Pathomorphological studies on renal disorders in sheep

Small ruminants are a potential source of meat, milk, fibre, hide and manure for rural landless, small and marginal farmers and hence provide a dependable source of income to 40 per cent of rural population below the poverty line in India. Numerous factors are responsible for economic losses in the sheep industry. Among them, problems related to health are of utmost importance. Major sources of etiologies/affections are from pathogenic organisms, nutrition, xenobiotics or toxins whose effects are varied, which may be localized or generalized, cumulative or chronic, acute, sporadic or outbreaks, etc. Kidney is one of the most intriguing and challenging organ to a pathologist, with regards to the altered structure and disturbed function. A total of 110 sheep mortalities were necropsied and of which 102 kidneys showed abnormalities, eight kidneys were macroscopically and microscopically showed normal. Based on gross and histopathological features, renal disorders were recognized as circulatory changes, degenerative and necrotic changes, inflammatory and other changes. Frequently encountered circulatory changes were congestion (67.65%) and haemorrhage (18.63%). Degenerative and necrotic changes included cell swelling (29.41%), hydropic degeneration (16.67%), fatty changes (0.95%), hyaline degeneration (1.96%) and coagulative necrosis (19.61%). Inflammatory conditions were glomerulonephritis (1.96%), diffuse interstitial nephritis (0.98%), focal interstitial nephritis (4.90%), multifocal interstitial nephritis (2.94%) and abscess (0.95%). Other changes included polycystic kidney (0.98%).