Salt toxicosis in commercial turkeys.

Salt toxicosis was confirmed in a flock of 20,000 thirteen-week-old tom turkeys experiencing an increase in mortality. Clinical signs included polydipsia, diarrhea, ataxia, incoordination, tremors that progressed to depression, sternal and lateral recumbency accompanied by torticollis, and death. Mortality over a 5-day period was 6.7%. Necropsy lesions included pallor and dehydration of pectoral muscles, hepatic congestion, and fluid-filled small and large intestines. Microscopic lesions consisted of bilaterally symmetrical areas of necrosis within the cerebral hemispheres accompanied by vascular congestion and edema, as well as hyalinization of the glomerular capillary walls of the kidney and eosinophilic granular casts in the renal tubules. Average salt concentration in the feed from affected houses with 8.04%.