Pulpy kidney disease in sheep and goats.

Pulpy Kidney Disease

What is it?

Pulpy kidney is a common and fatal disease in Sheep and Goats (and also cattle). It is caused by a bacteria which is normally found in the intestines of sheep/goats. This bacterium does not usually cause problems however when animals begin to graze on lush pastures or grain it causes the bacterium to multiply and produce a toxin that poisons the animal resulting in rapid mortalities.

Which Animals are most at risk?

Animals of any age are susceptible however young, fast growing animals, usually 3 weeks to 3 months are more susceptible because their rumen is still adapting to eating high energy rations and some of the feed or grass is not fully utilised which then provides an energy source for the bacterium to multiply.

Other Factors Increasing The Risk of Pulpy Kidney

• Sudden Changes in Diet for example, changing from poor pastures to more lush pastures.
• Extremely high energy or protein diets (or concentrates).
• Grazing on Fodder Crops such as green lucerne.
• Deworming (Top tip: Deworm at least 2 weeks after vaccination for pulpy Kidney).
• Coccidiosis.
• Stasis of the intestinal tract.

Signs you will see with pulpy kidney;

Sheep

• Usually sheep in very good condition die with no associated signs.
• In some cases the animal may show signs of abdominal pain with the abdomen also being bloated and they show other neurological signs and soon die afterwards or after a few days.

On Sheep post mortems some signs you will see

• The carcass rapidly decomposes
• The small intestines look very reddened and are filled with gas
• The kidney is very dark and is very soft and is usually badly decomposed. (Which is why it’s called pulpy kidney)

** To conclusively confirm that it is pulpy kidney your veterinarian will need to collect samples. Pulpy Kidney post mortem signs are similar to other signs caused by other diseases.**

Signs seen in goats

In goats the signs are divided into 3 syndromes, peracute (very rapid), acute (short duration) and chronic syndromes

• Peracute Syndrome: Sudden deaths of goats with no signs
• Acute Syndrome: Goats develop a severe diarrhoea, experience abdominal pain and convulsion. They may recover (or die) in 2 – 4 days.
• Chronic Syndrome: They develop a diarrhoea and lose weight over a long period that can last weeks.

On Goat Post-mortems some signs you will see 

• Fluid in the chest cavity (can be easily confused with heartwater)
• Fluid in the abdominal cavity
• Gas and fluid filled Intestines
• Rapid decomposition of the carcass

Treatment

Treatment is almost always never successful because of how rapid the diseases develops and it’s even more difficult without any specific signs however;

• If you do identify that you potentially have a pulpy kidney outbreak, change the feeding to poor quality hay for about 2 weeks and vaccinate the affected group immediately.

Prevention

The best way to control pulpy kidney is to vaccinate animals and there many products on the market for this purpose.

Some guidelines on Vaccination.

Vaccinate Pregnant Ewes 4 – 6 weeks before lambing, if the ewes have never been vaccinated before then you will need to give 2 vaccinations. The first being 8 weeks before lambing and the next one being 4 weeks before lambing. Correct vaccination of ewes ensures passing on of maternal immunity up to 13 weeks of age depending on the vaccine used.

Depending on the vaccine manufacturer lambs can be vaccinated from 4 weeks of age. 2 Vaccinations should be done and they must be 4 – 6 weeks apart. The second vaccination 4 – 6 weeks later is a boost to ensure the effectiveness of the vaccine.

A yearly booster should be given if all animals have been previously vaccinated.