This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Doe with mystery illness

Joined Dec 2013
24 Posts | 0+
Ogdensburg Wisconsin
Got a doe that we have been dealing with issues for a while now. Last year she got severe diarrhea mid-summer. We knocked her down and gave her draxxin, wormer, and probiotics. She cleared right up until about the same time this summer. Same thing, sudden severe diarrhea for no known reason. No change in diet or pen. This year she is nursing two fawns, last year her fawns were pulled for bottle feeding as she had not taken care of her fawns the previous year. We knocked her down as soon as this happened which was about a month ago. Have her draxxin, wormer and vitamin b injection and probiotics. She again cleared right up and looked great for a short time. Now she has soft poop but has dropped probably 30 lbs in the last 2 weeks. Her ribs are all showing, her tail is sunken in and her hair is falling out. Knocked her down again and repeated everything except the wormer. Her belly was soft, but very sunken in. She is getting very weak and lethargic. At a loss for what to do for her. Thought maybe she ate some kind of foriegn object, but wouldn't her belly be hard then? Any ideas appreciated. I think our time is running out with her:(
 
My opinion is this is caused by black scour worms. I used to treat by Valbazen every ten days as most worms will develop from the stage one worms that were in the egg stage thus causing the problem all over again.  I also gave two shots of Micotil 300  I found a new wormer that will kill black scour worms and that is all I treat deer with this problem but is hard to get.  So would try two doses of Valbazen 10 days apart dose at two times the dose weight.  If you don't worm twice in a 10 day period you make resistant worms to the wormer you used and that wormer will become worthless to your wormer program.  If at all possible move deer to a new growth pen that hasn't had deer on it for 45 days.  Putting deer back in the same pen and they will become infected with worms all over again.
 
Also, see my post on "first deer death in five years".   Mine are suffering from Crypto and there is little that can be done but they get more and more skinny no matter how much they eat.  However, usually the adults develop an immunity.  Just a thought.
 
John,


I'm sure you know cryptosporidium is a small protozoan parasite.  The product I have had a few people use is Metronidazole by tablet and they have cleared it up in deer.  Most animals will build an immunity over time but as you said those that don't have lost the ability of the small intestine to absorb food for the deer and they will die from starving no mater how much it eats. . Just a FYI on what has helped others with a crypto problem.  Mostly spread in the water supply so keep those extra clean and test your well for crypto.
 
Hunts End, if she ate something funny she would be blocked up. I haven't seen the diarrhea when that is the case. My personal go to is baytril. Has done wonders for scours. I would also give her some soybeans and try and put some fat back on her. I have done this a number of times to bring back to breeding condition after a long summer. Ryan
 
Thanks for the advice. To update, so far she seems to be making some slow improvement. She won't let us get close anymore, which I take as a good thing, as she at least has the energy and spunk to know she doesn't want to be darted again. I do have some metronidazole in pill form. How much were they giving of that? If she continues to have a problem, might give that a try as I can hide that in some treats and give it without knocking her down again. I know in people and dogs that can do wonders for gi bugs. We have roasted soybeans in our grain mix but maybe when she's eating a little better I will get some extra to add for her too. She also has nice thick clover too, so if we can get her eating again she should have no problem getting some weight back on.
 
We now give two shots of ivermic ten days apart. We also give albon 20cc per adult every day with 4cc gentamicin oral. This seems to fix the problem. Still think it is black scour worms but in my case they became immune to Valbazen