STUDIES ON THE CLINICO-PATHOLOGY OF DERMATITIS IN DOGS
Abstract
Dermatitis is one of the major concern among the canine diseases. To study the clinico-pathology of dermatitis in dogs, clinical cases of dogs registered at Veterinary College Hospital (GAU), Anand; Veterinary Polyclinic, Valsad (Gujarat State) and Veterinary Hospital, Madalpur were screened during July 1990 to June 1991, The investigation was carried out to study the incidence of etiological factors causing dermatitis, epidemiology, symptomatology and haematological and biochemical changes in dermatitis. For the above study 1,873 cases of dogs were screened. Out of them 185 (9.88%) were found to be clinical cases of dermatitis. From these, 92 cases were selected randomly for detailed study of etiology(bacterial, fungal, parasitic, allergic, nutritional and hormonal), epidemiology (age, sex, breed, season etc.), symptomatology (lesion types, pattern and location) haematology (Hb, TEC, TLC and DLC), and biochemistry (Blood glucose and BUN) along with the control group of 20 healthy dogs ( for haematological and biochemical study). Etiological study revealed higher incidence of bacterial dermatitis (60.87%), followed by fungal(14.13%), parasitic (13.04%), allergic (9.78%), hormonal (1.09%)and nutritional (1.09%) dermatitis. Among bacterial dermatitis, S. aureus (89.3%) remained predominent. S, epidermis was found in 8.90 per cent and Pseudomonas species in 1.8 per cent cases. Major fungal isolates were M. canis(61.5%)and T, mentagrophytes (15.4%). Among external parasitic infestation, S. scablei (50.0%), D, canis (33.3%) and ticks (16.7%) were detected. Detailed causal factors of allergic, nutritional and hormonal dermatose were not detected in this study. The disease was found more common in young dogs (below 18 months). Incidence of infectious dermatitis (bacterial, fungal and parasitic) was significantly higher (P<0.05) in younger dogs, Male dogs (68.5%) were more prone to dermatitis. Again, bacterial dermatitis was more common in male dogs (71.4%), However, such higher incidence in fungal (61.5%), parasitic (58,3%) and allergic(77.7%; dermatitis was nonsignificant. No specific breed predilection for dermatitis was observed, but more cases of dermatitis were seen in a group of long haired breed (Pomeranian, Alsatian and some long haired crossbreeds). Seasonal influence was noticed in bacterial ( more in summer) and fungal (more in winter season) dermatitis. It was also marked that relative hximidity has highly significant (P<0.01) positive correlation with the incidence of dermatitis, Symptomatological study revealed that bacterial dermatitis was usually pruritic, causing mainly pustules on the ventral abdomen, trunk and back region. Fungal dermatitis was characterized by excoriation, alopecia and crust formations commonly on ears and extremities. Parasitic dermatitis was severely pruritic with excoriation and papule formations. Allergic dermatitis exhibited pruritus, redness, and papules and wheal formation without any specific distribution pattern. Endocrine dermatose had typical bilateral non-pruritic alopecia, whilst nutritional dermatose showed crust formations, rough coat and non-pruritic alopecia. Haematological study showed significant leucocytosis, lymphopenia and neutrophilia in bacterial dermatitis, Eosinophilia was evident in parasitic and allergic dermatitis. Biochemical analysis of blood indicated significant increase in BUN and decrease in blood glucose in bacterial dermatitis.
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Keywords
VETERINARY MEDICINE, A STUDY