A slaughterhouse and bacteriologic study on hepatic abscesses of slaughtered sheep in Urmia abattoir

Hepatic abscesses have a major economic impact on the stock-breeding industry because of liver condemnation and reduced animal performance and carcass yield. This research was aimed to determine occurrence and bacterial causes of hepatic abscesses of sheep slaughtered at Urmia abattoir.Post-mortem examination of 3260 sheep showed that 48 (1.47%) exhibited hepatic abscesses. Twenty six (1.99%) abscesses were found in females and 22(1.12%) abscesses were found in males. Most of the abscesses were found in the right lobes (45.8%) and in diaphragmatic surfaces (47.9%) of livers. According to presence of abscesses, there was significant difference between different liver surfaces (p