I do not like to see animals roaming about without any form of caution and control and I have my reasons for that, the first is that these animals could attack innocent passer bye's and on the other hand, they may consume something highly dangerous to their health. An example of what a roaming animal may consume is what I will be sharing today, and I hope you enjoy reading.
Indospicine occurs naturally as a form of hepatotoxin, this toxin causes liver damage, and it is found in plant species from the genus Indigofera. The indigofera genus contains approximately 700 different species, and most of them are agronomically important plants that are used as grazing forages and feed supplements.
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These plants are naturally high in proteins and they are attractive to livestock, the residue of indospicine accumulates largely in th tissues of grazing animals like; camels, cattle, and horses and even months after the exposure of these animals, they could still exist there.
Dogs in particular becomes sensistive to indospicine when it gets consumed through the meat of animals who have acquired this toxin through grazing, this could make them have liver damage and create a range of clinical signs from mild illness to serious liver disease and eventual death.Indigofera sp is widely found amongst tropical to subtropical regions. Australia is known to contain a high level of indospicine, the plants are hardy, resistant to drought, and they flourish during a more wet month in the subtropics.
Clinical signs are usually closely related to existing underlying liver damages from toxins, and they include; jaundice, lethargy, vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal discomfort, elevated liver enzymes when checked through a blood test, and lethargy. When there is a case of serious toxicity, is when we have serious liver damage which would lead to death.
How severe the disease is, is highly dependent on the amount of toxin consumed, the duration with which the toxin was fed, and existing health issues that could contribute to this illness.
The only way to surely detect the existence of indospicine is through a laboratory test. The consumption of frozen or fresh raw pet meat is greatly linked to indospicine toxicity in dogs. It is advisable that, camels and horses that have grazed Indigofera sp in Nothern Australia should not be used as pet food as th meat as ben known to poise serious health risks to dogs.
These livestock that have grazed on Indigofra plants will then accumulate th etoxin Indospicine in their tissues, these animals may then be transported to knackeries that supply fressh mat for pet food. Of course, when domesticated healthy pets consum this meat, it is believed that it interfers with the ability of the body to incorporate essential amino acid arginine into proteins required in the liver.
The more unfortunate thing is that, cooking or freezing the acquired meat that contains the toxic substance has no effect on the toxicity, th only way to possibly prevent this is to ensure that you know where the meat feed to your pet is being sourced from.
The disease is not a zoonotic disease, so humans may not need to worry about it for now. Pets who are even seriously suffering from the disease have no negative effect on human health.
Getting to see a vet the moment
References.
gwic.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf
agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/animal
