Japanese Black calves on a farm died sporadically with jaundice and hemoglobinuria over a period of several years. Their symptoms suggested copper poisoning. The calves were fed multiple combined feeds. Most feeds contained copper, and the estimated copper levels in the combined feeds exceeded the required levels of the Japanese Feeding Standard for Beef Cattle. The calves might have been fed excessive copper continuously because the serum copper levels of the calves on the farm increased with age. We detected a high concentration of copper in the sera of the affected calves and in the liver of a dead calf. Under this high copper concentration, the calves ingested a large amount of feed and the calves that were in poor condition might have had severe poisoning.

We witnessed a case of microcytic hypochromic anemia, which was recognized as comparatively rare in cynomolgus monkeys. Immune-mediated findings, such as aggregation and spherocytosis of erythrocytes, were also observed. Initial medication with oral iron did not improve the aggregation and spherocytosis of erythrocytes, and recurrence of anemia after drug cessation was noted. Finally, we were able to manage this case with combination therapy consisting of oral iron and an immunosuppressant. This was considered to be a case of microcytic hypochromic anemia, which is rare in cynomolgus monkeys as laboratory animals, and in which it was considered that iron deficiency and immunological mechanisms are combined as pathogenesis of anemia.

The hearts of 22 cats in which third-degree atrioventricular (AV) block had been diagnosed electrocardiographically were examined post mortem. The underlying heart disease consisted of 10 cases of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, three cases of restrictive cardiomyopathy (endomyocardial form), two cases of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, and one case of old myocardial infarction; however, no remarkable changes were observed in six cats. Histological examination of the AV conduction system consistently revealed the marked reduction of conduction fibers due to fibrous replacement in the combined regions of the branching portion of the His bundle and the upper portion of the left bundle branch. The changes in the AV conduction system were invariably associated with marked fibrosis of the base of the central fibrous body and the upper part of the ventricular septum (sclerosis of the left side of the cardiac skeleton). The pathological process and predilection sites of the lesions resembled those observed in elderly human patients with idiopathic or primary heart block (Lev's disease).