Search Results (549)

Background/Objectives: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in companion animals is an increasing concern within the One Health framework, particularly regarding opportunistic pathogens such as Klebsiella spp. This retrospective study evaluated the epidemiology, antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, and temporal resistance trends of Klebsiella spp. infections in dogs and cats across the Iberian Peninsula. Methods: A total of 809 clinical isolates collected between 2016 and 2024 and submitted to a private diagnostic laboratory in Barcelona were analysed. Results: Klebsiella pneumoniae was the predominant species (70%), more frequently identified in cats (76%) than in dogs (68%). Dermatological and respiratory samples exhibited the highest prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates. Overall MDR prevalence was high, particularly in cats (51.1%; 95% CI 41.1–60.9%) compared with dogs (38.4%; 95% CI 34.1–42.8%) although it was not statistically significant. K. pneumoniae generally exhibited higher resistance rates than K. oxytoca, particularly to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, first-/second-generation cephalosporins, third-/fourth-generation cephalosporins (3/4th GC), fluoroquinolones, and tetracyclines. In both bacterial species, resistance rates were consistently higher among feline isolates. In contrast, aminoglycosides and phenicols retained high activity against most isolates. Temporal analysis revealed a significant increasing resistance trend to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, which is particularly concerning given the widespread use of this antimicrobial as a first-line treatment in small animal practice. However, resistance trend to aminoglycosides showed a significant decline. No significant temporal changes were detected for 3/4th GC and fluoroquinolones, suggesting the persistence of resistant populations within companion animals. Resistance to aminoglycosides and phenicols remained comparatively low in this study. Whereas critically important category B antimicrobials, such as 3/4th GC and fluoroquinolones, exhibited low to moderate effectiveness, raising concerns about their empirical use. Conclusions: These findings highlight the substantial AMR and MDR burden of K. pneumoniae in companion animals in the Iberian Peninsula and reinforce the need for prudent antimicrobial use, routine susceptibility testing, and integrated One Health surveillance strategies. Full article

Feline and canine coronaviruses (FCoVs and CCoVs) are widely prevalent in companion animals. The recent emergence of a highly virulent FCoV-CCoV recombinant virus, FCoV-23, caused a rapid feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) outbreak in Cyprus, which raises a serious concern about the cross-species transmission of CoVs among companion animals. Here, we evaluated the prevalence, transmission and evolution of FCoV and CCoV in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces of China in 2025. A universal RT-qPCR assay for FCoV and CCoV was established and used for the detection of 700 clinical samples, including 501 from cats and 199 from dogs. A total of 92 samples (13.14%, 92/700) were detected as positive, containing 79 positive samples (15.76%, 79/501) from cats and 13 positive samples (6.5%, 13/199) from dogs. Ten complete S genes and two complete genomes were obtained from positive samples. Fragment comparison and phylogenetic analysis identified one CCoV-I sequence from a feline sample and one FCoV-II sequence from a canine sample. Furthermore, recombination analyses not only detected intra-species recombination events but also inter-species cross-over events. Collectively, this study, for the first time, revealed that cross-species transmission and recombination events occurred between FCoV and CCoV among companion animals in the Jiangsu–Zhejiang region of China in 2025. Full article

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Escherichia coli (E. coli) from companion dogs is an emerging One Health concern because dogs may serve as asymptomatic reservoirs of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and potentially pathogenic bacteria that can be transmitted to humans. This study aimed to determine antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, characterize antimicrobial resistance and virulence associated genes, and identify nucleotide substitutions in resistance determinants of E. coli isolated from healthy dogs in Thailand. Fecal samples (n = 200; 100 samples per province) were collected from healthy dogs attending a total of 50 small animal clinics located in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Chiang Mai provinces between January and March 2026. E. coli isolates were identified by culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmation. Antimicrobial susceptibility was evaluated against 12 antimicrobial agents using the disk diffusion method according to CLSI guidelines. Thirty randomly selected isolates were further screened for resistance and virulence-associated genes by PCR, and the tetA gene was sequenced to identify nucleotide substitutions. Differences in gene distributions between provinces were assessed using Fisher’s exact test. A total of 66 E. coli isolates were recovered. High resistance rates were observed for ampicillin (100%), piperacillin (84.85%), ceftriaxone (60.61%), tetracycline (56.06%), and aztreonam (46.97%). Multidrug resistance was identified in 47% of the isolates. The 30 isolates exhibiting the highest levels of antimicrobial resistance were selected for molecular characterization. Among these, the β-lactam resistance gene bla_TEM was significantly more prevalent in Nakhon Si Thammarat than in Chiang Mai (60% vs. 0%; p = 0.022). The virulence gene stx2 was also detected significantly more frequently in isolates from Nakhon Si Thammarat (93.33% vs. 26.67%; p < 0.001). Sequence analysis of tetA revealed multiple nucleotide substitutions in two isolates, suggesting ongoing genetic variation within tetracycline resistance determinants that may contribute to the evolution and persistence of antimicrobial resistance. These findings demonstrate that healthy dogs in Thailand can act as reservoirs of MDR and potentially virulent E. coli. The observed geographic variation in resistance and virulence gene distributions highlights the importance of antimicrobial stewardship and continuous molecular surveillance in companion animals within a One Health framework. Full article

