Need Help Something Wrong with Fawn

Need Help Fawn Not Eating

I have a 20 day old fawn that I have been hand raising since she was a couple of days old. I had her on goats milk for about a week and transitioned her to red cap. Everything has been fine up until 3 days ago. For the moment I keep her in the house and take her outside regularly to stretch her legs and eat. She will eat dirt, nibble on grass, and about 4 days ago she started eating Oak tree leaves. At first I notice she wasn’t capering around the yard, which was odd because she is usually all over the place. I also noticed that she wasn’t eating as much as normal. Each feeding got less and less. She drank about 2 ounces at midnight. 8 hours later and she hasn’t drank a drop. She will lick the nipple and just turn her head. Her rectal temp is 101.6. She peeing and pooping regularly. Last night when I took her outside she was walking around with her tail stuck straight out. A few minutes ago she pooped twice on her own without me stimulating her. She has always peed on her own but I have always had to stimulate her to poop. Could she be constipated even though she has normal bowel movements? Could the Oak leaves hurt her gut? I made her stop eating them because that’s when I started noticing the difference in her behaviors. Her poop does appear normal. It is a very dark greenish-brown. It is tiny pieces clumped together. Most of the time it does have some opaque mucus in it. I can tell she just doesn’t feel very good. I can see it in her eyes. Any advice would truly be appreciated.

Update** it’s about an hour later
I have her 6 ml of sugar water and 1 ounce of Pedialyte with a syringe. She licks me and wants to suckle on my ears, but she WILL not take her bottle. She just sucks on my ears and makes her normal kitten sounds. Could the red cap milk be the problem?

Another update**
Her nose and ears are cold. Her nose is usually very warm. I’ve turn her heating bed back on to see if that helps. She keeps following me around like she does when it’s time to eat. I got her to suck the bottle for a min. She drank maybe 1/3 ounce. I stuck it in her mouth a couple more times. As soon as the milk goes in her mouth she jerks her head. I’m about to go get her some real goats milks and see if she will take that. She still wants to lick my neck and nurse my ear.

Yes, always.

I just got 3 ounces of Pedialyte down her with a syringe. Afterwards I noticed her hunkering like she does when she is going to pee. She did pee a little the she hunkered again and pooped a little slimy turd. A few minutes later I wiped her and it was runny. It is a very dark olive green color. I will say the last time I gave her Pedialyte is made her poop runny then as well. I hate to give it to her but at the same time I don’t want her to get dehydrated. I’m not entirely sure it’s the Pedialyte giving her loose stool.

I have some Valbazen on hand. Should I give her some? I don’t want to make her worse off than what she is.

just offered her a bottle of goat milk. She took two to three good suckles and quit. It’s like a baby when they want to nurse but can’t. I’m going to look in her throat when my husband gets home.

Her temp is 101.6 still

I force fed her 4 oz of goat milk with a syringe.

In the middle of the feeding she peed a little and was hunkered over to strain a couple of times to pee or poop. Not sure which she was trying to do but she did pass a small piece of slimey, round shaped, poop. I then used a diaper wipe to try to relieve her. She pooped a tiny piece and them a little bit of mucus. But I kept wiping just to see. She kept hunkered and straining and her hole gapped but nothing came out. She had a very good bowel movement this morning and has had a couple of small bowel movement since. If she is constipated I don’t know how. She has a least two good bowel movements every day. But until today she has never pooped on her own, so I don’t know if it’s because she is straining so hard that she is pooping, or what.

Simonson said:

She's got a sore tummy. Give her a feeding of straight electrolytes. I'd give it 3 cc of peptobismal with a syringe

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I have Pedialyte, but every time I give it to her she gets the runs. Is that normal? I don’t have any Pepto right now. I will get some in the morning. Would gas drops be helpful?

She just drank 2 ounces and I syringe fed her an extra ounce. Two ounce is all she will ever drink even though she acts hungry. Her stool has turned loose so I have started giving her pumpkin in her bottle. I can hear her stomach. It sounds fizzy.

Update***

I just wanted to put this on here just Incase someone has the same problem as me. The only thing I kept coming across on here was cocci, ecoli, or salmonella.

My 3 week old fawns appetite started decreasing and she wasn’t running around playful like usual. I knew something was up. She finally has starting refusing food altogether and even though she isn’t lethargic, (she will get up and walk around) her poop has went from pelleted to diarrhea within 24 hours. I took a stool sample to the vet this evening.

She has Haemonchus, also called the Barber Pole worm. They said it could have been transmitted from her mother, but it also lives on the tips of grass, which she does eat daily from our lawn. It is common in whitetail deer, goats, and sheep and can lead to death because it causes anemia and severe malnutrition.

They prescribed her Cydectin (which can also be purchased at TSC if you need much). She only needed .5 cc because she weighs 7 lbs. she has to take another dose in 3 weeks. They also sent home some Endosorb to help clear up the diarrhea. I also stopped at TSC and got a tube of electrolyte gel and a tube of probiotic paste for goats since she hasn’t been eating much.

I hope this help someone in the future.

Hershey's Huntin Haven said:

Thanks for the update. I've never heard of Haemonchus. I give my deer Cydectin to worm them. please keep us posted.

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I had never heard of it either, but from what I have read it is most common in southeastern states, which would include the state I live in. Evidently high humidity causes the little devils larva to develop rapidly. However, it also states that fawns are more vulnerable to it from Oct-March. Mom could have passed it to her though. It just makes me wonder how many peoples fawns had this type of worm but thought it was something else.

Claudia B said:

This sounds very similar to our fawn. she suddenly stopped eating. She was vomiting all day 2 days ago. I now have to syringe feed her. she drinks a little water regularly from a bowl but does not suckle. I think the vomiting burned her esophagus.

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Mine never vomited. She never gridded her teeth like she was in pain. Mine would also drink a little water from a bowl but wouldn’t suckle. Even yesterday she wouldn’t suckle that much. She is getting back to normal rapidly though. She is suckling like crazy now. She even ate some avocado both today and yesterday. She is still pooping often, but it is getting much more formed, not hardly pellets yet though. They are still a little more stinky than normal.

You can take a stool sample to the vet and they can test it for you an tell you if yours has a parasites. It’s pretty cheap to get it done. You can buy the Cydectin at Tractor Supply. That’s what they prescribed her and it kills various kinds of worms. Just make sure you get the oral kind. I also got mine a tube of probiotic and a tube of electrolyte. They are for goats. You can get that a tractor supply too.

If you do think yours has Barber Worms or a similar parasite, I wouldn’t delay the treatment. The Barber worm is dangerous and causes severe anemia and malnutrition.

Well, I just gave my fawn her second dose of Cydectin (3 weeks later) per vets instruction. 2 days later and she doing just like before. She’s barely eating. She will only suckle the bottle for a min. I got her to eat 3 grapes and a piece of bread because she won’t drink much. She has been doing so good over the last few weeks. I didn’t think we would be having this problem again. I keep my house nice and clean. I keep her pads changed. I take her outside to graze and play every other day. I bring her in fresh dirt daily. One problem, they gave her the same dosages in both syringes. She’s double the size she was the first round. Second problem is, it has been so humid and damp here. Perfect for barber pole worms. I’m worried she could be getting it from the dirt or grass I bring her. Maybe something else is going on though. I’m going to take her stool sample to the vet first thing Monday to confirm. It’s just frustrating because she is kept inside.

I took her out today. She ran around all over the place. She nibbled around quite a bit. At first she suckles her bottle like she’s starving. After she drinks about 4 ounces, she won’t drink anymore. She will stop in between. She tilts her head to the right while she’s nursing.