swollen intestine

shootingduckdog

Well-Known Member
Shot a young (this years) Roe doe today. It was behaving normally but I knew it to be orphaned. Body weight and external appearance all fine. On commencing the gralloch I noticed that half of the intestines were very small. 2 sections of intestine about 10 inches long were full of air and about 3 inch in diameter. The normal intestine had dark liquid in it and some grain and the normal green mush. The stomach was about empty. The mesenteric chain seemed enlarged and one of the lymph nodes was about the size of a golf ball. The heart, lungs, kidneys and spleen were all very healthy looking, I could tell this as I had hit the animal a little far back so they had very little bullet damage. The rectum had normal looking pellets in it.
I feel sure that it is not a serious illness as no other lymph nodes were enlarged and the animal was in very good nick. Could it be grain from pheasant feeders that was causing the problem? Would the very hard weather we have had for the last few weeks cause a problem? Is the carcase safe to eat? :confused: :cry:
Sorry there are no photos but had no camera along and was a long way from it at the time.
 
Hard to say without pics.

I must admit , I'm no vet so I work on the premis if in doubt don't[eat or sell]

The grain that you found, was it wheat or barley?
I know that you can have problems with cattle if they eat unbruised barley.
It may have been some sort of blockage, was there a strong smell?

I would be wary if I found a gland the size of a golf ball.

Sorry not much of a help
 
reply

The grain was wheat from pheasant feeders. I know too much wheat kills sheep as it ferments. The gut had liquid, like fermented wheat from the bottom of old pheasant feeders, in it. There was no real unusual smell, but as the liver had been hit it smelled pretty bad anyway :(
Someone has suggested stress could cause swollen nodes. I didnt burst the gassy gut for obvious reasons. :eek:
Any help is better than no help.
 
I would get rid of the carcass, without photos it is hard to tell. Was the node soft/hard/gritty/puss filled? My thoughts are that it is a reaction to what it has been feeding on, but to be absolutely sure, removing the part of the stomach with the dark fluid and the lymph node and taking to a vet is playing very safe so you know how to dispose of the carcass.

I am sure Morena will be along soon
 
Get it checked by a Vet, then dispose of it regardless of the outcome, then go and cull another
 
Hi shootingduckdog,
From your description "some of the intestines very small and 2 sections full of gas' I would be pretty certain you are describing a case of Johne's disease. This is caused by a bacteria called Mycobacteria avium paratuberculosis. What it does is get into the wall of the intestine and they thicken it so that it closes down the bore hence some buildup of gas. It also leads to swollen lymph nodes If you find it it cattle called pipestem intestines although they scour badly. Deer have variable signs and normal droppings are common. In an animal this young the chances are it picked up the infection while still in the uterus of its dam.
I would definitely bin the carcass as you may of heard of a condition called Crohn's disease in humans and recent research is coming round to some connection between the bacteria and the disease which is chronic incurable and very nasty
 
Morena,

that is a brilliant answer for all to learn from. It may be that we know there is something wrong, but to expand and educate is what the layman needs. Particularly, if it could cause concern for the eating public.

Thanks.

PS, Hope you are keeping ok.
 
My memory is going

About 15yrs ago I shot a few Sika Hind in Kintyre that were badly "scoured" and in terrible condition , the pm results came back as Crohn's .
There was a relly bad smell from all of these hinds and they were very emaciated.
I never saw it in stags, is there a reason for that?
 
bambislayer
Answering your question about the hinds. As the intestines had become so infected they were completely dysfunctional and this is the final sign with the foul smelling scour. Anything going in is not properly digested so the animals are actually using their own muscles to keep living. The large bowel ( colon ) is there to reabsorb water but the partially digested food disrupts this hence scour. In the meantime they are contaminating the environment. The bacteria can survive outside the body for longer than a year and still cause new infections.
Probably the reason you didn't see it in stags is due to their different environment over most of the year. Hinds tend to live on a higher quality graze/browse which they actively seek out whereas the stags go for a lower quality food but eat more of it. This is the reason that experienced stalkers can tell the difference between hind and stag crotties ( droppings ) as the initial material is different. Stag crotties tend to be more fibrous and a different shape.

jingzy doing fine now, was of considerable interest to the tropical medicine boys as mixed infection. Hope you are still looking after those very big birds.
 
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