VMD 512: Zoo/Wild Animal Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health Care (1+1)

RICKETS AND OSTEOPOROSIS

• Rickets occurs due to malformation of the growing bone (bowing of limbs/curving in limbs) due to lack of vitamin D3 and there is a failure of hardening of bone.
• In case of rickets, the mineralization and mineral absorption are not in a match.
• Osteoporosis occurs in both the adults and juveniles (but may be frequent in senile female reptiles), where the already hardened bones become weakened by the withdrawal of calcium for metabolic purposes and the wild animals become more prone for the development of fractures.
• This is a condition of bone wherein there is more resorption of osteoid than the deposition of new tissue.
• Hence, there is reduction in the organic matrix of bone. Protein deficiency also may have some influencing effect on the occurrence of osteoporosis.