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global threat to both human and animal health. Carbapenems are last-resort antimicrobials used to treat severe infections with multidrug-resistant Gram-negative nosocomial pathogens in humans. Therefore, the dissemination of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) has emerged as a major concern worldwide. Although carbapenems are not routinely used in veterinary medicine, CPE, including OXA-48-like-producing Escherichia coli, are increasingly being reported in companion animals. We document the first report of E. coli-harbouring bla_OXA-484 isolated from a urine sample from a dog with a history of chronic thoracolumbar myelopathy. Using a combined Oxford Nanopore (ONT) long-reads and Illumina short-reads sequencing approach, the isolate was characterized and an IncF plasmid containing bla_OXA-484 was reconstructed. The isolate belonged to sequence type (ST)167, which is an emerging high-risk clone frequently reported among human clinical isolates. The bla_OXA-484 gene was harboured in a composite transposon bracketed by IS26 identical to that of bla_OXA-484 carried on an IncX plasmid pOXA-484-JS316 from a human clinical E. coli ST410 from Germany. The isolation of the epidemic clone ST167 harbouring bla_OXA-484 from a canine infection raises the hypothesis of a transmission event between humans and companion animals. Full article

With the development of the pet industry, public attention to pet food safety and nutritional health has been continuously increasing. Postbiotics were initially defined as inactivated microorganisms or microbial cellular components that confer health benefits to the host. Compared with probiotics, postbiotics possess superior safety and stability. They can effectively eliminate the potential risk of horizontal transfer of drug-resistant genes carried by live bacteria, and also feature better manufacturability and storage performance. At present, most research on postbiotics has focused on humans and large domestic animals, with relatively few applications in dogs and cats. This indicates that further research on postbiotics in canines and felines is still needed to better promote their practical application in promoting pet food health. This article provides a comprehensive review of the current research status of postbiotics, focusing on their potential benefits and mechanisms for pet health. It proposes that future studies should concentrate on in vivo experimental validation to clarify the safety, optimal dosage, and specific functions of postbiotics in companion animals. Such research will offer a scientific basis for the application of postbiotics in pet food formulations, ultimately promoting the health and welfare of pets. Full article

Canines exhibit various behavioral abnormalities, such as excessive barking, destructive behaviors, and indoor defecation when left at home alone. Identifying these abnormal behaviors and implementing scientific and reasonable interventions can help improve canine welfare and promote harmonious coexistence between humans and companion animals. However, existing canine behavior recognition methods struggle to adapt to the characteristics of strong temporal continuity and uneven motion amplitude of abnormal behaviors exhibited by lonely dogs, resulting in inadequate temporal feature representation and low recognition accuracy. Therefore, this study developed a TP-CanineNet model based on a Weakly Supervised Video Anomaly Detection (WS-VAD) framework to address this issue. The model integrated a Temporal Context Aggregation (TCA) module to efficiently capture local–global temporal dependencies and suppress temporal noise, and further enhances the representation of temporal features in dog behaviors. Meanwhile, a Pseudo-Instance Discriminative Enhancement (PIDE) module is adopted to strengthen the feature distinction between abnormal and normal behaviors. We constructed an Alone-Dog dataset comprising 430 video samples and 60 ground-truth labeled samples to validate the model’s effectiveness. Experimental results showed that the proposed model achieved a frame-level AUC of 85.19% and an AP of 72.55%, representing improvements of 2.20% and 8.33%, respectively, over the baseline model. The method can provide intelligent detection of domestic dog behaviors when left alone at home. Full article

