Symptomatic Leishmaniasis in an Italian Segugio Dog from Northeastern Romania: A Case Report

Leishmaniasis is a zoonotic parasitosis caused by a diphasic protozoan of the genus Leishmania. The dogs are considered the main domestic reservoir of L. infantum and its transmission occurs mainly through sand flies. We report the case of a 10 yr old Italian Segugio dog in Mar 2016 from Iasi County-Moldova Region, northeastern Romania, referred to a private clinic with progressive weight loss, dermal lesions over the muzzle, foot pads and over the right and left tarsal joints. The dog was born in Torino, Italy and transferred to Romania, with a history of regular travelling between these two countries. The physical examination revealed multiple cutaneous lesions with alopecia together with polyarthritis, lymphadenopathies, fatigue and weight loss. Neither fever or nor diarrhea were observed. The serological test (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) showed a positive result for Leishmaniasis. Light microscopy of the stained smears prepared from popliteal lymph node puncture failed to identify the amastigotes. The infection was treated using pentavalent antimonial therapy for eight weeks and Allopurinol for eight months. After nine months follow-up the dog presented with an improved body condition and no signs of recurrence

Influence of environmental conditions on turtles health kept in captivity

In recent years, turtles have become more and more common as pets, while owners are not properly informed about their care. Thus, the pathology of this species in 90% of cases are caused by neglecting microclimate and nutrition conditions. The requirements of turtles are also according to their type (terrestrial tortoises or aquatic turtles). They need an environment as close as possible to their natural environment, a habitat with temperature, humidity, UV light and food which offer a maximum comfort. This paper aims to underline the importance of the feeding and microclimate conditions on turtle’s welfare and health. The clinical study was performed on turtles (different species: Testudo hermanni hermanni, Emys orbicularis and Trachemys scripta) that were referred to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Iasi between 2015- 2017. The main disorders noticed were consisting in vitamin and mineral imbalances, oral and ocular lesions, impaired development of the shell. After a careful physical examination which was correlated with turtle`s history given by the owner who described how the turtles are feed and where they are kept, an appropriate therapy has been recommended and adapted according to the symptoms severity (adequate diet, supplements with vitamins and minerals, improvement of microclimate conditions). When owners are respecting the doctor`s indication, the animal`s conditions is visibly improving after 2-3 months. Therefore, the main inconvenient of this long term treatment is the owner`s attitude, who is expecting good results in a short time and in some cases he renounces to follow the recommendations

Unusual Canine Cutaneous Melanoma Presenting Parietal Bone Metastasis: A Case Report

Melanocytic tumour anatomic location is considered an important prognostic indicator. The cutaneous forms are generally considered benign and may show various biological behaviours. This work reports a rare case of canine cutaneous melanoma showing parietal bone metastasis. Bone invasion in melanocytic tumours is often described in oral or visceral melanomas, but not in cutaneous forms. The patient (dog, male, mixed breed, 12 years) was initially presented for the surgical removal of a cutaneous tumour located on the skin of the carpal region of the right forelimb. Four months after, the patient returned with enlarged lymph nodes and acute respiratory failure. The patient was euthanized due to a decline in physical condition. The necropsy showed metastases in the affected forelimb, regional lymph node, splanchnic organs, parietal bone and meninges. Histopathological examination of tumour tissue samples revealed a mixture of pigmented and non-pigmented spindle and epithelioid melanocytes, while according to immunohistochemistry, the tumours showed a strong immunopositivity for VEGF and MMP-10, and a moderate positivity for MMP-2 expression. This case shows that cutaneous melanocytic tumours may show an aggressive malignant form with positive immunohistochemical reactions for multiple invasiveness factors

Colostrum management practices in some Romanian dairy farms

When calves are born they have no innate immunity so consumption of an adequate volume of high-quality colostrum in the firs hours of life is vital to a dairy calf’s ability to survive and become a productive herd member. Colostrum handing and feeding are essential management protocols for dairy producers. The aims of this study were to investigate current colostrum management practices in Romanian dairy farms using a questionnaire-based that was sent to 30 dairy veterinarians from all over the country between March and June 2019. The questionnaire objective was to describe colostrum management practices carried out in Romanian dairy farms and to identify weaknesses in these areas that may affect calf health and welfare by comparing the results with the current industry recommendations. The way colostrum is managed and fed to calves has changed a lot in recent years in Romania. More operations are removing calves from their dams immediately after birth (83,3%), which decreases the risk of direct disease transmission. Colostrum quality is being evaluated on a higher percentage of operations (63,3%), but the passive transfer of immunoglobulins into the blood of cattle is still tested in a few cases (26,7%). Knowing all these current colostrum practices on our dairy farms help us to identify the possible mistakes that are made and to find solutions to improve the management of colostrum and reducing the morbidity and mortality rates of newborn calves

