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Ecoli in 2 week old fawns

Edgemoor

Edgemoor

Joined Apr 2009
173 Posts | 0+
Adamsville, OH
Every year when my fawns are 2-3 weeks old I seem to get an outbreak of ecoli. The problem is especially bad in my A/I pen. I'm assuming it is worse in that pen because it tends to be wetter. I vaccinate the fawns which doesn't seem to do much good. When they get sick we have tried many things, draxxin, poly serum, spectam, iodine, penicillon, pepto, yogurt, gatoraid, probitics, biosol for examples. A few have been saved, but the average hasn't been good. Also I normally loose more bucks than does, one year we lost 60% of our buck fawns, most to ecoli. My question is this, can I put something in the does' feed to pass on some immunity to the fawns? Or, can I treat the pen with something?

I have been very vigilant this year and think I have caught and treated a few cases early enough that they are looking better. I'm afraid this is just the beginning of the battle. A couple probably didn't need treated at all, but I'm so paranoid any fawn that looks the least bit questionable gets the full battery of shots and pastes.
 
Have you had it cultured to be certain that it is actually e-coli? If so, have you had the lab isolate the pathogen, so that you can get antibiotic susceptibilities? Otherwise, you will throw the sink at them, and get no response if the meds you are using are resistant. This could also tell you what to vaccinate your does with so that their passive immunities are stronger for the fawns.
 
Last year we sent a deceased fawn to Penn State, it came back ecoli. The report says this strain is susceptible to caftiofur, enroflaxacin and gentamicin, all of which are new to me. The fawns that looked like they were getting it this year I treated with spectam, draxxin, poly serum and their second dose of target probiotics. They all looked better today.
 
Edgemoor, last year we too battled ecoli. The best response I had was from Target Fawn paste. One full tube once a day for three days. PROBLEM SOLVED. I also have tried Excenelle (SP) and had good results from it.
 
Thanks All,

We normally give Barvac CD&T, and Navartis Ecolizer +C at birth. This year I dropped the Barvac because we are not bottle feeding and I wouldn't be able to give the booster. Instead we went with the Target paste and a couple cc's of poly serum.

The stool from the sick fawns is normally a thick pale yellow to white paste. This year since they are on the mothers I haven't found any pasty stool but there were a couple spots of clear/yellow splatter that looked like undigested milk. Two new spots this morning, so I'm not as optimistic as yesterday.
 
For treatment, I have found that Baytril is by far the best drug(IMHO). I have sent many samples in for testing and it is the only drug to cover ALL samples. Gentamicin will do the same, but I have found that it is very hard on the fawn's system. Good luck
 
Thanks Josh,

I might give Baytril a try, but I thought it was outlawed for cervids? Maybe it's just for adults. Some vets are reluctant to sell it around here.
 
As with all drugs for whitetails, everything is off-label use. It has a short coverage time. It is not right for all situations but has worked for me in the past. Make sure you use some probios as you would with any med.
 
Depends on which concentration you are using, large or small animal. I use large animal, and depending on what I am treating them for, give between .25 and 1 cc sub-cu for 3 days, (a 100lb dose is between 3-5cc) along with probiotics daily while treating.
 
I found the fawn with the loose stool, it is now the pale yellow paste I've been dreading. He is a Noble son from a sister to my avatar buck. Hope I can save him, will try to get some baytril tomorrow. Hopefully he won't be too far gone by then. I have already treated him with draxxin, poly serum, spectam and target paste. Will giving him baytril on top of all that be too much?
 
Edgemoor said:
Every year when my fawns are 2-3 weeks old I seem to get an outbreak of ecoli. The problem is especially bad in my A/I pen. I'm assuming it is worse in that pen because it tends to be wetter. I vaccinate the fawns which doesn't seem to do much good. When they get sick we have tried many things, draxxin, poly serum, spectam, iodine, penicillon, pepto, yogurt, gatoraid, probitics, biosol for examples. A few have been saved, but the average hasn't been good. Also I normally loose more bucks than does, one year we lost 60% of our buck fawns, most to ecoli. My question is this, can I put something in the does' feed to pass on some immunity to the fawns? Or, can I treat the pen with something?

I have been very vigilant this year and think I have caught and treated a few cases early enough that they are looking better. I'm afraid this is just the beginning of the battle. A couple probably didn't need treated at all, but I'm so paranoid any fawn that looks the least bit questionable gets the full battery of shots and pastes.
Click to expand...



Oxytetracycline does good for E.Coli but also go to Sam's or Wally World and get the finest Oregano you can, topdress feed on lactating does or if you're bottle feeding put a little in there. I've saved thousands of pigs this way, though I think it wors best on Clostridium...
 
I'm happy to say the cocktail I've been using seems to be working. None have died yet and most were better the next day. A few more had to be treated, but it is looking good for now.

I have another problem now. Yesterday I found a 5 day old fawn with two open sores on his rear hocks, the "scent glands". Both sores were full of maggots. I flushed with peroxide and picked them out. What can I use to make sure thay are all out or dead and how can I dress the sores so they will heal?
 
edgemoor share with us the cocktail that you are using in case we run into the same problem..........good luck with the sores on those fawns......I would do like Billie Jo said.....put some fly spray around the area to keep the flys away....let the air get to the wounds so they heal faster.
 
Sorry Dennis, I posted what I was using earlier but not the dosages. I treated with 1.5cc spectam, 1cc draxxin, 2cc poly serum and tube of target probiotics.

I sprayed the fawn's butt and legs with fly spray. I'm mostly concerned about maggots that might still be in the wound, it went pretty deep. Also a little worried about what the mother will think about the smell.
 
My buck with the open sores on his hocks is nearly all healed up. One hole is completely closed the other is nearly closed, but has a little bit of thick white puss at the hole. Not sure if that is infection or just part of the healing process, it doesn't stink. Anyway he is still alive and getting around pretty good although his legs must hurt him a little, he doesn't straighten them when he runs and bends them more and more the longer he runs. We evidently got everything out with the peroxide ad treezers. A little bit of wound spray on the sores and fly spray in the area seemed to do the trick. Hopefully he will be standing and running straight legged soon.
 

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