Features of the clinical course of feline cystoisosporosis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31210/spi2026.29.01.24Keywords:
parasitology, cystoisosporosis, cats, clinical manifestation, severity of symptomsAbstract
The parasitic genus Cystoisospora Frenkel 1977 includes members of the Apicomplexa, morphologically characterized by the presence of oocysts with two sporocysts, each containing four sporozoites. The species Cystoisospora felis (Wenyon 1923) Frenkel 1977 and Cystoisospora rivolta (Grassi 1879) Frenkel 1977 infect the enterocytes of cats and cause the disease cystoisosporosis. Clinical signs resulting from parasitization of cystoisospores are not always specific and are often similar to the manifestations of diseases caused by other intestinal pathogens, which leads to certain difficulties in conducting a comprehensive diagnosis of protozoosis. Therefore, the aim of the study was to establish the features of clinical manifestations in acute cystoisosporosis in cats. The study was conducted on the basis of the Laboratory of the Department of Parasitology and Veterinary Sanitary Examination of the Poltava State Agrarian University and in the conditions of a Private Veterinary Clinic "ZooLux" (Kyiv). It was found that with cystoisosporosic invasion intensity indicators of more than 500 oocysts in 1 g of feces, infected cats largely displayed such clinical signs as: depression and refusal of food (96.4 %), decreased appetite (92.9 %), dehydration (89.3 %), anemia of visible mucous membranes (85.7 %), dullness of the coat (78.6 %), vomiting (71.4 %), exhaustion (64.3 %) and thirst (60.7 %). Significantly expressed signs of abdominal distension and tenderness of the abdominal wall upon palpation were diagnosed in 21.4 and 39.3 % of cats infected with cystoisospores, respectively. Signs of diarrhea were found in 100 % of animals with cystoisosporosis, where the consistency of feces was of a different nature. The most frequently recorded was a watery consistency of feces (42.9 %), less often – with impurities of mucus (28.6 %) and blood (21.4 %). In 7.1 % of infected cats, diarrhea was accompanied by the presence of both mucus and blood in the feces. The obtained research results allow us to take into account the identified characteristic clinical signs during the diagnosis of cystoisosporosis in cats in order to increase its effectiveness.
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