I didn’t realize I had photographed a deer with puffy cheeks until I viewed the photos on my computer. This white-tailed doe had passed near my campsite at Doris Campground in Oklahoma’s Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. While taking the photos, I noticed nothing unusual about her face.
Possible Causes of a Deer With Puffy Cheeks
My first thought was that she had food in her mouth and I had caught her chewing. After comparing the three photos, though, I wondered whether something else could explain the fullness.
I found a wildlife veterinarian’s explanation of swollen deer cheeks through Penn State’s Deer-Forest Study. One possibility is oral food impaction, when food collects under the tongue or between the teeth and cheek. It can affect one side or both.
Dental disease, mouth injuries, and arterial worms can contribute to these impactions. The veterinarian also describes lumpy jaw, a bacterial infection involving the jawbone, as another possible cause of facial swelling.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission explains how arterial worms can lead to food impaction. Heavy infections can reduce blood flow to the face and impair the muscles, allowing food to collect.
I also found a 1984 scientific paper noting earlier records of arterial worms in Oklahoma white-tailed deer. That establishes a history in the state. I found no source confirming this condition at Doris Campground or in this particular doe.
Comparing My Three Campground Photos
I took the first photo when the doe was in a different part of the campground. In that side view, I can see fullness along her cheek beneath the eye.
The second and third photos came one after another. In the second frame, she turns her head, giving me a three-quarter view of her face. Her near cheek looks rounded.
In the third photo, she faces the camera with her tongue out. Both cheeks seem puffed out from this angle.
Seeing that fullness in separate locations made me question my first explanation. Still, I don’t know whether her cheeks changed between those moments. Three photographs cannot show everything that happened while she moved through the campground.
An Unanswered Question About This Doe
She may have been chewing when I pressed the shutter. Food impaction is another possibility, but I cannot identify the cause from these photos.
I would need more than a few views of her face to call this a medical condition. For now, I have three photographs of the same doe and a detail I missed while watching her.
This encounter reminded me of a whitetail doe with an odd growth I photographed before. That doe had a distinct growth along her jawline.