CHRONIC REFRACTORY EMESIS ASSOCIATED WITH A COLONIC LESION IN A CALIFORNIA SEA LION (ZALOPHUS-CALIFORNIANUS)

An adult castrated male California sea Lion, Zalophus californianus, d eveloped a pattern of intermittent vomiting of fish that progressed an d was unresponsive to medical and behavioral intervention. The animal had been collected from the wild in 1985 and was utilized in the U.S. Navy's marine mammal program until March 1993. Necropsy findings inclu ded a ruptured saccular diverticulum of the distal colon and a periton eal effusion. Campylobacter sputorum, Clostridium perfringens, Escheri chia coli, and Streptococcus canis were isolated from the peritoneal e ffusion. Large numbers of gram-positive bacilli, consistent with Clost ridium spp., were observed within the affected tissues on histologic s ections. The cause of the gross lesion in the affected section of gut was not evident. A long-standing ulcerative or possibly obstructive le sion responsible for local stasis and conditions favorable for clostri dial overgrowth was suspected. Gastrointestinal clostridial infections have not been previously reported in a California sea lion. Additiona lly, there have been no reports of vomiting associated with large colo nic disease in marine mammals.