Cohabiting companion dogs establish hierarchy among themselves. It is hypothesized that the owner represents the main and undividable resource, thus primary access to this is a main organizing factor of rank-related behaviors of dogs. Here we tested high- and low-ranking cohabiting companion dogs’ (N = 70) reactions to their owner’s absence in a 3 min separation test. Rank scores have been assigned with a validated questionnaire (DRA-Q). We predicted that dominant dogs would show stronger reactions to being separated from their owner. Indeed, we found that higher-ranking dogs showed more intense activity and sooner arising attempts to leave the room (rearing at the wall, scratching the door, moving around, barking) than lower-ranking dogs did. These reactions may show also the intention to reestablish their connection with the absent owner. The associations between dogs’ rank and the behavioral responses were modified by the dogs’ age (negatively), the number of cohabiting dogs (positively), and we found that subcategories of the dog’s dominant status (such as ‘agonistic’ and ‘leadership’ subscales) were also associated with finer details of the outcome. These are the first results indicating that presence of the owner may provide more reassurance to higher-ranking dogs against stress than it does to lower-ranking dogs. Full article

The intricate interaction of a host’s microbiome, the microbiomes of other hosts, and environmental microbial populations significantly impacts host health, given the essential physiological functions the microbiome performs within the organism. The oral microbiome of domesticated animals is also influenced by a variety of host and environmental factors. This study investigated the characteristics of the oral microbiome of dogs and cats under comparable and disparate living conditions, emphasizing the description of diversity patterns, taxonomic composition, and predicted functional profiles. Oral buccal swabs were collected from four groups of companion animals (n = 5 per group): dogs housed alone in single-pet households (Group A), dogs cohabiting with cats in multi-pet households (Group B), cats cohabiting with dogs from the same households (Group C), and cats housed alone in single-pet households (Group D). The cohabiting groups were derived from five multi-pet households, with one dog and one cat sampled from each household. Amplicon sequence variations (ASVs) were used for downstream analysis after 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Rarefaction curve behavior indicated proper sequencing depth. Alpha diversity varied by group (Shannon index, p = 0.045), with Groups C and D having larger diversity. A Beta diversity study revealed community composition differences (Bray–Curtis dissimilarity, R² = 0.257, p = 0.001), with some overlap between groupings. In all samples, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, and Fusobacteriota dominated the microbiome. The relative abundance of Fusobacterium, Porphyromonas, and Pasteurella varied across groups. Core microbiome analysis identified limited overlap of core ASVs between groups, with most taxa being group-specific. Functional prediction using PICRUSt2 suggested differences in predicted metabolic and cellular pathways. Overall, these exploratory findings suggest that the oral microbiome of companion animals may be influenced by host species and cohabitation conditions. Although limited by the small sample size, the study provides preliminary insights into microbial diversity, community structure, and predicted functional profiles that may inform future One Health-oriented investigations. Full article

Shuanghuanglian oral liquid (SHL) is widely used in companion animals and poultry, but its molecular mechanism in pneumonia–myocarditis comorbidity and heart–lung inflammatory crosstalk remains largely unclear. This computational study investigated the conserved AKT1/HIF1A-mediated immunoregulatory mechanism of SHL and its cross-species translational potential in veterinary medicine. Network pharmacology was integrated with GO, KEGG, and Reactome enrichment analyses, protein–protein interaction network construction, ADMET evaluation, cross-species sequence homology analysis (human, dog, cattle, and pig), molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulation. A total of 61 active compounds, 251 putative targets, and 52 common targets associated with pneumonia and myocarditis were identified. These targets were mainly enriched in inflammation- and immune-related pathways, including TNF, IL-17, AGE–RAGE, and PPAR signaling. AKT1 and HIF1A showed high sequence conservation across species (85–98%). Key compounds exhibited favorable binding affinity to AKT1, and molecular dynamics simulation suggested the stability of the Baicalein–AKT1 complex. ADMET analysis suggested favorable pharmacokinetic properties and low predicted toxicity. These findings suggest that SHL may potentially alleviate pneumonia and myocarditis through modulation of the conserved AKT1/HIF1A axis and support its potential as a complementary therapeutic approach for managing heart–lung inflammatory diseases in multiple livestock species. This entirely computational study highlights promising mechanisms that should be further validated in vivo. Full article

