Happy Holidays! All of this weekโs posts will be themed around the winter holiday season. Todayโs path rounds are on ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ข๐ญ๐!
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ?
๐
๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ is a potential outcome of exposure to severe cold. However, it is actually fairly uncommon in our animal species, thanks to their long hair!
๐๐ก๐จ ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ?
Typically animals only get frostbite if they are poorly acclimated to their environment, become wet, or are very young or malnourished. Most animals that have a good hair coat and are acclimated can tolerate temperatures of -๐๐ยบ๐ (-58ยบF) for prolonged periods.
Young animals are more prone to frostbite because they have a low ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ, meaning that they donโt have enough body mass to maintain their core temperature, relative to how much heat they are losing from their skin surface.
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ?
There are two main issues occurring in frostbite: ๐ฏ๐๐ฌ๐จ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง (reduced blood flow) and ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ณ๐ข๐ง๐ .
When the body gets cold, one of its first instincts is to constrict small vessels at the periphery, in order to keep the nice warm blood circulating in the core where all the important organs are. Not only does this prevent the tissues from being warmed by blood, it also prevents them from receiving vital nutrients they need to survive. Ultimately, this leads to ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ (cell death) in these tissues. This is why the parts of the body furthest from the core, like ear tips, toes and the end of the tail, are most commonly affected by frostbite.
Further causing problems for the cells is the cold itself! A cell is basically a big bag of fluid, and when they get severely cold, ice crystals can form within them. These ice crystals can poke through the cell membrane and damage ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ (the organs of a cell), causing further cell damage and death.
๐๐ก๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ?
Tissue necrosis is never a fun time, but frostbite can cause such significant necrosis that it affects multiple tissue layers, even extending into deeper tissues. This is called ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐. Ultimately, the affected tissue will fall off. If the tissue affected is just the tip of the tail or tip of the ear, it probably wonโt affect the animal much, other than being a bit painful. However, in some cases, the necrosis can be so severe that the ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฅ (furthest from the body) portions of limbs can be lost! This is most commonly seen in calves born into extreme cold.
๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฌ๐๐? ๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐๐?
Frostbite can be diagnosed based on the appearance of the tissue, which is usually white. It can also be dark red to black if it has progressed to necrosis. Once identified, the affected tissue needs to be warmed very slowly, usually by placing the animal in a room temperature area.
๐๐ก๐จ๐ญ๐จ๐ฌ
1) A pigโs ear tip with frostbite.
2) Frostbite can affect poultry too!
3) What a cattle farmer might see in a young calf with frostbite. Often the first sign is ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ฆ๐, or swelling, of the lower limbs.
4-6) Examples of sad animals who lost the distal portions of their limbs from frostbite 
๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ
Maxie, G. Jubb, Kennedy and Palmerโs Pathology of Domestic Animals, Volume 1. Sixth Edition.
Photos 1-6 ยฉ Noahโs Arkive contributors King, Luginbuhl, Larsen licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
