I took some autopsy pics of a v-lop kit that had badly swollen nodes.
I wanted to show you guys the amount they had expanded and the locations I found them in.
They had begun to swell to the point of disfiguring the kits. Much larger than any I had seen before. The biggest being almost marble size. Fluid inside is clear. Livers were spotless. No pus sneezing or any other sign of systemic infection anywhere. No digestive troubles in that batch at all.
No injuries, no skin lesions, mites, visible parasites, or other heath conditions present.
The kits were 8 weeks old.
The nodes seemed sensitive when handled, and the kits themselves had a marked lack of energy, and spent most of their time sleeping.
I felt they had reached the point where their quality of life had begin to deteriorate.
I probably should have euthanized them before it got this bad, but I really wanted to give them a chance to improve. They did not.
I only photographed the ones I was able to feel outside the body. I don't actually know all the locations to look for them internally.
Anyway, here is what I found.
above the hips: In this photo they are tucked under some body fat.
I trimmed some away here:
Placed right behind the jawline:
Three litters, three different bucks. As far as I know, none of them closely related.
Same doe.
It was usually the kits with digestive issues who displayed the condition so I'd believed it was a symptom of that.
Debunking that theory, these current kits with swollen nodes from had good appetites, good body weights, and very normal and healthy digestive tracts.
None of my meat kits have ever had such an issue, and they are occasionally exposed to each other.
My current best guess is a genetic predisposition towards lymphoma. A type of cancer.
and I don't believe that it's a recessive trait.
Right, wrong?
Does anyone know anything more about this or have any theories???
There isn't much that will make me throw in the towel
(I really wanted to raise some Mini-Mucky's), but I don't think that this is something I CAN fight.
She's still our beloved pet, and I'll just have to accept that I have the only Mucky, and that she will never be able to make small versions of herself for other's to enjoy.
If anything, I should probably just be glad that breeding didn't stress her into developing this condition herself.
I wanted to show you guys the amount they had expanded and the locations I found them in.
They had begun to swell to the point of disfiguring the kits. Much larger than any I had seen before. The biggest being almost marble size. Fluid inside is clear. Livers were spotless. No pus sneezing or any other sign of systemic infection anywhere. No digestive troubles in that batch at all.
No injuries, no skin lesions, mites, visible parasites, or other heath conditions present.
The kits were 8 weeks old.
The nodes seemed sensitive when handled, and the kits themselves had a marked lack of energy, and spent most of their time sleeping.
I felt they had reached the point where their quality of life had begin to deteriorate.
I probably should have euthanized them before it got this bad, but I really wanted to give them a chance to improve. They did not.
I only photographed the ones I was able to feel outside the body. I don't actually know all the locations to look for them internally.
Anyway, here is what I found.
above the hips: In this photo they are tucked under some body fat.
I trimmed some away here:
Placed right behind the jawline:
Three litters, three different bucks. As far as I know, none of them closely related.
Same doe.
It was usually the kits with digestive issues who displayed the condition so I'd believed it was a symptom of that.
Debunking that theory, these current kits with swollen nodes from had good appetites, good body weights, and very normal and healthy digestive tracts.
None of my meat kits have ever had such an issue, and they are occasionally exposed to each other.
My current best guess is a genetic predisposition towards lymphoma. A type of cancer.
and I don't believe that it's a recessive trait.
Right, wrong?
Does anyone know anything more about this or have any theories???
There isn't much that will make me throw in the towel
(I really wanted to raise some Mini-Mucky's), but I don't think that this is something I CAN fight.
She's still our beloved pet, and I'll just have to accept that I have the only Mucky, and that she will never be able to make small versions of herself for other's to enjoy.
If anything, I should probably just be glad that breeding didn't stress her into developing this condition herself.
