Vet World   Vol.13   January-2020  Article-2

A descriptive study of ciguatera fish poisoning in Cook Islands dogs and cats: Demographic, temporal, and spatial distribution of cases

Background and Aim: Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is the most common form of seafood toxicosis reported in humans worldwide. Dogs and cats are also susceptible to CFP, but there is little published and much unknown about the condition in these species. This study aimed to document the demographics of canine and feline cases of CFP, to examine the temporal and spatial distribution of cases, and to compare the incidence of animal and human CFP in the Cook Islands.

Materials and Methods: Six years of medical records from the Esther Honey Foundation Animal Clinic (the only veterinary clinic in the Cook Islands during the study period) were reviewed to identify cases of CFP. The study variables included the date of presentation, species, age, sex, neutering status, and village/locality.

Results: A total of 246 cases of CFP were identified, comprising 165 dogs and 81 cats. The sexes were equally represented; however, within each sex, entire animals outnumbered those that had been desexed. Cases occurred year-round, with slightly higher numbers recorded in spring. Annual case numbers trended downward over the study period. Cases were documented in all regions of Rarotonga and also one outer island (Aitutaki). Fewer cases were seen in areas with a narrow (<200 m) fringing lagoon, compared with a wide (>400 m) lagoon.

Conclusion: This study documented epidemiologic patterns of canine and feline CFP cases for the first time. Based on the results, further investigation is warranted to establish whether desexing has a protective effect against CFP. Keywords: cats, ciguatera, Cook Islands, demographics, dogs, epidemiology.

Keywords: cats, ciguatera, Cook Islands, demographics, dogs, epidemiology.

How to cite this article: Gray MJ (2020) A descriptive study of ciguatera fish poisoning in Cook Islands dogs and cats: Demographic, temporal, and spatial distribution of cases, Veterinary World, 13(1): 10-20.

Received: 08-09-2019  Accepted: 25-11-2019     Published online: 03-01-2020

Corresponding author: Michelle J. Gray   E-mail: mail.mgray@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2020.10-20

Copyright: Gray, 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.