Considerations regarding gout diagnosis in cage birds

Gout represent a metabolic disease that occurs as complication of nephritis and it is caused by the accumulation of uric acid in various tissues, joints and serous. In cage birds the main causes of gout and nephritis are consisting in excessive nutrition with diets containing increased amount of protein and deficiency in vitamins, especially of A vitamin. The most common cases are seen in older budgerigar and nymphs, as well in those water deprived. The aim of this paper consists in showing suggestive clinical symptoms of this pathology that were identified in cage birds submitted to Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Iaşi. Following the physical examination, the main clinical signs were consisting in white-greyish uric acid deposits on leg’s skin, which caused deformation of affected joints. The necropsy and histopathology were performed in order to reveal organic lesions and skin and kidney microscopic lesions, respectively. By histopathology was confirmed the occurrence of intracellular acid uric deposits. In kidneys, lesions of total or partial necrosis of urinary tubes were observed. The skin showed areas of hyperkeratosis with a multitude of keratin fibers. Gout treatment is long-lasting, difficult to apply and with low chances of success, mostly depending on lesions severity and on the moment when bird was presented to physician. It is recommended to rebalance the food diet with the introduction of green food, supplementation with A vitamin and specific medication

Lion (Panthera leo) particularities in individuals born and hand reared in captivity

Abstract Considering the fact that evolution of species is driven by habitats and the reproduction is a complex phenomenon interfered or influenced by many factors, a reproduction program for captive carnivores is a changeling and many programs cannot afford experimental failure. Captive carnivores pose a challenge to all institution involved in their conservation, presenting a broad pathology from diseases to poor welfare and breeding problems. Infant mortality is primarily caused by inadequate maternal behavior, either active or passive it can be connected to biological factors as well as to individual traits such origin, if they were wild- caught of captive – born. This is the main reason for research team approach in their reproduction program, hand rearing the infants. The present article presents the challenges faced by research team in their efforts to rear two lion infants, from different conceptions. The litters belonged to Barlad zoo, Vaslui County, from eastern part of Romania. Both parents were born and reared in captivity, donated to the institution during year 2014, at 3years of age, both hand reared by donor. During cubs hand rearing we developed a nutrition plan for optimal development of the infants, exposing ours mistakes has educational purpose for others so they avoid them in future

An Overview on Leishmaniasis in Romania: Diagnosis and Therapeutics

Leishmaniasis, a vector-borne disease considered to be one of the twenty neglected diseases by the World Health Organization, represents one of the public health concerns in endemic countries. In humans, as well as in animal counterparts, the infection can evolve with different clinical localizations, such as those that are cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral. Romania has been traditionally considered a nonendemic country for Leishmania species infection and has had sporadic positive human cases; however, the climate change recorded in recent decades has created potentially optimal conditions for the preponderant vectors of Phlebotomus spp., which has lately been identified in various parts of country. Moreover, with people and dogs (the prevailing hosts) traveling in endemic countries, the disease was imported and diagnosed in both species, and became a medical concern. In this review, we focused on the: (1) epidemiological data of leishmaniasis cases, both in humans and animals, reported by Romania; (2) diagnostic tools available for confirmation since there is a lack of gold-standard laboratory methods for human and dog patients; and (3) conventional antileishmanial therap

An outbreak of hemorrhagic disease in rabbits

Rabbit viral hemorrhagic disease, known as viral necrotic hepatitis or hemorrhagic pneumonia, is a contagious disease with peracute or acute outcome and characterized by hyperthermia, prostration, hemorrhagic foamy discharge and mortality in 50-90% of cases. The main lesions are consisting in hemorrhagic diathesis, especially in lungs, liver and spleen. There are no evolution particularities regarding the age, breed, gender or species (domesticated or wild). The aim of this paper was consisting in describing the symptomatology and the pathology of hemorrhagic disease outbreak in rabbits. To the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Iasi were submitted for a physical examination 5 rabbits, 4 female and one male, crossbreed between Lionhead and Californian breed, 4 to 9 months old, kept in a private household, and. During the physical examination, the main symptomatology seen was consisting in sign of seizures, agitations, respiratory illness and nasal bloody and foamy discharge. Due to their bad conditions, the rabbits died shortly after the physical exam. The gross pathology was characterized by hemorrhagic diathesis, catarrhal-hemorrhagic rhinitis, laryngitis and tracheitis with the presence in lumen of a frothy and hemorrhagic liquid. The lesions seen in lungs were consisting in hemorrhagic pneumonia and edema, in liver a necrotic hepatitis, while in kidneys lesions with hemorrhagic pattern

Lipoma in cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus) -A case report-

In the past years the cockatiel parrot as pet has risen in number and consequently the pathology related to captivity conditions increased. The present paper describes a lipoma case in cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus), a female age 5years old with a formation located in left wing, carpal region. Following clinical exam, the 1x1.5cm tumoral formation was identiffid and surgical excision was recomanded. The owner refuzed the surgergical procedure and returned after 2 months with the bird accusing a deteriorated condition and enlarged tumor measureing 2x3cm. After cockatiel death the tumor was examined histopathologically. The final diagnostic was benign tumor well delimitated by surrounding tissues – a lipoma located in subcutaneous tissue from left carpal region