Post Mortem Examinations

	We perform post mortem examinations on a wide variety of animal species including domestic animals, wildlife, exotic species and birds
	For carcass collection in the Johannesburg and Pretoria areas, contact our practice (tel. No 012 529 8345/6) or Golden Vetlab, Johannesburg (tel. no. 011 803 3001/2).  Carcasses can also be delivered personally or be sent by a courier service to our street address:  1 Soutpan Road, Pathology Section, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Onderstepoort  – do not use our postal address.

We provide veterinarians with submission forms, free formalin bottles (50 ml or 200 ml) and pre-addressed plastic bags with separate compartments for the submission form and formalin container, respectively.

Tissues for histopathology should not be frozen before fixation. Tissue blocks should be about 10mm thick and placed immediately into about 10 x their volume of 10% formalin for fixation.  Crusts must not be removed before skin biopsies are taken.

A variety of courier services can be used such as our own service, Golden Vetlab, Ampath, etc.

It is our policy to charge one fee per case (histopathology and handling fee).  Multiple organs or biopsies from the same animal, within reason, are not subject to an additional charge.

Special stains on histological slides (such as PAS, Gram’s stain, and Ziehl-Neelson) are charged extra.

When tissues from a second animal or follow-up/repeat biopsies from one animal are submitted it is charged at a reduced fee (see our fee list).

There is also a reduced fee for histopathology on clients registered as an E-client where our reports are delivered only by E-mail.
 

A routine necropsy examination on pigeons and other bird species include a blood smear, choanal smear (stained with Gimenez), crop smear (fresh carcasses), faeces smear (wet prep), full post mortem, histopathology, aerobic bacteriology and an antibiogram.

Avian carcasses must not be frozen, should be dampened with soapy water and submitted on ice.

When there is an outbreak of disease among chickens or birds we prefer a group of birds (maximum of 10) for necropsy, selected microbiology and pooled histopathology.

Special tests such as electron microscopy for virus detection, Salmonella enrichment, etc. are also available but must be specifically requested.

For the detection of the following infectious pathogens in formalin-fixed tissue samples:

	Rabies
	Distemper
	Toxoplasmosis
	Neosporosis
	African Swine fever
	Equine herpesvirus infection
	Bovine viral diarrhoea virus infection
	Heartwater
	Rift Valley fever
	Wesselsbron disease
	Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis
	Encephalomyocarditis virus
	Lumpy skin disease

For  confirmation/differentiation of canine B-cell and T-cell lymphoma

Tumour markers: contact the pathologist for more detail. 

Bovine viral diarrhoea antigen can be detected in routine skin biopsies for demonstrating persistent infected animals.  Multiple punch biopsies of 6 – 8 mm used.

We can also test for auto-immune skin disease with the immunoperoxidase method now.

PCR testing for Chlamydia, psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD) virus, polyoma virus, sex determination and other diseases (details available on request).

For the diagnosis of Chlamydia, PBFD virus, sex determination and polyoma virus infection in birds, submit 10 drops of blood in EDTA.  For PBFD, a feather follicle may also be submitted in formalin for histopathology.
 

Collect a swab from the edge of lesion or submit affected tissue.

Swabs should be transported in transport medium and the tissues in separate sterile containers; keep cool but do not freeze.

Skin biopsies can also be submitted for culture in a sterile container on ice and and are regarded superior to swabs.

Septicaemia:  spleen, liver, brain, small intestine and mesenteric lymph node: send in separate sterile containers; keep cool.

Neonatal calf diarrhoea: live animals: complete faecal examination in outbreaks of diarrhoea; at least 10 g of faeces each from at least 5 affected, untreated calves in the early stage of infection and from 3 normal, age-matched, untreated calves (see ‘an approach to the diagnosis of neonatal calf diarrhoea’ in the series ‘Pathology for the practicing veterinarian’) on our webpage.
 

Skin lesions: collect a scraping or plucked hair from the edge of the lesion and submit dry in an envelope

Other tissues:  collect a swab or portion of the affected tissue:  submit tissues in separate sterile containers; keep cool but do not freeze.
 

For the diagnosis of intoxication by pesticides and strychnine: submit stomach contents or vomitus/bait on ice or frozen.

Liver and kidney (100g of each) can be submitted in 10% formalin for determination of copper, lead and iron intoxication.

Caecal and rumen contents are usually best for botulism testing.

Urine can be used for strychnine testing, although stomach contents are the best sample.

Cyanide / Prussic acid – Submit 100g muscle, 100g liver and 200g rumen contents frozen soon after death.

Urea, salt and ionophores – Tests conducted on food, licks only and not on rumen contents. Rumen pH determination valuable in cases of urea intoxication.
 

Virus detection in faecal material:  used for the diagnosis of viral enteritis in birds (such as paramyxovirus infection, dogs (parvovirus infection) and neonatal calves (diarrhoea).

Either faeces or colonic contents may be submitted; rectal swabs are not suitable.  Specimens must be collected within hours of the onset of diarrhoea if possible and directly from the animal.  The specimens should be kept cool and not frozen.

For the diagnosis of campylobacteriosis and trichomoniosis in bulls by sheath washings and sheath scrapings

PBS sheath washes  may be used, but we also supply Steves transport medium (Steves TM) which has the benefit that Campylobacter and Trichomonas organisms stay alive for up to 3 days at 4º C!

Please open the Adobe Acrobat form to be printed out, filled in and submitted with the vials of PBS sheath washing. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer, you can download it by clicking the following graphic. It is free from Adobe. If you have any problems with viewing the form, please read the comments on the "Pathology Submission Form" page.