Fungal Flora in Asymptomatic Pet Guinea Pigs and Rabbits

Fungal skin diseases are well-recognized diseases with public health implications. The study provides a comprehensive overview and aims to determine the rate of positive fungal cultures to identify the most common fungal species in guinea pigs and rabbits and to determine the rate of asymptomatic carriers in healthy pet animals. This knowledge is essential for understanding disease transmission dynamics and epidemiological situation problems. A total of 167 animals (64 rabbits and 103 guinea pigs) were investigated in this study. The fungi of the genus Penicillium, Rhizopus, Mucor, Cladosporium, and Aspergillus were the most common in the examined animals, and they were isolated from 162 (97%) of the animals enrolled. No fungal growth was observed in 5 animals. In 15 cases (8.98%), we found pathogenic zoonotic dermatophytes (Trichophyton mentagrophytes), which caused several health problems in two humans in contact with affected animals. This study presents the prevalence of fungal flora in pet guinea pigs and rabbits in Slovakia

Changes in C-reactive protein, haptoglobin concentrations and some haematological parameters in female dogs before mating, during preg-nancy and after parturition

SUMMARY Background: Acute phase proteins (APP) are generally used as non-specific markers of inflammation in dogs. The production of APP may be triggered also by physiological factors, for example pregnancy. Objectives: The aim of our study was to compare serum concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP) and haptoglobin (Hp) between pregnant and non-pregnant bitches. Materials and Methods: We determined serum concentrations of CRP, Hp, haematocrit (HCT), haemoglobin (HGB), erythrocytes (RBC), leukocytes (WBC) and mean corpuscular volume of erythrocytes (MCV) in a group of 25 healthy, non-pregnant bitches. From these animals we formed a subgroup of 6 pregnant bitches. Samples of blood were collected from them before mating during oestrus. Second sampling of blood was performed at days 26−30 of pregnancy and the third one between days 58 and 62 of pregnancy. The fourth, fifth and sixth samplings were performed on days 3, 18 and 33 post-parturition, respectively. Results: Examinations of healthy, non-pregnant bitches showed that concentrations of CRP reached 7.23 ± 4.65 mg/l. Before mating CRP was at the level of 3.2 ± 1.90 mg/l and abruptly increased to 27.91 ± 2.60 mg/l by the second sampling. By the third sampling, CRP decreased to 13.25 ± 4.23 mg/l. On day 3 post-parturition, CRP increased to 14.44 ± 7.92 mg/l. At fifth sampling, CRP concentration decreased to 6.58 ± 2.81 mg/l. At third sampling, Hp decreased almost to the initial level before mating. Differences in concentrations of CRP and Hp at individual samplings were significant (α = 0.05). Discussion: Our investigations showed significant changes in CRP during pregnancy with maximal values reached between days 25 and 30 of pregnancy