This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Please help! Questions about bloat in fawns

Joined Jun 2010
106 Posts | 0+
Rush, Kentucky
1. How do you know if a fawn has bloat?

2. What causes bloat in a fawn?

3. How do you treat it?

4. Is there anyway of preventing it?



Thanks for everyone's help in advance!!!
 
Don't quote me on any of this...but I'm thinking bloat is primarily caused by overeating, especially too much formula which is harder for them to digest than milk.



I think if they have bloat, they looked very fat...like...unhealthy fat and you can feel a big bulge when you feel their stomach.



Treatment -- not sure... not even gonna try to help. Try the search function...



Prevention -- if bottle fed, try reducing the amount you're giving them. Especially formula.
 
To be honest with you I am not certain any one knows the real reason for bloat........normally it will hit fast and is deadly........I had a fawn last year that was fine big plump and healthy ate great for the morning feeding and when I came back to feed mid day he was lying on his side panting like a dog and bloated bad.......i grabbed him up and headed for the vets which is 15 minutes from my house.......he died in the vets parking lot...........the best thing I think you can do is give them a heavy does of (I believe c&d Anti toxin like 10cc's sub q) some people have actually taken a hyperdermic needle and jabbed their bellies to realease the air.....this is very risky though and i would find out how it is done correctly before ever trying...these are just a few things i have heard on the forums regarding bloat.........maybe someone with some experience can give some advice here..
 
First of all, how old is the fawn and how much do you think it weighs? We need to know the age or weight so we can give the right dosages. I would give her C&D Antitoxin and also Penicillin. I can tell you how much to give once I know how old she is.
 
You say BLOAT!!!

Is the fawn eating. Will he eat. Does he have the scours? What are you feeding? What have you done to treat?

These are things wee need to know before we can give you any ideas as to what may work to correct this problem.

I have been fighting clostridium for the last 3 weeks. I have lost one fawn but have kept all the others alive and all but one are back to eating and doing 100. Call me if you like at 660.342.5851. I will try and help you out.

Eric
 
we had one that had the scours yesterday, and she looked kinda fat on the sides, more so than all the others, we went to the vet this morning to get Albon and came back for the afternoon feeding and she was gone..... i wish i had got on here and asked way ahead of time, i'm very upset she is gone. my husband and i went out for the night feeding and we have another one that looks bloated. and i just want to make clear, i'm not sure what bloat looks like, this is our first year. we moved them up on their ounces per feeding (we are feeding red cap milk) now i'm afraid we may lose this one this one is exactly one month old today, no scours that i have seen, but she has been out in the pen and i haven't seen her have a bowel movement. i'm guessing she weighs around 15 to 18 lbs. advice on what to do so we don't lose this one too. If anyone is still up at 1 am and i or my husband can call and talk that would be great.



Eric

She's eating fine, doesn't act sick , had her in the house for a little while and she jumped up on the sofa and was licking me.
 
Shan,



I would give him 10 cc. of C&D Anti toxin and 4/10 cc of penicillin orally and 4/10 cc. of penicillin in the muscle. Also I would put one tablet of Pepcid AC in the milk with the next feeding. You want to repeat the penicillin dose two times a day till it disappears. If the bloat increases. I would bump the dose of Penicillin up to three times a day. Shan you have mail.



Delfred
 
we took pics of her .... maybe someone might be able to tell if it's bloat or just a full belly from eating
 

Attachments

  • clays phone 622.jpg
    clays phone 622.jpg
    20.6 KB
  • clays phone 610.jpg
    clays phone 610.jpg
    31.7 KB
  • clays phone 612.jpg
    clays phone 612.jpg
    28.2 KB
  • clays phone 623.jpg
    clays phone 623.jpg
    28.1 KB
Shan,



He does look bloated. Does anybody agree?There could be a slight possibility that he is really full from eating. Good luck with him.
 
I posted on another thread that mine looked like that and i found that the wife did not stimulate the fawn for AWHILE and i ran out and man did he go!!!This fawn took a long time to figure out he could go on his own.As soon as i did that his bloat or fullness went away and have had no problems!!
 
update on our fawn....... checked on her at 6:00 am and she looked normal... she has been acting normal all day... we have backed down to the feeding before only 12oz and she is 4 1/2 weeks.... i've read on the red cap forums about people feeding alot more but i'm going to stick with that. I want to thank everyone for the late night advice i really appreciate it!!!! it's nice to know that there are people out there to help.
 
Our symptoms for clostridium are bloat, wobbly legs, and just lay around or when they lay down they will just plop or drop down like they fell. The grind their teeth, and will not suck at all, or try to suck for a few seconds and then quit, and just try and lick the milk as it dribbles out of the bottle. They will hunch up like they have a stomach ache, and their hair looks like it is standing on end.



Here is what my vet Rachel Weiss Suggested. This is the best advice I have gotten and I can give. This may work for you or may not. I repeat this is what I am doing and have had good success with it saving 5 fawns and the last one is well on his way to beating clostridium.

First and foremost stop feeding them milk and get them off all other feed. Start them on pedialite or electrolytes immediately, you may have to feed them through a feeding tube the first couple of times. You can add either pepcid A/C, Tagamet, or Pepto Bismal to the feeding of electrolytes. Do this for 48 hours. NO FOOD OR MILK AT ALL for 48 hours!!!



They should start to respond to the bottle after a couple of times tubing them once the anti acid starts to kick in.



Along with the electrolytes I gave them 10 cc C & D Antitoxin, 3 cc long lasting penicillin under the shin and 3cc down the mouth. I also gave the 2 cc survive D, and 2 cc Vit B each day for 3 days.



On day 3 I start them back on milk and water mixed 1 part milk to 2 parts water at about 7 ounces per feeding. I have taken that up to a 50-50 milk to water ratio for the last 2 days and then I increase the milk and decrease the wtaer each day by one ounce until I am on straight milk again. I then start to add feed and grain back in. Do not start back on vegetation or clover until you are sure that the clostridium is gone. The vegetation is about 90% of why the problem started in the first place.



I also gave them a fusoguard and clostridium Type A vaccine that I got from Rusty & Susan Carrol. I will never have another fawn that does not get this vaccine as well. Some of the reports that I have gotten from other deer farmers is that they have clostridium Type A and I think this stuff may be a life saver for the ones that we think are to far gone. The last fawn that I had like this started 3 weeks ago and I have been able to keep alive. I have just given him the Fusogaurd vaccine 32 hours ago with the Clostridium Type A vaccine and he has made a miracle recovery. He is doing great. Keeping my fingers crossed.



Hope this helps someone out, I know I just got a pone message tonight that The Thayers had 2 fawns in question and they are back to doing well this evening.



Thanks

Eric
 

Recent Discussions