need help with diagnosis

We had 1 5yr old neutered male die last week from what I think was EHD.

started as slight drooling which turned into like a flapping of his jaw. A little bit of bloody drool a few days later, slightly swollen tounge, bloodshot eyes, lathargic(eventually very unstable when he did get up to chage positions)and at the end some blood w/stool. no fever and no foaming from the mouth



1 week later our doe is starting to drool a bit/



will some of the concoctions that read here help her and our other male(no signs yet)

CONTACT [email protected] NOW



YOU NEED TO HIT IT HARD, FAST W/ THE ANTIBIOTICS HE PRESCRIBES ON THESE BOARDS FOR TREATING EHD.

This is what Dr. Joe wrote on the boards re EHD a few months ago:



Steroids are the most important to stop the virus from destroying the blood vessels. add 2 cc dexcamethasone(2mg/ml) im with excede(3cc per 100 sq) and banamine(1cc per 100 im).. Forget about not using NSAIDs and Steroids at the same time if you want them to live.. EHD/BTV cuases the immune system to over react and causes all the blood vessels to ooze, dexamethasone will stop the autoimmune disturbance and will help your deer with this viral problem.

I spoke with him through email last night, thanks.



when I got back from picking up the meds at the vet it was around 6:30 she was acting fine, alert, eating, no drooling, no funny movements with her mouth. She was acting normal but I was only able to inject 10cc DEX(no problem) tried to stick her with the 2cc Baytril 100.........naaa, she got wise to it. may have to pull out the dart gun

Acting just fine today. Am I just paranoid from the other one dying from what I think was EHD?

I think a healthy dose of paranoia is not such a bad thing... better safe than sorry. Now at least you are ready

ok now she has swelling on both sides of her neck just behind and slightly below the jawbone. they are identical in size and shape about the size of a BIC lighter and running up and down.

are some lymph nodes located there? could she be having a reation to the dex or by supressing the imume sys, did she develop an infection?



She is still acting normal, eating feed, drinking and grazing.



I found some clover in the pasture which makes me wonder if the drooling was from that

we have 10 horses and if they eat clover in the am the it will make them drool.

does clover have the same effect in deer, i dont know.

now as of last night the neck swelling was half of what it was when i first saw it,she looked like the damn creature from the black lagoon. then this morning...all gone and

now she has swelling under her jaw but still iis acting normal.

Im starting to think she is having some reactions to the dex



its driving me crazy that i seem to be looking for any possible sign of infection..all the time. we have about 100 animals here on the farm from dogs, pigs, steer, chickens, geese, turkeys, goats, horses and a donkey and we are always aware of everyone's condition, but this is baffling because with her it has been something different everyday for the last three days.



i dont know if ehd is what killed our other deer but ehd is common down here in SC.



could she be one of the deer that was born with the antibodies and the other one was not? all three of our deer were born wild. they were brought to our vet by stupid people who thought they were ophaned (1-2 days old) that is how we got them.

I wish I could help you with this, but I'm just not qualified to do so. It seems to me that Dex would reduce the immune response, and NO, I highly doubt that it's a reaction to a drug that's used for purposes of supressing a reaction. YOU NEED TO STAY ON TOP OF THIS DEER AND TALK TO A DEER VET W/ EXPERIENCE. Good luck buddy!

Be cautious when treating these guys. Once you know you have EHD, you need to know "what do I do now.". We need to know what are the major symptoms. Example- respiratory signs can be treated like pneumonia cases but be careful of using too much ban amine because once they get past the upper respiratory infection, you can bet the gut will begin to ulcerate and ban amine will make it ulcerate more quickly leading to painful quick death. How do I know when a deer has gi involvement- they don't eat, they grind their teeth a lot(pain), black tarry stool. The problem with EHD is that all epithelial(skin) surfaces are attacked. Fluids, steroids(depending on signs), and iv nutrition are critical. If you can hospitalize a deer at your facility and have a local vet do bloodwork daily, a plan can be made to target specific treatments. I know multiple deer are affected and individual high dollar deer can be treated!!! Sorry for being long winded. Holler for more info. We have been blessed to treat alot of deer this year and they are actually surviving. All glory be to God. I'm just happy I get to be there to see His magnificence!!! God bless and good luck. [email protected]

I almost forgot. An antibiotic that works dually on pneumonia and the gut is naxcel. I use at at 2 cc per 100 lbs iv twice a day for 7 days while giving oral probiotics. If you can't place a long term catheter, call your local vet. This allows iv fluid that you can do 2-3 times aday and iv nutrition as well. Vet can come out one time and set you up a plan and you can continue like a technician. Make sure to contact the vet daily and do bloodwork to alter your treatment plan!!!

thank you dr. joe

so far so good with both male and female. it seems that they get a "symptom" and then it goes away in a day, day 1/2.

now what im noticing is that they walk a littlle stiff after they first get up, but thats it.

male is starting to walk somewhat normal now. Doe started with the stiffness about 2-3 days after the male though



If it is ehd that im experiencing, how long dose the virus live or how long does it take (on average)to get past it

The viremia(virus in the bloodstream) can last for months but the immune response to EHD takes approx 3-4 weeks. If an animal can survive 3-4 weeks past EHD onset, it likely has a titer hi enough to fight it but you have to deal with getting these guys back into good body condition. They usually look very poor for a long time. Deer that show minor signs(walking on tiptoes, ears down, just ain't doing right) usually have titers high enough from previous exposure from last year and the current exposure acts similar to a booster vaccine

its been 23 days since our male died of an apparent ehd infection and also 23 days since our doe and 20 days since our other male started showing symptoms.

so far so good. all i gave to her was 10cc dex, strongid paste and some probios. other male got 10cc dex, 10 cc la200, 2cc baytril 100, wormer and probios.



i know every situation is different, but i couldnt see filling them up with days of drugs if they seemed to be holdng their own as far as holding off the ehd (if they truly have it).



i hate to read that other folks here are losing deer to ehd because it was horrible to watch mine dying for 3 days. here in SC, deer farming is illegal so nobody, i mean nobody cares that so many deer die because of a stupid bug bite.



all you folks in deer farming states, keep up the research and hard work because someday this virus will be a just an inconvience.



thanks for your help

We have had a few ranches that started to slow down on the deaths but then 3 wks later another wave came thru and knocked out just as much but more quickly. We have discovered most ranches were hit with EHD 2 first then EHD 1 came thru which is more devastating. Even with this being the worst year we have experienced, we have learned a lot and have completed a lot of research that is very positive. I will let you know soon as we will be able to beat this virus now in the years to come. God bless and good luck!!!