Screening of bacterial DNA in bile sampled from healthy dogs and dogs suffering from liver- or gallbladder-associated disease

Although the biliary system is generally aseptic, gallbladder microbiota has been reported in humans and some animals apart from dogs. We screened and analyzed the bacterial deoxyribonucleic acid in canine gallbladders using bile sampled from 7 healthy dogs and 52 dogs with liver- or gallbladder-associated disease. PCR screening detected bacteria in 17.3% of diseased dogs (9/52) and none in healthy dogs. Microbiota analysis of PCR-positive samples showed that the microbial diversity differed between liver- and gallbladder-associated disease groups. Thus, a specific bacterial community appears to occur at a certain frequency in the bile of diseased dogs

Age-related change of the plasma fibrinogen concentration in dogs

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether canine plasma fibrinogen concentration changes with age. We also investigated sex differences in the plasma fibrinogen concentration. As a result, the plasma fibrinogen concentration was found to moderately increase with age (Spearman's r = 0.55, P < 0.001), whereas that of the male and female dogs did not differ to a statistically significant extent. This finding suggests the need to consider aging as a factor that affects the plasma fibrinogen concentration