Zoomafia is frequently invoked in Italian public, advocacy, and institutional discourse to describe profit-oriented animal-related crime, but the term remains analytically broad and insufficiently connected to criminological theory. This narrative criminological review examines zoomafia as a cautious social-scientific lens for studying organized animal-related crime across heterogeneous illicit markets. Keyword-driven searches in Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and targeted criminological, legal, policy, and institutional sources were complemented by citation tracking and qualitative source selection. Peer-reviewed scholarship forms the analytical core, while legal, institutional, and advocacy materials are used selectively and with explicit evidentiary limits. Findings suggest that organized animal-related crime is best understood through market governance, brokerage, legal-illegal interface management, digital mediation, logistics, facilitation, evidentiary visibility, and variable convergence with other illicit economies, rather than through generic offence labels alone. The Italian perspective is analytically useful because companion-animal trafficking, dog fighting and betting circuits, clandestine horse racing, illicit slaughtering, wildlife trafficking, and online-facilitated trade can be compared within a shared frame that also exposes the limits of rhetorical mafia labelling. The article argues that zoomafia should not be treated as a self-proving mafia label, a new legal category, or a synonym for wildlife trafficking, but as a comparative framework for identifying organizational features, enforcement constraints, and evidentiary thresholds. The evidence base remains stronger on strategic recommendations than on robust comparative evaluation of enforcement effectiveness. Full article

Gloiopeltis tenax is a red seaweed containing diverse polysaccharides and bioactive compounds with potential functional applications in animal nutrition. However, information regarding its physiological and microbiome-associated effects in companion animals remains limited. The present study was designed as an exploratory nutritional intervention to evaluate physiological responses associated with dietary G. tenax supplementation in healthy adult dogs using an integrated framework including nutrient digestibility, glycan-degrading enzyme activity, fecal microbiome profiling, and serum metabolomics. Ten healthy adult dogs were assigned to two dietary groups receiving nutritionally balanced diets containing either Ulva sp. (CON) or G. tenax (GT) at 1% inclusion for 16 weeks under standardized feeding and housing conditions. Nutrient digestibility, fecal glycan-degrading enzyme activities, fecal microbiome composition, predicted microbial functional profiles, and serum metabolomic responses were evaluated. No significant differences were observed in nutrient digestibility, fecal score, or general health-related parameters between groups, suggesting acceptable tolerability of dietary G. tenax under the present experimental conditions. Relative abundances of several bacterial taxa differed between groups, and glycan-degrading enzyme activities showed directional changes associated with dietary treatment. PICRUSt2-based analyses suggested potential differences in predicted carbohydrate- and glycan-associated microbial functional tendencies between groups. Serum metabolomic analysis additionally revealed alterations in several amino acid- and carbohydrate-related metabolites associated with dietary intervention. Collectively, these findings provide preliminary insight into microbiome- and metabolome-associated responses to dietary G. tenax supplementation in dogs. Although limited by the exploratory nature and relatively small sample size of the present study, the integrated multi-omics approach applied here may contribute to the development of functional evaluation frameworks for companion animal dietary ingredients. Further studies with larger cohorts and expanded functional analyses are warranted. Full article

Companion animals are increasingly recognized as carriers of antimicrobial-resistant Escherichia coli, yet genomic data from clinically healthy dogs in Latin America remain scarce. We characterized 13 genetically non-redundant multidrug-resistant E. coli isolates selected from 224 resistant E. coli isolates recovered in a previous surveillance study of 600 clinically healthy household dogs in the Metropolitan Region of Chile (2021–2022). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using VITEK2 and interpreted according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute criteria, and whole-genome sequencing was used to identify resistance genes, virulence-associated traits, plasmid replicons, phylogroups, sequence types, and ST131 subclades. All isolates were multidrug resistant and showed high resistance to ampicillin and cephalexin (13/13, 100%), ciprofloxacin (13/13, 100%), cefpodoxime (11/13, 84.6%), cefovecin (10/13, 76.9%), and ceftiofur (10/13, 76.9%). An extended-spectrum β-lactamase phenotype was observed in 9/13 isolates (69.2%). bla_CTX-M genes were detected in 7/13 isolates (53.8%) and bla_CMY-2 in 3/13 isolates (23.1%), whereas IncF-associated plasmid replicons predominated. The isolates belonged to diverse lineages, including ST131, ST744, ST1196, and ST1011. The two ST131 isolates belonged to phylogroup B2, carried bla_CTX-M variants, and were assigned to the C2/H30Rx and C1-M27 subclades. These findings support further consideration of companion animals in genomic antimicrobial resistance surveillance under a One Health framework. Full article

