Wet Belly in Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Relation to Body Condition, Body Temperature and Blood Constituents

Wet belly, when the reindeer becomes wet over the lower parts of the thorax and abdomen, sometimes occurs in reindeer during feeding. In a feeding experiment, 11 out of 69 reindeer were affected by wet belly. The problem was first observed in 7 animals during a period of restricted feed intake. When the animals were then fed standard rations, 3 additional animals fed only silage, and 1 fed pellets and silage, became wet. Four animals died and 1 had to be euthanised. To investigate why reindeer developed wet belly, we compared data from healthy reindeer and reindeer affected by wet belly. Urea, plasma protein, glucose, insulin and cortisol were affected by restricted feed intake or by diet but did not generally differ between healthy reindeer and those with wet belly. The wet animals had low body temperature and the deaths occurred during a period of especially cold weather. Animals that died were emaciated and showed different signs of infections and stress. In a second experiment, with 20 reindeer, the feeding procedure of the most affected group in the first experiment was repeated, but none of the reindeer showed any signs of wet belly. The study shows that wet belly is not induced by any specific diet and may affect also lichen-fed reindeer. The fluid making the fur wet was proven to be of internal origin. Mortality was caused by emaciation, probably secondary to reduced energy intake caused by diseases and/or unsuitable feed.