Abdominal fat necrosis in a pygmy goat associated with fescue toxicosis

Departments of Population Health and Pathobiology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA.

Abdominal fat necrosis was diagnosed in an 11-year-old female pygmy goat with a 10-day history of lethargy, anorexia, and progressive abdominal distension. Gross necropsy findings revealed multiple firm, dark yellow, nodular masses of fat throughout the abdominal cavity, which compressed several abdominal organs including the rumen, small intestine, spiral colon, and gall bladder. Histologically, multiple to coalescing adipocyte necrosis, saponification, and infiltration with variable numbers of macrophages, lymphocytes, and plasma cells was observed. Fat necrosis in this case was attributed to tall fescue toxicity based on the presence of high levels of endophyte (Neotyphodium coenophialum)-infected fescue identified in the goat's pasture. This is the first known report of abdominal fat necrosis in a goat and demonstrates the fat necrosis syndrome of fescue toxicosis in ruminants.