Experimentally induced lead poisoning in goats: clinical observations and pathologic changes

The effects of orally administered lead acetate were investigated in 9 adult and 3 kid goats by clinical and necropsy studies. One kid and 6 adults died after having received from 100 to 1392.5 Gm each, given over periods of from 10 to 52 days. Anorexia, diarrhea and body weight loss occurred in all lead treated goats in the study. Basophilic strippling of red blood cells was found in 6 of 8 animals on which weekly hemograms were performed. The pathologic changes were essentially the same as those that have been recorded for other ruminant species with lead poisoning. Intranuclar acid-fast inclusions in the cells of the proximal convulted tubules of the kidney were demonstrated in 9 of 12 lead treated goats and in the liver parenchymal cells of 2 of these animals.