Reindeer diarrhoea

RE: Reindeer diarrhoea

Peter Moore — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 09:55:37 GMT

Get your hands on some lichen. The more the merrier. I used to work with reindeer in the Cairngorms and one treatment for GI issues was a lichen-only diet for a few days.

RE: Reindeer diarrhoea

Marie Kubiak — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 19:29:40 GMT

Marie has a sense of humour and can confirm the diet is mince pie deficient

RE: Reindeer diarrhoea

Gillian Mostyn — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 19:10:37 GMT

Well I thought it was funny. I suspect Marie did too!

RE: Reindeer diarrhoea

Hannah Wynne Richards — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 18:03:24 GMT

Robin Marie has asked a serious question, and deserves a serious answer.

Wynne

RE: Reindeer diarrhoea

Robin Grimmer — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 15:02:09 GMT

Too many mince pies?

RE: Reindeer diarrhoea

Iain Richards — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 12:52:05 GMT

I have a feeling BVD is an incidental finding in deer, but I'll check later today. Johnes would be high on my differentials as would a checck on the diet as Elidh suggests. I know Yersinia gets talked about in deer, so I'll check that too.

RE: Reindeer diarrhoea

Michael Woodhouse — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 22:30:12 GMT

Mucosal disease would lead to erosions and ulcers throughout the alimentary tract. The animals have profuse scour. They are generally younger animals. I'm not convinced

RE: Reindeer diarrhoea

grumpyoldman — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 22:28:09 GMT

Sounds like Mucosal disease was it very very old ? lymphoma ? I remember these things having a very characteristic feel to them per rectum. But that was cattle.

RE: Reindeer diarrhoea

Michael Woodhouse — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 22:24:14 GMT

BVD is badly named and doesn't cause diarrhoea. It remains on every students differential list for cows with loose faeces.

You can get false negative PCRs for Johne's, but a pooled sample may be worth doing. I don't know anything specific about the epidemiology in reindeer.

I also suspect this is dietary. This VDS link summarises some recent diagnoses (including Johnes):

http://www.vetdeersociety.com/meeting-in-spring-2014/

RE: Reindeer diarrhoea

Eilidh Corr — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 21:29:34 GMT

Nine out of ten times this is a husbandry issue. Reindeer do not cope well with rich pasture, so a good diet is often a poor one, and they will go on to develop severe gastrointestinal disruption if their diet isn't spot on. They have a tendency to die readily - bit like sheep in that respect. They thrive up here in the Cairngorms, but they are wandering heathery hillsides and fed lichen rather than grazed on pasture.

I can put you in touch with my colleague who does more with with them than I do, if you'd like - pm me if so.