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White muscle disease is a degenerative disease of the muscles that can affect all farm animals. It is caused by a deficiency of selenium or vitamin E (sometimes it is not clear which of them) in the body. Selenium and vitamin E are used as antioxidants whose function is to protect cells from various damages caused by free radicals and lipid peroxidasewhich are formed during normal oxidative processes in cells.

Selenium is a component of at least four enzymes. Vitamin E is an important component of fatty membranes. Deficiencies in antioxidants such as vitamin E and selenium cause damage to cell membranes first and even tissue necrosis.

Distinction - Clinical markers

White muscle disease mainly affects young lambs/kids and it appears in two main forms:

• Congenital - the lambs are born dead or weak and die within a few days, usually as a result of cessation of heart activity after physical exertion.
• Acquired - signs that appear after lambing, usually after 3-6 weeks.

Clinical markers are weakness, muscle stiffness, rapid breathing and muscle weakness.

Stages of the disease

First are the leg muscles - limping and discomfort, unwillingness to move and collapsing when trying to walk. Expressed in an unstable gait and pain when walking, bent posture. Next are insomnia and lack of appetite - the lamb/kid remains awake, and eventually becomes too weak to suckle. Injury to the heart and respiratory muscles - signs similar to pneumonia such as difficulty breathing, foamy discharge from the mouth and nose, fever, rise in heart and respiratory rates. Lastly, necrosis of skeletal or cardiac muscles occurring without nerve involvement.

Diagnosis and treatment

Diagnosis is made easier by identifying clinical signs, although keep in mind that other syndromes can manifest themselves in similar clinical signs so confirmation for white muscle disease will be done by determining the level of selenium and vitamin E in the blood and tissues. In case of suspicion of the disease, the attending Veterinarian should be consulted. A final confirmation and diagnosis will be made by determining the level of selenium in the blood and tissues by a laboratory.

Prevention

The right way to prevent the disease is to feed foods that contain normal levels of vitamin E and selenium. In case of concern of deficiency, vitamin E and selenium can be added to the feed or drinking water.

Many farms still customarily inject every lamb or kid born with vitamin E and selenium, in order to prevent white muscle disease. White muscle disease has become very rare in our advanced feeding interface. When selenium is injected in excess, it becomes highly toxic and can actually harm lambs or kids. It is manifested in depression, difficulty breathing and cyanosis, dilated pupils, swelling and death.

In any case, animals fed with feed consisting of seeds and the addition of vitamins and soils of various kinds are in no risk of shortage of selenium, so there is no need to add it. Also, injecting vitamin E and selenium into newborns is completely unnecessary and even toxic.

Disease affecting skeletal muscles can be treated by injection. Toxicity: Injection of high levels of selenium in patches is