Cardiomyopathy in ostriches (Struthio camelus) due to avocado (Persea americana var. guatemalensis) intoxication.

Nine out of 120 ostriches died from congestive heart failure within 96 h of ingesting avocado leaves and immature fruit in an avocado orchard containing Hass and Fuerte cultivars. Foliage and immature fruit from both cultivars dosed to ostriches (n = 4) and domestic hens (n = 8) resulted in severe cardiomyopathy in all the ostriches. In the hens, which had received a lower dose, milder lesions occurred. Macroscopically the intoxication in ostriches resulted in a severe anasarca of the neck and ventral body. The cardiomyopathy was characterised by degeneration and necrosis of myocytes, a marked infiltration of heterophils and in one case, early fibroplasia.