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| Local deer suffers from foundering |
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By BRUCE A. SCRUTON
bscruton@njherald.com
BRANCHVILLE — It took a while this spring before Bob and Lorraine Feaser understood why the doe that hangs around their property didn’t walk like a normal deer.
“We looked and then Bob said it had something wrong with its feet,” said Lorraine Feaser this past week. “It’s always gimping along.”
The reason for the ‘gimping’ is clear in a set of photos the Feasers submitted to the New Jersey Herald. The doe is not able to wear down her hooves and is now moving around with hooves that are so long that they have curled up on the back left leg and look like elf boots.
Larry Herrighty, assistant director with the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, said the pictures don’t appear to show the doe is suffering from any disease and believes the animal is suffering from a deformity of the leg.
Similar to fingernails in humans, deer hooves are always growing but are kept small by natural wear as the animal moves around.
If the hooves grow beyond normal, the condition is known as foundering, something relatively common in horses.
As with most hooved animals, the bone structure in the foot ends with what is known as the coffin bone, which is surrounded by the hoof material. If that bone gets broken or detached, the animal will tend to walk on the back of its hooves and the front of the hoof does not get worn down.
Diet also can cause a buildup of acid which, in certain cases, can also cause soreness around the coffin bone. Again the animal tends to walk on the back of its hooves.
According to the Web site buckmanager.com, overfeeding on carbohydrates, especially corn, can cause the acid buildup in deer that have a problem processing their food.
Domestic hooved animals that founder usually are treated right away. In the wild, however, there is no treatment and a foundering deer or antelope becomes easy prey if there are predators around.
The Feasers said they don’t recall seeing the deer last year but this doe is caring for a fawn so it is at least a year old.
“It just hangs out in the back yard,” said Lorraine Feaser. “It’s been around for the last few weeks. The fawn is usually lying down somewhere in the yard now and the mother is around.”
Deer in the yard are a common sight, she said.
“I’ve given up trying to grow flowers. They just come along and eat them,” she said. “They even pulled up plastic flowers we put in a pot.”
While the deer are common, she said, “We don’t consider them a nuisance. Usually, it pleasant to sit and watch them in the back yard.”
Created: 6/20/2009 | Updated: 6/20/2009
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