@conference {41472,
	title = {Is lithium a candidate to modify rutting behaviour in stags?},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {64},
	year = {2004},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {58-62},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Hamilton},
	abstract = {Preliminary experiments assessed the potential of lithium to moderate the effects of the rut. Young (5-9 month old) stags were used to determine the kinetics of lithium in deer, establish appropriate dose rates, evaluate the opportunity for self-medication and to test whether behaviour would be modified.
The relationship between lithium dose rate and plasma lithium concentration was established from acute administration (5 dose rates, 2 animals per dose) and confirmed with continuous medication for 31 days. A daily dose of 0.6 mmol Li/kg W (as LiCl) achieved a mean plasma Li concentration of (0.78 {\textpm} 0.04 mmol/l), which was within the therapeutic range (0.5{\textendash}1.5 mmol/l).
This daily dose, offered in drinking water (11.2 mmol Li/l as LiCl) to a group of (n=10) young stags induced a decline in both water (14\%) and feed (12\%) intake which was almost recovered after 4 weeks of self-medication. Liveweight gain averaged 252 {\textpm} 27 g/d for +Li animals compared with 263 {\textpm} 21 g/d for the -Li group (NS).
Lithium treated stags moved more freely through a maze than did -Li stags, with 60\% of the animals completing the maze compared with only 10\% of the -Li group. There was no significant difference in the behaviour of +Li and -Li groups to the introduction of a unfamiliar stag or in their response to human handling. This work lays the foundation for studies on the potential for lithium therapy to modify the rut in adult stags. },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Prouting MF and Nicol AM and Keeley MJ}
}
