Search Results (117)

The domestic cat is the primary reservoir host of three flea-borne Bartonella species, one of which (Bartonella henselae) causes reduced fertility and reproductive failure in experimentally infected cats. Vertical transmission of Bartonella has been documented only in B-cell deficient mice, but not immunocompetent animals. As many free-roaming cats are chronically infected with Bartonella and may be immunocompromised by environmental stress or coinfection, we attempted to isolate Bartonella from the fetal and placental tissues of pregnant queens spayed during trap–neuter–release. Four samples from each tissue (ovary, uterus, fetus, and placenta) were split for direct DNA extraction, liquid culture, and culture on a blood agar plate. Samples from infected queens were inoculated into liquid media and sampled weekly for three weeks for DNA extraction and plating. Bartonella DNA was sequenced directly from 28% (5/18) of the free-roaming queens. For these five queens, liquid enrichment culture was attempted in duplicate for fetal and placental samples. Bartonella clarridgeiae DNA was amplified using qPCR liquid enrichment cultures from the placentas of two cats. These findings suggest that viable Bartonella organisms are present in feline reproductive tissue. Additional studies are needed to assess the transplacental transmission of Bartonella spp. and Bartonella’s influence on fetal development. Full article

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterized by chronic hyperglycemia, affecting between 0.21% and 1.24% of cats. While gastrointestinal complications are well-documented in human diabetic patients—affecting up to 75%—similar data in cats remain scarce. This study explores gastrointestinal alterations in diabetic cats using ultrasound and histopathological evaluations, alongside assessing owners’ perceptions of digestive issues. A brief survey was conducted with the owners of diabetic cats to document diabetes symptoms and any gastrointestinal changes. Following the survey, each cat underwent abdominal US, focusing on the digestive tract including the stomach, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, and colon. Additionally, histopathological analysis was conducted on necropsied diabetic cats. Thirteen domestic spayed diabetic cats with no prior gastrointestinal disease were included, with 83% showing at least one gastrointestinal issue reported by owners. All cats exhibited increased gastric, duodenal, and jejunal wall thickness, while the ileum and colon showed normal thickness. Histopathological evaluation revealed increased thickness of the muscular layers, inflammatory infiltrate, and collagen deposits in the whole length of the gastrointestinal tract. These findings suggest that diabetic cats may experience gastrointestinal remodeling, a phenomenon that, while well recognized in human diabetes, has not been adequately studied in feline patients. Full article

Hepatic sarcomas are rare and aggressive tumors in veterinary medicine, with limited reports in the literature. This case report describes a canine hepatic myofibroblastic sarcoma in a 5-year-old spayed female Dobermann. The dog presented with abdominal enlargement and was diagnosed with a large hepatic mass following comprehensive diagnostic evaluations, including blood tests, imaging, and histopathology. Histological and immunohistochemical analyses confirmed the tumor’s myofibroblastic origin, characterized by positivity for markers such as vimentin, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR), alpha-smooth muscle actin (SMA), and muscular actin (HHF35). Treatment involved a combination of intense-dose chemotherapy using doxorubicin and a subsequent metronomic chemotherapy protocol, which resulted in prolonged survival of over 690 days at the time this manuscript was written. This case highlights the importance of extensive diagnostic and immunohistochemical profiling in the accurate classification of and treatment planning for hepatic sarcomas, and emphasizes the role of advanced veterinary diagnostics in improving patient outcomes. Future studies with larger sample sizes are needed to enhance understanding of the biological behavior and optimal therapeutic strategies for such rare tumors. Full article

Canine mammary tumors (CMTs) constitute one of the most prevalent malignancies in female canines, whereas the functional involvement of gonadotropin receptors—luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) and follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR)—in these neoplasms remains uncharacterized. This study investigated LHR and FSHR expression in 79 CMTs and 14 normal mammary tissues collected from 59 female dogs (ethical approval AW82903202-2-3), using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and quantitative real-time PCR, specifically examining their association with tumor malignancy and spay status. Relative to normal mammary tissue, CMTs exhibited statistically significant downregulation of both LHR and FSHR transcripts and corresponding proteins (p < 0.01), with expression progressively decreasing as tumor malignancy increased, and with grade 3 tumors showing almost undetectable levels. Notably, spayed dogs displayed higher LHR levels in tumors (p < 0.05), whereas intact dogs showed higher FSHR levels than spayed dogs. These findings suggest that the expression of LHR and FSHR in CMTs may correlate with tumor malignancy and be influenced by the spay status. Our findings provide the first evidence of gonadotropin receptor dysregulation in CMTs, offering novel insights into their molecular mechanisms and potential applications in hormone-related diagnostic or therapeutic strategies. Full article

