COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF FLURALANER AND DORAMECTIN FOR THERAPEUTIC MANAGEMENT OF CANINE DEMODICOSIS
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Date
2022-11-24
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COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES MANNUTHY, THRISSUR, KERALA VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITY
Abstract
A study on canine demodicosis was conducted in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, Ethics and Jurisprudence, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy during the period from March 2020 to March 2022. Among the total of 1655
dermatological cases in dogs presented, 356 cases were diagnosed as demodicosis by examination of deep skin scrapings. Out of these, 24 animals were selected for detailed study with 12 animals in each group. Animals of group Ⅰ were treated with single oral dose of fluralaner @ 25 mg/kg body weight and animals of group Ⅱ were treated with doramectin injection @ 0.6 mg/kg body weight once weekly as subcutaneous injection until two consecutive skin scrapings were negative. All the animals were subjected to periodic examination of deep skin scraping at weekly intervals until two consecutive negative skin scrapings were obtained. All the animals were treated with multivitamin and mineral supplements as supportive therapy. Six apparently healthy dogs brought for vaccination were kept as control. High infestation rates were observed in female dogs less than 1.5 years of age with highest occurrence in Labrador retriever breeds. Microscopical examination of deep skin scrapings revealed the presence of different stages of Demodex mites including ova. Haematological analysis revealed leucocytosis with neutrophilia, eosinophilia and anaemia. A non- significant elevation in serum C- reactive protein (CRP) value was noticed in diseased animals.Major histopathological findings associated with canine demodicosis were lymphoplasmacytic, histiocytic, eosinophilic and neutrophilic periadnexal dermatitis, mural folliculitis, perifolliculitis, follicular and epidermal hyperplasia, orthokeratotic and parakeratotic hyperkeratosis with intrafollicular mites. Micrometry of Demodex mites was performed and identified three types of mite, type ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘c’ with morphological features suggestive of D. canis, D. cornei and D. injai, repsectively. Molecular confirmation of Demodex canis was done using PCR amplification of specific region of CHS gene. In group I, the leukogram of diseased dogs showed a significant post treatment decrease in the absolute eosinophil count when compared to pre-treatment. A statistically significant increase in haemoglobin, volume of packed red cell and total erythrocyte count were observed on post- treatment. The mean post- treatment value of ESR decreased significantly. The mean value of CRP in group I showed a statistically non- significant decrease post- treatment. In group II, a significant decrease was noticed in the mean post-treatment values of total leukocyte count, neutrophil, monocyte and eosinophil count. The mean erythrocyte sedimentation rate showed a significant decrease post- treatment. No significant change was observed in the CRP values pre and post treatment in animals of group II.The mean time period required for getting two consecutive negative skin scrapings in animals of group Ⅰ was 7.42 ± 1.51 weeks and in group II, it was 8.67 ± 2.64 weeks. In animals of group Ⅰ, 100 per cent of clearance of mite was observed by week 10 and in group II, it was by week 12. The animals in group I showed 100 per cent remission of clinical signs by 11th week where as in group II, even after 3 months of treatment, only 99.17 per cent of
remission of clinical signs was observed. A better response to treatment was noticed in animals of group Ⅰ treated with fluralaner when compared to animals of group II treated with doramectin. Hence, a single oral dose of fluralaner @ 25 mg/kg was found to be effective for the therapeutic management of generalized demodicosis in dogs