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With the last fawn we raised, we used a heat lamp to keep it warm and dry, and checked the little deer many times a day.

Fawns don't require a great deal of food, however they need to be fed every 2 hours or so, night and day, especially if they are very young. If you think that feeding a baby is a pain, wait until you raise a fawn!

Many vets can tell you where to get the proper milk for feeding, or may even be able to procure it for you. Under no circumstances should a fawn be fed cow's milk. This can very rapidly kill a fawn, both because the ingredients in the milk are totally in the wrong proportions, but also because cattle and other livestock often have diseases that are harmless to the livestock but are fatal to fawns. These diseases can be easily transmitted in the milk.

We've had excellent luck with the same powdered mix used to feed baby goats and lambs. Deer are close to goats in constitution, so the protein to fat content is close to the same.

When they are a few weeks old, the fawn should be exposed to grass, both green and dry. They will normally nibble on the grasses, and while at this point, it doesn't serve as a food source, in order for a deer to survive on grass, they must have certain bacteria that will aid in it's breakdown. By providing the fawn with grass, you are helping the fawn build up the needed bacteria in their stomachs, which will aid the transition later on. Try to make sure that you give it grasses that are common to the area you will ultimately turn it loose. This can be hard, but we've used mixed grass hay, which seems to do pretty well. Our little fawn loved to bound around through the hay as if it was a playpen, stopping from time to time to nibble, then more bounding.

When you start giving the fawn grass, be sure that it has a supply of clean, fresh water. Shallow bowls work well for this. It will quickly get the idea of what the water is for. Our fawn also took to baths and loved getting into the shower with us. It quickly grew too large for this, but it also loved getting sprayed with a garden hose.

A fawn should receive regular checkups from a vet qualified in wildlife medicine. Being in a human habitat rather than a wild one exposes them to many toxins. A vet will often give the young deer shots to help it survive, but much will be up to you. Look for any unusual behavior, and if you see any, contact the vet immediately.

We were lucky in that we knew an excellent vet who knew how often we raised weak or sick animals and turned

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