Category: Deer Disease

It’s not uncommon to encounter white-tailed deer with swollen ankles or other hoof area injuries. A deer’s lower legs and hooves take a beating and are often cut and poked by sticks, fences and even other deer while fighting. Any open wound has the potential to become infected by a virus or bacteria — and disease can soon set in. Whitetail are incredibly tough animals, but they are susceptible to illness, especially when they are already in poor physical condition from situations such as overpopulation or poor habitat conditions.

Hoof Problems Due to EHD or Bluetongue

Epizootic Hemorrhagic disease, commonly referred to by its acronym, EHD, is an acute, infectious, often fatal, viral disease that affects whitetail, other deer and hoofed animals in general. In areas where EHD is commonly found, mortality rates are lower, usually less than 20 percent of the deer population. In areas where the EHD occurs only occasionally, the death toll from such outbreaks can be much higher on a percentage basis. Like many diseases, the mortality rate will increase with animal density.

The EHD in deer can be caused by epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus or the bluetongue virus. The outward signs of the diseases impact white-tailed deer in the same way, so it’s nearly impossible to identify the culprit with out clinical diagnosis. EHD and bluetongue disease are transmitted by biting midges. The virus does not survive long outside the insect or the deer host.

White-tailed deer can display several physical symptoms depending on the duration of the infection. Bucks, does and fawns that are infected and have the most severe cases of the disease may show no fear, salivate excessively, have foam present around the nose (sometimes with blood), appear weak but in good body condition and may appear to have a swollen head, neck or other areas of the body.

It is also common to find deer in or near water as animals can develop very high fevers and be dehydrated. In some instances of the more chronic forms of EHD or bluetongue, deer may have erosions or ulcerations in their mouth, be very thin, and have detachment of the wall of their hoof (sloughing) making it very hard for them to walk. In deer that recover, abnormal hoof growth is typically the only tell-tale sign that the deer had any issues at all.

Are Swollen Ankles in Deer Stress Related?

There are beliefs that many times hoof issues in whitetail are the results of secondary bacterial infections, as the issues appears to show up in deer herds that are in poor physical condition. This can often be the case in areas where deer populations have exceeded the carrying capacity of the habitat or in areas where habitat condition has decline rapidly because of drought. In bucks, it can even be a rut-related decline in overall body condition. Even with that being a factor, the primary cause of hoof and foot issues in individual deer is unknown. There is also the possibility of environmental contamination or another not yet diagnosed viral disease.

It’s important not to over react if a single sick deer or a single buck with a swollen ankles is observed. Its condition could stem from anything. However, if several deer are exhibiting the same symptoms then it’s time to take action. Animals, including deer, that are in good physical condition tend not to get sick, go lame. Foundering, another hoof issue that can impact deer, is often diet related. If ankle/hoof related injuries are the result of secondary infections then the number one goal should always be to maintain healthy individual deer. If the overwhelming majority of deer are healthy then so to is the population in the area.

The number one way to maintain healthy deer is through good nutrition. This means managing for proper deer density in free-ranging and enclosed deer herds. In areas where deer are seemingly healthy, it may be a good idea to move supplemental feeders after issues develop in an area. And again, a single deer that appears sick, diseased or has swollen ankles is nothing to become alarmed about. Anything can happen to an animal. If you notice several deer all exhibiting the same issues, then there is likely a bigger problem.

A deer with a swollen mouth, jaw or cheeks can be the result of one of several things gone wrong. Often times hunters will notice these animals in game camera photos or on the hoof while deer hunting. It can be troublesome to landowners engaged in a deer management program, especially if it’s found in one of the better bucks on their ranch. The causes of swollen jaws, cheeks and deer with otherwise lumpy jaws typically results from arterial worms, cuts within the animal’s mouth that leads to food impaction, or even bacterial infection.

The photos below are of a buck that had a food impaction. The deer was located somewhere in Central Texas and I received the following information via email from a hunter. It was fortunate that the ailment could be diagnosed because after it was observed in the field the deer was subsequently shot.

“Back in late October I received a photo of a buck that looked to have food compaction/ lumpy jaw. Then again this week I received another photo of the same buck, but from a different hunter on a different ranch. The buck was killed by the second hunter and after discussion with him on the phone he cut into the mass and confirmed that it was food compaction. See photos attached.”

Bottle Jaw in Whitetail Deer

Bottle jaw in whitetail deer is a swelling beneath the jaw and is most often caused by arterial worms or liver flukes in the deer. It is distinguishable from other swellings of the jaw by being centrally located, rather soft in texture and can be moved around. Quite often, worming will cure this condition if the deer is pen-raised. Deer in the wild must live with the condition, but it may go away.

Lumpy Jaw in Whitetail Deer

Lumpy jaw also appears as a swollen jaw or cheek. It is the result of an infection of the jawbone. These lumps are immovable hard swellings of the bones, usually at the level of the central molar teeth. The swellings develop slowly and may take months to reach the size of a golf ball. They consist of honeycombed masses of bone filled with yellow pus that comprise the lumpy jaw. The swellings may become very large and discharge small amounts of sticky pus containing gritty yellow granules. The cause of lumpy jaw is a bacterium called “Actinomyces bovis“, however other organisms may invade the lesion within the deer’s mouth.

Food Impaction in Whitetail Deer Cheek

Many times hunters will encounter a deer that has a plum or orange-sized lump on it’s jaw. The lump will typically be located towards the back of the lower jaw. This lump is the result of a deer getting a cut inside it’s mouth while eating something, often times something that is not ideal for it to have inside its mouth. Then food starts to accumulate in the cut. Over time this continues to occur, filling the deer’s cheek with food items. The buck in the picture above, which is also below, had food impaction.

White-tailed deer can get many types of deer diseases. Whether caused by a disease or a virus, some of these ailments can look quite displeasing. A common thing with whitetail is warts. Wart-like growths found on the skin of white-tailed deer and other members of the deer family are fibromas. They are popularly referred to as skin tumors, or simply warts. They are not cancer, but most people imagine cancer as some type of elephant-man like occurrence. Not so. Fibromas, often referred to as deer tumors, can look pretty nasty.

Biologist identify the different skin tumors from deer as papillomas, fibromas, or papillofibromas depending upon the type of tissue making up the tumor. However, there is evidence that skin tumors common to whitetail deer are caused by just one type of virus, the papillomavirus, so the term fibroma will be used to refer to all types of warts and tumors. The disease occurs throughout the whitetail’s range in North America. Continue reading Cancerous Deer, Not: Deer Warts are Fairly Common

Blue Tongue and Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) are viral diseases that impacts farmed and free-ranging white-tailed deer. Though Blue Tongue and EHD are distinctly different, these diseased are sometimes impossible to tell apart. In fact, blood tests results are very similar. For the sake of this article, Blue Tongue and EHD will be used interchangeably. This disease is found most often in sheep, but Blue Tongue has also been found in other livestock such as cattle and goats and other wild ungualtes such as pronghorn antelope and whitetail deer.

White-tailed deer populations have been dealing with these diseases for years, but deer populations continue to hold strong. Blue Tongue and EHD outbreaks in the U.S. occur in deer almost yearly at southern latitudes. EHD and Blue Tongue are spread by midges such as flies or gnats. These insect vectors spread the disease when they bite deer. As a result, outbreaks are virtually untreatable and typically run a course on an annual basis, although weather conditions impact the duration and severity of the outbreak. Continue reading Blue Tongue and EHD Disease in White-tailed Deer