I've got a nursing doe who has a large lump under her ear the size of a softball. I felt it tonight and it's hot to the touch. We darted her with 2 cc of LA 200. I didn't want to hit her with our large 3cc darts because she's so tiny....only 120 lbs. max. What to do? I have penecillin, Nuflor and LA 200 but she's nursing, whats safe to do? Or should I just sedate her, see if I can drain it, treat her with a large dose of antibiotics and some banamine and pull the fawn and bottle raise it. HELP!!!!
Are there any other moms in the pen with her that would maybe adopt the fawns.......then you could aggressively treat her.....I would put her down and drain it and give her a good heavy dose of penicillin......
All the other moms are loaded up with fawns and I believe our last one to drop will have triplets to contend with. I checked on her this morning, she's still eating but is now salivating. I know its infection because its extremely hot to the touch. Looks like she's lost some weight in the process. I know I'm in trouble if I don't do something soon. I think I'll have to pull the fawns and dart her. How would you try and drain it? 20 gauge needle? then use bluekote over the puncture site? I have Betadine and Triodine too. How much penicillin?
My guess this could be an abcess . If it is you should be seeing it turn black on the lower side of it which means it is getting ready to burst. You can lance and drain it but it may return . When it does burst I would clean it out good and give her a good dose of Tetradure . Just my way .
How old are the fawns? My experience is that once the fawns become a couple weeks old they are pretty well nursing off any doe that is near and most will just let them. It's when they are in the stimulating age that the mother is picky about who is sucking her, it seems to me anyway. If they are old enough and you can watch them to see if they are stealing milk, which I think most do anyways, you would probably have better luck if they are that old leaving them with the other does she's already with rather then trying to get the fawn to take a bottle, if it's over a couple weeks old it's pretty hard. If you do knock her down, wait until evening or even night when it's cooler out. Good Luck
Joined Apr 2009
1,562 Posts | 0+
cental Pennsylvania
sdbigbucks, I agree. I think within 2-3 weeks the mothers no longer care who their feeding, i have seen up to 5 fawns that were only a couple weeks old fighting to nurse off one doe while she grazes. I also had a doe die one year while her fawns were only a couple weeks old, her fawns stole milk from other does and by September at weaning, they were the same size as all the other fawns.
These fawns are less than a week old. We darted the doe, drained the puss, gave her a hefty dose of antibiotics and some banamine for pain. The half life for the sedation drugs were only 3 hours so after 6 hours we put mom back with her babies. Amazing. That was my main concern,,,,,when she could safely nurse again with all the meds we gave her. Good to go! Thanks for your help.
