Salt and Sulfur Flashcards
How do animals get salt poisoning?
- Most common= prolonged water deprivation
- excess salt intake
-high salt rations in poultry and pigs
-formulation errors
-drinking saline water
-oil field brine, butcher shop brine - Administration of sodium containing fluids to an animal without access to water
What species are most susceptible to salt poisoning?
Swine
What factors can affect water deprivation?
High salt intake in livestock
-high salt diets in poultry, swine with water restriction
-high salt in milk replacer in dairy cows
-excessive electrolyte supplementation od dairy calves
-consumption of brine/process water from oil drilling sites
-free choice to salt following period of no access
How do companion animals get salt poisoning?
-prolonged water deprivation
-excessive salt intake
*playdough, paintball ingestion, bread dough ingestion, drinking ocean water, salt as emetic
Mechanism of salt poisoning
Causes hypernatremia in CNS= high brain Na impairs neuronal energy metabolism and Na is not pumped out of CNS
**osmotic shifts occur resulting in idiogenic osmoles
What happens when animals have access to water restored?
Water moves along osmotic gradient into brain
*Results in Cerebral edema
Onset of salt poisoning
Within 1-4 days of water deprivation/excess salt intake
*depends on environment
Clinical signs of Salt poisoning
GI: anorexia, thirst, restlessness, watery diarrhea
CNS: acute onset of neurologic signs that progressively worsen
-wandering, head sitting, blindness, dog sitting, ataxia, recumbency, opisthotonos, seizures, death due to resp failure
*pigs= pruritus and constipation
Clinical pathology signs of salt posioning
-hypernatremia
-high sodium in CSF
-eosinopenia in pigs
Gross necropsy of salt posioning
-no specific GI irritation
-dry ingesta
-recent rehydration= stomach may have abundance of water
-anasarca in poultry
Salt management
-decontamination, no activated charcoal
-monitor serum Na levels
-Slow rehydration with monitoring of neurological status
-give mannitol with patients that get worse after fluids because likely cerebral edema
Salt management in large animals
-intermittent access to water
-hypertonic saline to effect
Diagnosis of salt poisoning
-history of water deprivation and/or high salt intake
-antemortem: hypernatremia, high Na CSF levels
-postmortem: check fresh brain for high Na levels, ocular fluids, and histo signs
DDx for salt poisoning
- Ruminants= polioencephalomalacia (lead, thiamine deficiency, sulfur)
2.Pigs: Suis sisters, pseudorabies
- Small ruminants: pregnancy toxemia, listeria
- Small animals: neurotoxic rodenticide, insecticides, rabies, distemper
Prevention of salt poisoning
-always allow access to water
-mitigate other causes of water loss
-shade, housing, bedding, ventilation
-check salt and sulfate levels in water
-give salt sources near fresh water
-ensure good management
Sulfur
-necessary dietary nutrient
-issues occur when high sulfur in diet, high sulfates in water, or excessive fertilizer
High sulfur feeds
-sulfur containing weeds (canada thistle)
-high protein feeds (alfalfa)
-distillers grain
-corn gluten feed
-molasses
-Brassica species (kale, canola, cabbage, mustard, turnips)
Mechanism of sulfur poisoning
*Ruminants
-sulfur in rumen results in H2S production. This is then eructated and inhaled = brain
-H2S inhibit cytochrome oxidase in ETC
Onset of sulfur poisoning
Often 1-3 weeks after a feed change
Clinical signs of sulfur poisoning
Polioencephalomalacia
-head pressing, blind, circling
Diagnosis of sulfur toxicosis
-history
-polio clinical signs with feed and water testing results
-gross necropsy= rumenitis and alveolitis
-histo= cerebrocortical necrosis
Management and prevention of sulfur toxicity
-remove animals from suspect feed
-lack of response to thiamine treatment
-symptomatic and supportive care
-test diet and water prior to feeding
-restrict access to high sulfur plants
Diagnostic approach to polioencephalomalacia
