The aim of this study was to investigate the topographical, anatomical and histological characteristics of syrinx in five ostriches. It was observed that the syrinx in the ostrich was tracheobronchial type and was composed of three different cartilage groups, namely tympanum, cartilagines (cartt.) tracheosyringeales and cartt. bronchosyringeales. Tympanum and cartt. tracheosyringeales were formed from three and four cartilage rings, respectively, while cartt. bronchosyringeales was formed from three C-shaped cartilage rings. The pessulus did not contain any ossified or cartilaginous tissues and was made up of a double folded mucous membrane extending dorsoventrally from median walls of bronchus primarius into the cavum syringis.

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Abstract. This study was made to investigate the long-term effects of different floor housing systems on the welfare of fast-growing broilers. The experiment was performed on 210-day-old fast-growing hybrid male chickens with identical conditions until 47 days of age. Animal-based welfare parameters were measured to investigate the welfare level in the group housed on deep litter, a litter and slat system, and a slatted floor, with five replicates for each group. Results showed that the main welfare indicators in live birds, such breast dirtiness, plumage score, footpad lesion, and hock burn lesion, were negatively affected in broilers kept on conventional deep-litter floor housing. But hemorrhage or lesion scores of the breast and shoulder of broilers in slat floor housing were found to be significantly greater than in conventional deep litter as a result of a heavy body weight at a greater slaughter age (p < 0.05). Pathologically, the prevalence of footpad and hock joint dermatitis was very high in the deep-litter housing system. Femoral head necrosis was not observed in any floor housing group. The results indicated that keeping broilers on a slat flooring system is preferable for younger slaughter ages and for a lighter slaughter weight. When considering the relationship between animal welfare and production economy, moving from one floor house system to another floor housing system should be carefully weighted in future decisions. Moreover, further investigations are needed in order to examine the incidence of joint and bone problems with muscle inflammation in heavier broilers in commercial conditions.

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Primary and secondary cardiac tumours are extremely rare in humans and domestic animals. This case describes the gross, light microscopical and immunohistochemical examination of a cardiac myxoma arising from the tricuspid valve in a 13-year-old female terrier dog. Clinically, long-term respiratory distress, progressive ascites, fatigue and exercise intolerance were observed in the animal. At necropsy, the right ventricular chamber was mildly dilated and a soft, whitish mass, 0.7 x 1.5 x 2.1 cm in size was observed arising from the ventricular surface of the septal leaflet of the tricuspid valve of the heart. Histologically, the mass was composed of a faintly eosinophilic myxoid matrix and spindle shaped fibroblast-like cells with elongated nuclei and stellate cells. The extracellular matrix was stained with periodic acid Schiff and alcian blue and the tumour cells were reactive with anti-vimentin and anti-alpha-sarcomeric actin antibodies. The authors believe that this is the first detailed description of a myxoma in this breed.

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RHABDOMYOSARCOMA is a malignant neoplasm that arises from striated skeletal muscles or muscle progenitor cells (Dagher and Helman 1999). It is the most common mesenchymal tumour in human beings, but is rarely observed in domestic animals (Dagher and Helman 1999, Illanes 2002). Rhabdomyosarcomas are known to be very aggressive, and invade the surrounding tissue and metastasise to other organs in domestic animals. Primary and secondary tumours involving the heart are uncommon in dogs; Machida and others (2003) reported that such tumours had a prevalence of 0•19 per cent among all dogs admitted to hospital, the majority being haemangiosarcomas. This short communication describes a case of cardiac metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma in a dog. A seven-year-old great Dane was presented to the