Experimental selenium poisoning in Nubian goats

The toxicity of sodium selenite was studied in 28 Nubian goats, 20 of which died or were killed in extremis 2 h to 21 d after dosing. Single or repeated daily oral doses of 160, 80, 40, 20 and 5 mg sodium selenite/kg were toxic to goats while daily doses of selenite ranging from 0.25 to 1 mg/kg/d for 225 d were not toxic to this species of animals. The main signs of poisoning were uneasiness, inappetence, dyspnea, salivation, diarhea, paresis of the hind limbs, arching of the back, and recumbency. The main lesions were hemorrhages in the rumen, reticulum, osmasum and abomasum, hemorrhagic or catarrhal abomasitis and enteritis, fatty change and necrosis of the centrilobular hepatocytes and of the cells of the renal convoluted tubules, splenic hemosiderosis, pulmonary congestion, haemorrhage, edema and emphysema, accumulation of lymphocytes in the vital organs, and straw-colored fluid in the serous cavities.