Vet World Vol.13 December-2020 Article-28
Research Article
Veterinary World, 13(12): 2798-2805
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2020.2798-2805
Comparison of subclinical dermatophyte infection in short- and long-haired cats
2. The Veterinary Diagnosis Laboratories, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand.
Background and Aim: Long-haired cats may have an increased risk of dermatophytosis due to insufficient grooming and their thick hair coat trapping fungal spores. The prevalence of subclinical dermatophytosis in long-haired cats was evaluated using fungal culture and Wood's lamp test. Hematology and blood chemistry results were compared between cats negative and positive for dermatophytosis.
Materials and Methods: A total of 127 cats (median age, 3 years [range, 10 months-10 years]) without feline leukemia virus or feline immunodeficiency virus infection were classified into short-haired (n=64) and long-haired (n=63) groups. Hair samples were cultured on a fungal culture medium (dermatophyte test medium, enhanced sporulation agar, and Sabouraud agar).
Results: The prevalence of dermatophytosis in short-haired and long-haired cats was 6.25% (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.15-12.28) and 34.92% (95% CI, 22.94-46.90), respectively. The odds of long-haired cats having dermatophytosis were 8.05 (95% CI, 2.44-33.97) times greater than that in short-haired cats. The number of positive dermatophytosis found in domestic short-haired cats (2/50, 4.0%) was significantly lower than that in Persian cats (17/47, 36.17%; p<0.001) and long-haired mixed breed cats (3/7, 42.86%; p=0.011). The overall sensitivity and specificity of the Wood's lamp test for diagnosing Microsporum canis infection were 37.5% (95% CI, 21.2-57.3%) and 96.1% (95% CI, 90.4-98.5%), respectively. Cats with dermatophytosis had significantly lower hematocrit and serum albumin levels than cats without dermatophytosis.
Conclusion: Subclinical dermatophytosis was more common in long-haired cats; therefore, dermatophyte examinations should be performed routinely. Keywords: cats, dermatophyte, hematology, mycosis, Wood's lamp.
Keywords: cats, dermatophyte, hematology, mycosis, Wood's lamp.
How to cite this article: Sattasathuchana P, Bumrungpun C, Thengchaisri N (2020) Comparison of subclinical dermatophyte infection in short- and long-haired cats, Veterinary World, 13(12): 2798-2805.
Received: 24-07-2020 Accepted: 17-11-2020 Published online: 29-12-2020
Corresponding author: Naris Thengchaisri E-mail: ajnaris@yahoo.com
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2020.2798-2805
Copyright: Sattasathuchana, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.