To Joan and Dick Bossart:
 
        I have just finished looking at the slides on Mishka.  Dr. Dutton did an
excellent job - it was the most thorough practitioner post that I have seen in a
long time.  Unfortunately, I am able to find the cause of death in the examined
tissues.  This seems to parallell the total blank that Dr. Dutton draws
clinically.
 
        I would like to say that pathologists ALWAYS find the answer, but
sometime it's not there.  There are certain conditions that do not leave their
footprints in the tissues after death - certain toxins, cardiac arrythmisa,
seizures, and some others.
 
        I certainly do not see evidence of distemper here, no of an islet cell
tumor, which I know was on Dr. Dutton's differential list.
 
        I will be calling him shortly with my results.
 
        Best of luck, and sorry that I could not find an answer for you.
 
       Bruce Williams, DVM                 Department of Veterinary Pathology
       [log in to unmask]         Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
       (202) 782-2600/2602                 Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
[Posted in FML issue 1106]