Strange lump in liver, not sure what it might be?

[pazmino]

Shot a mature fallow doe this afternoon. All lymph nodes were normal and it was in good condition, but it had a strange lesion in/ on the liver, which I haven't seen before - would welcome the opinions of those more experienced than me. It was a fairly hard lump a bit more than an inch long, and when opened looked and felt very much like compacted stomach contents. Any thoughts gratefully received, thanks in advance.

 

[WW.]

What did it smell of?

How old was the fallow?

Initial thought is could it be an old abscess.

 

[pazmino]

It didn’t really smell of anything. As for the age, I’m no expert at aging, but I assume 3 or 4, it was certainly as big a doe as I’ve shot before.

 

[VSS]

Looks maybe like an old abscess, no longer active.
Might be some info to be gleaned from here:

Thread 'Thick-walled liver abscess in "healthy" fallow, W Sussex.'

Nov 1, 2018

I shot a seemingly healthy fallow buck today. Behaving normally prior to the shot. Good condition, externally.

There were no major surprises at the gralloch- no lymphadenopathy, lung lesions, etc., though I noted a discoloured area on the surface of the liver:




Expecting to find some parasites in the bile ducts. I cut into it the lesion, only to find a thick-walled, pus-filled abscess:





I had a second...

• xavierdoc
• Replies: 19
• Forum: Diseases, Welfare and Biology

• 

 

[pazmino]

Yes, I suppose could well be, though it didn't have the appearance of pus, more of dried stomach contents.

 

[WW.]

Yes, I suppose could well be, though it didn't have the appearance of pus, more of dried stomach contents.

I'm slightly stumped on the stomach content similarity but old abscesses tend not to have runny pus in them. The immune reaction eventually leads to something called inspissation, whereby the pus becomes drier and more cheese like in texture, can potentially become crumbly. I guess if there was some bleeding into it then the breakdown of the haemoglobin could lead to a brownish colour but I'm red green colour deficient so won't make colour comparisons on your photos. Usually there would be capsule to such an abscess.

Also might be worth getting it cultured.

 

[pazmino]

Unfortunately I didn't keep the gralloch - as the lungs and lymph nodes were all normal, I ruled out TB.

 

[Buchan]

Unfortunately I didn't keep the gralloch - as the lungs and lymph nodes were all normal, I ruled out TB.

I'd agree this is an old abscess and, if there were no others in the carcass, I'd wonder about either an umbilical infection from birth, or a response to fluke.

When you say ruled out TB, I take it you looked at the mesenteric and portal nodes as well? If I found something like this my inspection would be repeated in more detail

 

[pazmino]

I checked bronchial, mediastinal, portal, mesenteric. I couldn't check those in the jaw as animal was shot in upper neck and it was a mess from the shot. All the nodes I could see were normal, lungs were normal, everything else looked fine and the animal was generally in good condition with a lot of fat round the kidneys.

 

[finnbear270]

I checked bronchial, mediastinal, portal, mesenteric. I couldn't check those in the jaw as animal was shot in upper neck and it was a mess from the shot. All the nodes I could see were normal, lungs were normal, everything else looked fine and the animal was generally in good condition with a lot of fat round the kidneys.

Sounds like it was just living with “A touch of backache”