Background/Objectives: Klebsiella (K.) pneumoniae is a significant pathogen in both humans and animals. However, data on its occurrence in animals in Germany remain limited. This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) phenotypes, AMR genes, and virulence traits of animal-derived K. pneumoniae isolates from Germany. Methods: A total of 59 K. pneumoniae isolates obtained in 2023 from dogs, cats, horses, cattle, and chickens across 11 German federal states were analysed. Phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) was performed, and whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was used for genomic characterisation, including detection of AMR genes, virulence-associated genes, sequence types (STs), and plasmid replicons. Results: Most isolates (78%) were susceptible to all tested antibiotics, while three isolates were classified as multidrug-resistant (MDR). Resistance was most frequently observed for piperacillin (n = 8) and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (n = 4). Carbapenem resistance was detected in two isolates (one from a dog and one from a cat), and phenotypic colistin resistance in one dog isolate. WGS identified 96 AMR genes across isolates, with 20–42 AMR determinants per isolate, conferring resistance to β-lactams, aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones, sulfonamides, tetracyclines, trimethoprim, and fosfomycin. Ten extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing isolates carried genes including bla_CTX-M-15, bla_SHV-2, bla_SHV-27, bla_SHV-42, bla_SHV-106, and bla_TEM-158. Although fosA was detected in all isolates, only three exhibited phenotypic resistance to fosfomycin. A total of 52 STs were identified, including high-risk clones. One hypervirulent isolate (ST60) carrying hypervirulence-associated genes rmpA and iroB was detected. Plasmid replicons were present in 70% of isolates, while plasmid-associated AMR genes were identified in nine isolates. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the genomic diversity of K. pneumoniae identified in companion animals and highlights the presence of AMR and virulence determinants relevant to a One Health context. Full article

Background: Veterinary staphylococcal species, including the Staphylococcus intermedius group (SIG) and Staphylococcus schleiferi, colonize and infect companion animals (pets) and humans. This study investigated the longitudinal colonization prevalence of veterinary staphylococci among pets, their humans, and household environments to identify factors associated with carriage and to characterize antibiotic susceptibility trends. Methods: Children with community-onset Staphylococcus aureus skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI), their household contacts, and pets were enrolled in the “Staph Hygiene Intervention for Eradication (SHINE)” trial. At five study visits over 9 months, humans, pets, and household surfaces were swabbed for staphylococcal species detection and health information was collected. Results: The 104 households containing pets comprised 459 humans and 178 pets (136 dogs and 42 cats). Veterinary staphylococci were recovered from 110 pets (62%), 39 (9%) humans, and environmental surfaces in 55 (53%) households. SIG was the most commonly recovered veterinary staphylococci. Ninety percent of colonized humans were colonized with the same staphylococcal species as their pet. In multivariable analyses, dogs were more likely to be colonized than cats and a higher burden of environmental surface contamination was associated with pet and human colonization. The prevalence of methicillin-resistant veterinary staphylococci was low, but resistance to multiple other antibiotics was common among these methicillin-resistant isolates. Conclusions: Carriage of the same staphylococcal species and temporal colonization patterns between companion animals and their owners may suggest cross-species sharing, with the environment serving as a reservoir. Full article

Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) derivatives are emerging as functional ingredients in companion animal nutrition; however, their long-term effects on the canine gut microbiome remain unclear. This exploratory study investigated the impact of dietary supplementation with two hempseed-based formulations (fiber-rich by-product vs. fat-rich oil coating) on the fecal microbiota of healthy adult dogs over 90 days. Twenty-four dogs were randomly assigned to control, hempseed by-product (11% inclusion), or hempseed oil (2% coating) diet groups. Fecal samples collected on days 0, 30, and 90 were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing to assess microbial composition and diversity. The hempseed oil group showed a distinguishable increase in species richness. Both hempseed-based diets were associated with compositional shifts in formulation-specific ways: the oil coating with a higher relative abundance of Lactobacillaceae (notably Ligilactobacillus), and the by-product with a higher relative abundance of Actinobacteriota (particularly Collinsella). Both treatments preserved several microbiota genera. Beta diversity analysis revealed significant temporal restructuring, with convergence toward a stabilized ecosystem by day 90. These findings demonstrate that hempseed fractions modulate the canine microbiome in a formulation-specific manner without disrupting ecological stability, supporting beneficial health effects in canine nutrition. Full article