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Early in the morning on Sunday, May 4, my husband was on his way to work when he came back and woke me up. Cradled in his arms was a newborn fawn! Its mother had been hit by a car, and Mike had found this little guy in the ditch on the side of he road, still covered in the uterine fluids.

As it was obviously an orphan and too young to take care of itself, Mike gathered it up and brought it home. It was either that or leave it to die. My husband just couldn't do it... so he was a wee bit late to work...

When the fawn came home, it was too weak to raise its little head. It just lay curled in a blanket - a nest to keep it warm.

It was so tiny! I'd never seen a fawn so small! Of course, they are kept hidden until they are a bit older....

While it slept I did a little research. It amazed me just how many sites there are on "newborn fawn rescue" and "raising a newborn fawn."

Of course, none of them agreed on a feeding schedule. They agreed that he needed goat's milk with colostrum within the first 24 hours (off to HEB and GNC for the milk and colostrum to mix in with it), and that it needed goat's milk after that. The amount differed greatly! Also differing was when to start introducing grasses, etc. So. We wing it. Were actually doing really well - he let's us know when he wants his bottle, and drinks until he's full. We have a HUGE fenced area, and he nips and nibbles and roots around as he pleases. I also planted basil and tomatoes, since I can't keep them in my garden due to the deer.

He also gets along great with the rest of the menagerie - all four cats, the bunny, and the Great Dane. Drake (the dane) thinks he has a puppy now!!

Pooping was a shock. Fawns can't poop on their own for awhile - the literature says six weeks. You have to wipe their little bottoms with a baby wipe, then they poop. If they don't, then they get septic and die. NOT good. In the wild the mom uses her tongue, but Mike & I prefer the baby wipes!!!

Here are some first week pictures of Jet - called so because he has such a streamlined little head with these HUGE wings (um, ears).

Week 2: While Mike and I were on the first real vacation that we'd had in years, a good friend of mine and his family agreed to take over the "Jet-Watch." I had met Greg's daughters and knew that they'd be gentle with our little guy, and there was no question that Greg and his wife would be great.

When we got back we found that Jet had been renamed "Bambi" by the girls, was now eating grass and garden plants (thank God no one minded), was happily frolicking with the family's two small dogs, and had grown 2 inches!

Jet now has an aunt and uncle and two young cousins who all have been granted visiting rights whenever they need a Jet-fix.

Week 3: The cats were quite shocked that Jet was as tall as they were when we brought him back home.

Stalking, hopping, leaping, running & playing all seemed to be the main agenda for Jet while he was outside, as well as experimenting with different greens dirts and bugs, and finding spots to hole up in. His constant playmate when he's out of his fenced area is Drake - our Great Dane! He even tries to nurse, and Drake lets him!

Drake & Jet have been almost constant playmates, both inside the house and out, and Jet seems convinced that Drake is really a deer in a dog suit. It's amazing how gentle Drake is with such a fragile animal, and how much the little fawn trusts him.

Week 4: It's now been decided that Jet isn't truly a deer. He's really half pig and half billygoat. We've also determined that the little guy only has two internal organs - the stomach and the bladder, of which the bladder is the way bigger of the two. He's drinking more water with his goat's milk now, and continues to graze at will outside, but we've also discovered a few other culinary likes and dislikes regarding our little guy. Carrots. He can't get enough of them. He can't bite down yet, so we slice them in long, thin strips that he nibbles down like some people slurp spaghetti. He finds a bite or two of radish quite tasty, and can't seem to get enough apple slices. Forget about the strawberries though, but a green grape or two goes down just fine. Unfortunately he also seems partial to the fringe of my hand-embroidered afghan that I made back when I graduated from college. Fringe benefits?

He still likes to nurse on Drake, who although usually rambunctious and unruly is very patient and gentle with the little fawn. Once in awhile we have to holler "Drake, spit the deer out," but we have to holler that about the cats, as well. He doesn't hurt them - just sticks their heads in his mouth and washes their faces. The cats just bat at him - Jet just stands there like he's wondering about the strange, stinky rinse cycle. Then he goes back to trying to nurse....

Week 5: Hop, skip, run & play. And nurse. And pee. And nurse. And pee... Jet's been racing around the land with Drake in tow, stopping every so often to snatch a nibble of green, a taste of root, or an attempted drink of Dane. Then he'll go leaping off again, either that or he'll skulk through the tall grasses with his ears laid back and his head ducked down. You can almost hear the theme to Mission Impossible playing in the background...

...and then there is the infamous deer-peeing "kangaroo pose." He has the flicking "happy tail," and the trembling "I have to pee" tail. Kangaroo-pose has the trembling "I have to pee" tail. The tail will start to tremble before he starts to pee, and if he's in the house Mike & I go diving for towels or a dirty shirt, which then gets plopped in the washer. Then "happy-tail" comes back.

Week 6: Currant events, Nutty happenings, Raisin Cain - the main story of the week it seems. Yup. He's discovered nuts and dried fruits. Jet will practically climb into my lap for a couple of tiny dried currants! We are discouraging the lap-climbing... can you imagine an older, more aggressive, adult buck climbing into your lap demanding dried currants? NOT a good idea!! A few small dried fruit pieces are ok for him, but we keep him mainly on the nuts (he loves pistachios and pumpkin seeds), fresh veggies, fresh greens, his outdoor (and indoor) grazing, and the fawn/deer feed that the wildlife expert that we're working with recommended to us.

