Post-mortem result - enlarged spleen. What could it be?

[Dudu]

I just lost a very strong, young (almost 1 year old) rooster due to who knows what; he was a little sick with the respiratory thing that is going around, but he recovered in a few days, quickly (after antibiotics). Then he was ok, and after a couple of weeks started to look sad and sleepy, and his comb started going paler and paler. I took him inside, treated for mites, for worms and for cocci (not all in one day), and still within 2 weeks he got very thin (due to eating very few, though I was handfeeding him liquid baby parrot food and adding vitamins) and on Monday passed away. Before he passed, for a whole day all he did was picking on his toenails for some reason, I never noticed him do it before (and I have had him around me all his life). Unfortunately he passed away a day before he was due for an appointment with our doc.

Post-mortem that our doctor did showed the only abnormal thing - very enlarged spleen that was also mottled in colour (not normal from what I understood).

Have you seen this before, what could be the reasons and what could I do next time to prevent it or even recognize it?

It is breaking my heart, Perky was so sweet, loving and healthy all of the time...

 

[Eggcessive]

Since he had a respiratory disease, I would guess the spleen mottling was a result of whichever disease he had (mycoplasma, coryza, infectious bronchitis, etc.) but you might get more info if you call or email your state poultry vet. Click on this link to find youhttp://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalHealth/statevets.aspxr state vet:

 

[Dudu]

Eggcessive, thank you very much, I know very little about spleen per se and problems with it and just wondering what could have helped to get it back to normal if it is ever the case again (if I see similar symptoms, particularly the awfully pale look). Also wondering if it's something very common that chickens can have, or it's a once in a while thing with few explanations.

 

[Dudu]

P.S. Thanks also for the link but I guess we have to find our own equivalent of a state vet here in our little country. Our vet also mentioned mottling as possible consequence of infection (though I don't quite understand what that means and why it would be mottled).

 

[Eggcessive]

There is a disease called Infectious Bursal Disease (sometimes called gumboro disease) that can cause gray mottling of the spleen on necropsy. There may be other diseases that do this, but it caught my eye. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infectious_bursal_disease

 

[Dudu]

Thanks a lot, I am reading about it now.