Am I missing anything? Any help would be appreciated.

Update

Just thought I would share an update. Still would appreciate any feedback from any of you experts if you are willing.

This morning was day 4 of the Tylan. She is doing much better. Nasal and eye discharge are gone. She is now eating like a pig. Morning and afternoon feedings are up to 6-7oz. Evening and night feedings are less, around 4oz. and she is taking the bottle much better now. She even started urinating on her own the other day, without stimulation. I took her outside, she sniffed around, and urinated a gallon. lol She has done this 3 times now. She went for a long walk outside yesterday, nibbling on a few blades of grass and being very inquisitive. Acting very healthy.

She has a bit of diarrhea, but I am think it may be due to the Tylan. Hopefully it will clear up after I stop using it. If not I will have to tackle that in a couple of days, and may need some further advice.

She still has a very nasally sound. Almost like snoring, even when awake. I am not sure if this is normal.

On thing I did notice. When we found her she had a very slight cut across the bridge of her snout, and a slight laceration on her lip. The fur on her snout was also missing in that area. I thought it was from her wandering, falling and hitting sticks and stuff.

The cut has healed up nicely, but I have noticed that her snout seems to have a little dent, followed by some swelling further forward. I am really wondering if maybe the mother doe could have stepped on her snout. Possibly even broken a bone, causing the nasal sounds, and infection. Maybe even leading to her abandonment.

Anyway, that is the update. I could take pictures of her snout if anyone is interested. Feedback is more than welcome, I could use some advice.

Update 2

Update 2, if for no other reason than to just have notes to go back to, or to help others out that may have a similar issue. ^_^

Things have become a little more difficult than I first thought. Yesterday I found that the swelling on her nose was a pocket of puss. I saw white, and when I touched it, several areas of puss started coming out.

So it appears that the Tylan is not doing the job or I am not using enough. I was dosing Tylan 50 at .08ml once a day, about 40mg. Since yesterday I have upped that to 1ml twice a day, 100mg total a day. I am going to stay at that level for another 3-4 days to see if it works. If not, I will have to switch to another antibiotic to try.

So yesterday I cleaned it, and put a small amount of Tylan SQ in the pocket where the puss was, most came running out. Put topical antibiotic cream on it as well.

Last night her breathing was worse again, but she is still eating well, and for the most part acting pretty healthy. Maybe a little more lethargic than usual.

This morning I cleaned the area, and more puss, but not as much. Also feeling the area, I can feel a broken bone in the nose on the left side. Dented in. I am now sure her nose was stepped on, and this lead to her abandonment.

Do deer have sinuses? I am not sure, but think she probably will have nasal and sinus problems for life from this. I figure the bone will heal fairly quickly, but I need to get the infection under control.

What I figure happened is the cut in the skin allowed bacteria to enter into the sinus area through the broken bone. Now it is backing up as a puss pocket under the skin of her nose.

I flushed it out well with saline and a needle this morning, and put another small dose of Tyaln in it. Coated the area good with topical antibiotic. There is now quit a cut where the puss pocket opened up. Hoping it will heal.

My hope is that as the bone heals, and the skin heals, the infection will stop with the help of the antibiotic.

As always, any input is appreciated.

Update 3

Update 3, again to maybe help someone else out, and for notes for me to go back to. As always any advice would be much appreciated.

After 4 days on the higher dose of Tylan it seems like all the infection is gone. No more puss pocket on her nose, now just a huge crusty scab. Still putting antibiotic cream on it a couple of times a day. The fluid sound in her nose is gone, but she still has breathing problems from the broken bone. She has learned that mouth breathing is easier for her, so when awake she mostly mouth breathes. Kind of funny to see her with her mouth slightly open most of the time, but if it works for her. When she is sleeping, she snores like a 70yo obese man.

I noticed a couple of days ago that her bottom jaw does not line up exactly with her top. I think that her nose is slightly turned from the break. As she is growing it is becoming more pronounced. Hopefully it does not become an issue with her eating later on.

She is nibbling on all kinds of grass and weeds outside, jumping and running, acting happy and healthy.

Just trying to clear up a bit of the scours. Giving her pumpkin in her bottle, and some kaolin pectin for the past 6-7 days. Starting to firm up. I think most of it was from the Tylan. It is kind of yellow, could it be E Coli? Should I try something for E Coli now, or give it a couple of days, now that she is off the Tylan?

As always, any input or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I am doing all I can to get her healthy and continue to do a lot of research and reading. Direct input would be the best though! Thanks!

I am sorry to report that the deer passed away this morning. She was fine at her morning feeding and in under two hours went downhill, and died. As near as I can tell it was from bloat. She was bloated, panting, soon became unable to stand. I gave her gas drops, massaged her stomach, and put her on a heating pad. None of it worked, and it was so fast.

Just very surprising to see a healthy fawn one minute, and then die in under 2 hours.

She will be missed.