He's such a loving, trusting little guy! A couple of the wildlife experts that I've talked with had mentioned that as he gets older he'll be more apt to trust humans than his wilder counterparts, which will put him in more danger from hunters. They suggested the red collar/ ribbon/ bandana to signal that he was hand-raised and not "wild." Hopefully that will give him more of a chance against hunters as he gets older. In the mean time he seems to like his collar - or at least not notice it.

Week 7: Ok. Who knew that fawns liked hot buttered toast? And why the heck didn't they warn us? One evening Mike had made a piece of Texas toast to have with his dinner. As it's just the two of us we tend to be informal, and were sitting in the living room watching a little TV. Mike had the toast balanced on the edge of his plate, which was balanced on the edge of his knees as he sat in his chair. The next thing I know, I hear Mike hollering something on the order of "Hey, you little thief," as I see this large piece of toasted bread on legs joyfully running across the living room. Jet's jaws were working on a corner of the toast (which was larger than his head) as he continued his hot buttered toast strafing run while Mike and I howled with laughter. Well, betting that the toast was not part of the prescribed diet of rescued fawns we took the piece away, swapped it for a handful of fruits and nuts, and continued to giggle through dinner.

We are also in the process of trying to convince the little guy that no, he really isn't a lap-deer. Sit down on the couch and bring out a handful of dried currants and *POOF!* All of a sudden you have a pint-sized deer in your lap. Cute as it is now, can you imagine when he gets to be full grown?

Spinach. He's discovered spinach. Loves it!!! He won't touch celery, but loves spinach. We have to make three salads at dinner time - one for me, one for Mike, and one for Jet! Loves red grapes, too... And hair... And an occasioal piece of toast... and snow peas!!

He's learning to dance, too. If he can't jump into your lap for currants and nuts he'll start hopping up and down, then just stand on his hind legs. I never knew that they were so strong (or heavy)! He seems like such a happy little guy.

But we like to let him run outside as much as possible. He runs Drake into the ground, the poor Dane comes crawling back to us and the fawn keeps going. He'll run 'till he gets tired or hungry, then he's back at the front door demanding another bottle and seeming to wonder what Drakes' problem was. He likes to run in the late afternoon/early evening when it's starting to get cool,

but during the heat of the day forget it. He's asleep in either his indoor pen ('cause he's still so small) or the closet in the study. If Mike & I are right there then he's snoozing somewhere close to us. He seems to enjoy the companionship - me & Mike, Drake, the cats - he's good with it.

Week 8: Well, the little guy likes mice. No - not those mice, but the mouse that used to plug into my laptop and make my life a little easier. Other than that it's been a pretty mundane week for us here - Jet still is convinced that he's a goat and tries to eat everything in site. Sunday he took his first walk-about - he jetted off around 1pm or so, then finally came home around 8:30pm-ish, tripping up giving us "happy-tail" for all he was worth, and demanding goat's milk. Eventually he'll either not come back or come back every few days, but while he's still so young we're happy (ecstatic) that he chooses to come home...

Week 9 - 11: The little guy's doing GREAT!! I never thought that a fawn could housebreak himself, but Jet seems to have managed the basics with a few extra bean-deposits here and there. Well, ok - several bean deposits, but those are easy. For the most part he's learning that the "Big Towel" in the front area is his, um, bank.

He's also going out on his own, and arriving back home demanding food and milk. A few times he's been out all night, only to be found right outside of the front door in the morning! I guess that at the moment we're his home. He'll always find food and water and milk and love here.

His preferred place to sleep now is right by the bed on my side. I tend to have really bad insomnia, so every time that I get up or look down, there he is - ready with a "happy tail."

He plays hard with Drake, running him into the ground, then jumping over him with this little deer-noise which I know has to mean "get up off of your lazy Great Dane butt and chase me some more, you big hairy fool." Then when both are worn out Jet tries to nurse from Drake, and Drake just stands there and lets him....

Of course, discovering that people came in all different sizes was new and exciting for Jet. Katie was very well behaved and treated him as if he was the most fragile animal that she'd ever seen. She even sat down and fed him carrot slices which he ate quite hapily. I'm convinced that he's really a goat in a deer-suit! He eats, poops, drinks, eats, pees, eats, sleeps, eats, grows, eats, and seems to love his "family."

Did I mention that he eats? Everything?

Week 12-14: Such a funny little moose, our Jet! His routine is now up early in the morning, two bottles of milk and one or two of water, a carrot or two, and then shove him out the front door. He has a big bowl of deer pellets out front that I add a handful of fruit and nuts to, and a bowl of water. While Mike & I are at work he frolics outside - he's even taken up with a small heard of deer!!! As soon as we get home, though he comes bounding up, giving us a happy-tail for all he's worth. Then he gets watered, carroted, berried, milked, milk-boned, and whatever else that's good for deer that comes to hand. Sometimes he'll stay out all night, but most of the time he prefers to sleep at home with the rest of the menagerie.