NECROPSY: Sudden seizure-like death in bird, stood still and puffed up, found asleep in the coop (Warning, graphic!)

[casportpony]

Normal

Those things with the holes are the lungs

 

[Isaac 0]

I've only done a couple of necropsies here, but here are a few things I noticed.

The "blood clot" on the heart could be the blood in the atria which often swells with blood after death.

Maybe someone will see something, but I was not able to see anything particularly alarming in the photos, however, there are several areas that would have helpful to see in the photos. Such as the underside of the liver, where the gall bladder is to determine bile leakage into the surrounding area, photos of the trachea by itself to assess possible irritation, redness, bumps, etc. Pictures of the syrinx Were you able to open the gizzard, and the intestinal lining?

Nonetheless, you did a wonderful job. Good work.

 

[casportpony]

I'll be back with more comments later!

 

[casportpony]

Nonetheless, you did a wonderful job. Good work.

x2.

 

[Phantom_k9]

I do still have access to the samples / bird, so I can get more pictures if need be

 

[casportpony]

Second real *interesting* find I had was concerning the Clavicular and Cervical air sacs (which I mistook for lungs). They seemed to be almost torn, or fractured. Once again, I have no idea if this happened pre or post mortem.

The thing your knife is on is the liver and it looks a little pale to me.

 

[Phantom_k9]

Update; I have emailed the pictures, as well as a long winded description of everything, to the vet at a lab. I realized that I forgot to mention on here that we have just gotten two baby chicks about a month ago. They were both vaccinated, and we have just recently started the process of integration.

 

[Phantom_k9]

I seem to believe that he died of a heart attack / sudden death syndrome. I found a video of SDS / a chicken heart attack, and it looks pretty similar to what happened to our guy, minus the vomiting. However, I am more worried about what he had leading up to this, since he seemed to be sick for about a week, only worsening in the last three days.

 

[Phantom_k9]

I've only done a couple of necropsies here, but here are a few things I noticed.

The "blood clot" on the heart could be the blood in the atria which often swells with blood after death.

Maybe someone will see something, but I was not able to see anything particularly alarming in the photos, however, there are several areas that would have helpful to see in the photos. Such as the underside of the liver, where the gall bladder is to determine bile leakage into the surrounding area, photos of the trachea by itself to assess possible irritation, redness, bumps, etc. Pictures of the syrinx Were you able to open the gizzard, and the intestinal lining?

Nonetheless, you did a wonderful job. Good work.

I did open the gizzard, I wasn't able to see anything that was interesting; it just looked like a brown mash. For the other things you listed, I could still get pictures of them, would it behoove me to do so?

 

[Trisseh]

Not all of the pics are showing up properly for me, and it’s difficult to see the things I’d like to see in pics versus having them in my hands. Lol. But from what I can see the most abnormal thing is that liver. It’s pale, and appears to have some stippling on it as well. (Again, hard to see from photos.) the clots are normal postmortem findings. The lungs appear normal, the kidney in the one shot looks normal, the gizzard and crop normal. If you opened up the intestines, check for petechia (stippling of red dots) or focal lesions, like patches darker in color. Or areas that look hemorrhagic, like he was bleeding into the tissue (kind of like bruising.)

Necrotic enteritis can cause cholangiohepatitis with involvement of the liver (enlarged, pale, lesions) and the gall bladder. Mycotoxins can also cause liver issues. (Pulled up my vet resources since I’m at work anyways. Haha.) issues with the liver can give you neuro signs too, which may help explain some of the behaviours.

was there any fluid or blood in the pericardial sac? I wouldn’t necessarily be too concerned on the air sacs being torn, I almost always tear at least one when I open up a bird...

Be interesting to see what the lab says. Definitely keep us posted! (And excellent job doing your own PM)