Crystal structure predictions based on the combination of first-principles calculations and machine learning have achieved significant success in materials science. However, most of these approaches are limited to predicting specific systems, which hinders their application to unknown or unexplored domains. In this paper, we present a crystal structure prediction software based on artificial intelligence, named as CrySPAI, to predict energetically stable crystal structures of inorganic materials given their chemical compositions. The software consists of three key modules, an evolutionary optimization algorithm (EOA) that searches for all possible crystal structure configurations, density functional theory (DFT) that provides the accurate energy values for these structures, and a deep neural network (DNN) that learns the relationship between crystal structures and their corresponding energies. To optimize the process across these modules, a distributed framework is implemented to parallelize tasks, and an automated workflow has been integrated into CrySPAI for seamless execution. This paper reports the development and implementation of the AI-based CrySPAI Crystal Prediction Software tool and its unique features. Full article

The etiology of canine chronic hepatitis (CH) is unknown, although an autoimmune background has been suggested in some cases of canine CH. An 11 y old spayed female Norwich Terrier showed a marked elevation of liver enzymes with hyperbilirubinemia, regenerative anemia, and thrombocytopenia. A bacterial culture of the surgically excised liver tissue and bile was negative. The histological features of the liver biopsy resembled those of human autoimmune hepatitis except for a paucity of intralesional plasma cells. It was established through immunohistochemistry that CD3-positive perforin-containing T lymphocytes had actively infiltrated the patient’s liver causing hepatocellular apoptosis, implying an autoimmune attack on hepatocytes. The patient’s general condition improved, with normalization of platelet and serum total bilirubin levels, after immunosuppressive therapy with prednisolone and cyclosporine, whereas liver enzymes did not reach the reference interval. The dog died 11 months after the initiation of immunosuppressive therapy. These pathological findings may be one aspect of autoimmune mediation in canine CH. Full article

Background: Ovariectomy and ovariohysterectomy (spaying) are two surgical procedures commonly performed on dogs. However, the optimum age at which to perform these procedures in dogs remains a contentious issue. Following work published in the 1960s, pre-pubertal spaying became popular largely on the basis that it reduced the risk of mammary cancer development. However, a systematic review published more than 10 years ago questioned this. The objective of this study was to examine the strength and direction of updated literature on the relationship between spaying age of dogs and mammary tumour development and to investigate whether the evidence has changed. Method: A systematic review was conducted based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. In March 2023, peer-reviewed articles were collected from three databases (CAB direct, Web of Science, and PubMed). Articles were excluded if they were not in English, not peer-reviewed, not relevant to PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome), or if the study investigated the effects of desexing on canines with mammary tumours already or of the prognosis and not development of mammary tumours. Results: Of 232 articles obtained from the initial database search, 13 articles were found to meet the inclusion criteria. Six out of the thirteen papers selected found no evidence of a protective effect of early spaying against mammary tumour development. Conclusion: This review suggests that further breed-specific studies with matched controls on the main risk factors would help address issues such as lack of appropriate statistical analysis, control of biases, and confounding risk factors. The benefits of early spaying should be balanced with other considerations about the optimal age for spaying dogs. Full article

Feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) remains as one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in young cats from shelters and catteries worldwide. Since little is known about the molecular characteristics of currently circulating FIPV strains in Long Island, New York, samples from two shelter cats submitted to the Pathology Diagnostic Services of the Long Island University College of Veterinary Medicine, with gross and microscopic lesions consistent with those of FIP were processed for virus isolation, molecular characterization and full-length genome decoding. The younger shelter cat, a 1-year-old male (A15) was found dead without previous signs of illness. Postmortem examination revealed gross and microscopic lesions characterized by vasculitis, necrosis, hemorrhage, and pyogranulomatous inflammation confined to the colon and associated lymph nodes. The second cat, a 7-year-old spayed female (A37) had an identical clinical history and similar but widespread lesions, including fibrinous peritoneal effusion, cecal, colonic, renal, and hepatic involvement. The gross and microscopic diagnosis of FIP in these cats was confirmed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) demonstration of feline coronavirus antigen using mouse anti-FIPV3-70 monoclonal antibody. Virus isolation from saved frozen kidney and colon tissue was performed through several subsequent blind passages in MDCK and Vero cell lines. Confirmation of the FIPV isolation was done through qRT-PCR, IFA, western blot using N protein antibodies, and NGS of the full-length genome sequencing. The full-length genome sequences of the virus isolate from the two cats were decoded using next-generation sequencing (NGS) and deposited in the GenBank as accession numbers PQ192636 and PQ202302. The genome size of these isolates was (29355 and 29321) nucleotides (nt) in length, respectively. While their genome organization was consistent with other FIPV genomes as follows (5’UTR-ORF1ab-S-3abc-M-E-7b-3’UTR-3’), marked differential mutations were observed in the ORF1a/b, S, 3Abc, and 7b protein genes of the two FIPV isolates. One notable deletion of 34 nucleotides was observed in the 7b genes of one of these isolates but was absent in the other. We confirmed the potential recombination events during the evolution of those two FIPV field isolates with the potential parent virus as FECoV-US isolated in 1970 and the potential minor parent as the Canine coronavirus. Our results provide a comprehensive molecular analysis of two novel FIPV isolates causing fatal disease in shelter cats from Long Island. Diagnostic surveillance with molecular characterization and sequencing analysis of circulating FIPV strains within animal shelters may help early detect unique emerging clinical and pathological manifestations of the disease and develop more targeted prophylactic and therapeutic approaches to control it. Full article

A 3-year-old, 10.2 kg, spayed, female mixed-breed dog was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus. The patient was administered intravenous methylprednisolone at a dose of 2 mg/kg twice daily. Over the next 24 h, the dog’s heart rate dropped to 42–48 bpm, while other vital signs remained stable. A 12-lead electrocardiogram revealed sinus bradycardia without any other arrhythmia. Notably, the dog was not receiving any beta-blockers or undergoing other therapies commonly associated with sinus bradycardia. After tapering the corticosteroid dose, no further episodes of bradycardia were observed. Herein, we report the first case of sinus bradycardia in a dog following intravenous methylprednisolone therapy to improve veterinarians’ understanding of corticosteroid-induced cardiac arrhythmias. Full article

Ovarian Remnant Syndrome (ORS) refers to a condition affecting spayed females, characterized by clinical signs typically seen in intact bitches. In this report, Callie, a 6-year-old spayed female German Shepherd, was presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the University of Bari for a specialist examination due to serosanguineous discharge from the vulva. All diagnostic tests recommended in the literature were performed to diagnose ORS. Notably, the Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) assay, considered the gold standard for ORS diagnosis, was used, and the dog tested negative based on the established bibliographic cut-off values. However, advanced diagnostic techniques, including CT scans and laparoscopy, were performed, and histological examination ultimately confirmed the presence of ovarian tissue in the dog’s abdominal cavity. This clinical case underscores the importance of combining hormonal tests with advanced imaging and surgical diagnostics to ensure accurate diagnosis. It highlights the limitations of relying solely on AMH values and emphasizes the need for further research into diagnostic tests, their cut-off values, and the role of collateral examinations to achieve definitive diagnoses in cases where hormonal assays yield inconclusive results. Full article

A 3-year-old spayed male mixed-breed Labrador presented to the Emergency and Critical Care Unit with lethargy, loss of appetite, vomiting, a recent history of presyncopal episodes, and severe exercise intolerance. On admission, the patient had bradycardia, low blood pressure, and mild abdominal pain. Serum biochemistry information revealed severe hyperkalemia, hyponatremia, hypoglycemia, and mildly increased liver and kidney parameters. Upon taking these findings into consideration, hypoadrenocorticism was suspected, and a basal cortisol level was determined; it was below 1.0 µg/dL. Upon examination with ultrasound, we observed that the size of the adrenal glands was considerably reduced. Due to the bradycardia, a complete cardiologic examination consisting of 5 min of six-lead electrocardiography and echocardiography (ECG) was performed. Six-lead ECG revealed a complete atrio-ventricular block with an atrial rate of 140 bpm and a ventricular rate of 60 bpm. The PQ interval was variable, without any evidence of atrio-ventricular conduction. Treatment for hyperkalemia was initiated immediately after admission, followed by dexamethasone sodium phosphate administration, which led to an improvement in the patient’s general condition, and the normalization of the ECG readings, after 24 h of therapy. Afterward, prednisolone (0.5 mg/kg/24 h p.o.) and desoxycorticosterone pivalate (2.2 mg/kg s.c.) were administered. This case shows that a third-degree atrioventricular block might be a reversible problem in dogs with hypoadrecorticism that can be managed with specific treatment for this disorder, without requiring pacemaker implantation. Full article

