HEMOLYSIS ASSOCIATED WITH WATER ADMINISTRATION USING A NIPPLE BOTTLE FOR HUMAN INFANTS IN JUVENILE PYGMY GOATS

A 4-month-old, 6.8-kg, castrated male pygmy goat was examined for recu rrent episodic fever and red urine of 7 days' duration. A second, 8-mo nth-old, 7-kg, intact female pygmy goat was presented for similar clin ical signs. The red discoloration of the urine in each case was determ ined to be due to hemolysis with subsequent hemoglobinuria. In both ca ses, hemolysis and hemoglobinuria were closely associated with the goa ts consuming large volumes of water from a human infant's nipple bottl e. A diagnosis of water intoxication-induced hemolysis and hemoglobinu ria was made. Episodes of hemoglobinuria in the first case were consis tently associated with dilute (specific gravity <1.010) urine. Water i ntoxication has been associated with bottle-feeding in human infants a nd is also widely reported in human psychiatric patients. The small er ythrocytes in goats appear to be the most sensitive of the domestic sp ecies to hypotonicity-induced hemolysis. Copyright (C) 1997 by the Ame rican College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.