Endocardiosis and congestive heart failure in a captive ostrich (Struthio camelus)

Abstract

A seven-year-old blue-necked male ostrich was found dead after a few days of illness. The animal was living in an open yard of 25 square meters along with three other females. They were given concentrate-rich ration with free access to green leaves and water. Autopsy revealed cardiac enlargement due to left ventricular  hypertrophy and right ventricular dilatation. The left aterioventricular valves were irregularly thickened and  contracted. The lungs were engorged with blood and the liver had nutmeg appearance. The small intestine  showed segmental sub-serosal petechial hemorrhages. Histological examination revealed myxomatous  degeneration of the left aterioventricular valves, pulmonary congestion and edema, congestion of periacinar  hepatic zone and fatty degeneration of outer zones, renal glomerulosclerosis and arteriosclerosis. The affected  parts of the small intestine showed villous atrophy with lacteal distention. The venules in the affected  intestinal segment were severely dilated while the arterioles had narrow lumen and irregular wall thickening  with hyaline deposition. The current article reports an endocardiosis in ostrich and discusses other vascular  disorders.

Keywords: Congestive heart failure, Endocardiosis, Myomatous valvular degeneration, Ostrich.