An eight-year-old spayed female Abyssinian cat presented with lameness. Palpation revealed swelling, heat, and a reduced range of motion in the stifle and tarsal joints in both hind limbs. A radiographic examination of both hind limbs revealed periosteal proliferation from the distal tibia to the tarsal and metatarsal bones, which suggested hypertrophic osteopathy. Thorax and abdominal radiographic examinations were performed to identify the primary disease. Complete blood count and routine serum biochemistry tests revealed no abnormalities. No obvious anomalies were evident in the thoracic radiograph; however, a mass was observed near the left kidney on an abdominal radiograph. An abdominal ultrasound was performed, which revealed a hypoechoic renal mass located in the caudal pole of the left kidney. The left nephrectomy was performed after exploration of the abdominal cavity confirmed an abnormality in the left kidney. A histopathological examination revealed renal cell carcinoma. The cat was subsequently fed on a renal prescription diet but received no additional treatment. The periosteal lesion in the distal tibia regressed over time, but the lesions remained in the talus and metatarsal bones. At 1670 days following surgery, blood tests indicated that urea nitrogen and creatinine were above the normal range. In addition, urinalysis revealed an isosthenuria. However, the cat survived over 4500 days following surgery. Full article

A seven-year-old spayed female dog presented with multiple, small oval-shaped masses on the abdominal skin. The excised tissue was submitted for histopathological evaluation. Routine histology revealed basaloid nodules with stippled chromatin and pleomorphic nuclei. Morphologically, the tumor resembled a solid papillary carcinoma of the breast or an endocrine mucin-producing sweat gland carcinoma (EMPSGC). EMPSGC is a rare neuroendocrine-differentiated neoplasm. This study aimed to compare different immunohistochemical markers for distinguishing between canine sweat gland carcinoma (SGC) and mammary gland carcinoma (MGC). CK19 and Sox9 were useful in identifying SGC. Additionally, the tumor was positive for CK5, AE1/AE3+CK8/18, p63, vimentin, E-cadherin, and synaptophysin, while estrogen receptor staining was negative. The final diagnosis of canine EMPSGC was based on the tumor’s morphological and neuroendocrine immunohistopathological features. Our report provides the first detailed description of a canine EMPSGC, an exceedingly rare tumor in dogs. Full article

An 11-year-old spayed female Beagle presented with tenesmus and was identified with a rectal wall mass. Diagnostic imaging (abdominal ultrasound and computed tomography) localised the mass in the right rectal wall and documented no evidence of metastatic disease. Subsequently, the dog underwent surgery for tumour excision. A histopathological diagnosis of melanoma was performed. To confirm the tumour histotype, immunohistochemistry was performed using anti-Melan A and anti-Ki67. Neoplastic cells exhibited focal Melan A immunoreactivity and widespread nuclear immunoreactivity for Ki67 with a Ki67 index of 27%. Adjuvant immunotherapy with APAVAC^® was initiated. After APAVAC administration, no local or systemic acute adverse events were observed. Four pre- and post-contrast computed tomography (CT) studies were performed in an 18-month follow-up period every 4–5 months. Follow-up rectal palpation and conscious visualisation of the surgical site have also resulted in no macroscopic signs of tumour recurrence. The dog remains alive and with no clinical evidence of tumour recurrence and/or distant progression at the time of writing, therefore, surviving over 540 days from the diagnosis. Full article

Acute-phase proteins (APPs) are biomarkers of systemic inflammation, which allow monitoring the response to surgery and post-operative complications. Ovariectomy (OVE) can be a useful model to evaluate surgical trauma and inflammation in feline species. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the acute-phase response (APR) after applying two different OVE techniques by measuring serum levels of serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin (Hp), total serum proteins (TSPs), albumin (ALB), and paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) during the first 48 h post-surgery (hospital stay). Forty-two female cats were selected for elective spaying. The animals were randomly distributed into two groups: laparoscopic OVE (L-OVE) and midline OVE (M-OVE). Serum SAA, Hp, TSPs, ALB, and PON-1 were measured before surgery and 1, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h post-surgery. Unlike negative APPs such as PON-1 and ALB, SAA is the most sensitive positive APP for monitoring the inflammatory response in cats undergoing OVE following laparoscopic and conventional surgery. OVE performed in cats via both laparoscopic and midline techniques results in a significative increase in SAA levels, with early recovery, minor variations in serum total protein, and no significant changes in albumin, haptoglobin, or PON-1 over a 48-h period post-procedure. Based on SAA concentrations, the response to surgical trauma does not differ between surgical techniques. Full article