Haemoparasites in pet and shelter dogs of Kathmandu Valley
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Department of Zoology
Abstract
Haemoparasitic infections in dog are a significant economic burden worldwide but have
received less attention than that of rabies. Present study was carried out in shelters and
pet dogs from March to August 2021 in Kathmandu valley. Purposive sampling was
carried out to take a blood samples from shelter and pet dogs irrespective of age sex
and breed. About 3 ml of blood was collected in a clean ethylene diamine tetraacetic
acid (EDTA) tube from a saphenous, cephalic, or jugular vein with the help of
veterinary technicians. Altogether 200 blood samples from dogs were collected. Among
them, 100 blood samples were collected from shelter home Lalitpur (Sneha’s care) and
100 blood samples were collected from domestic dogs, which were brought to Central
referral animal hospital Tripureshwor. All the information like owners' name, address,
sex of dogs, age of dogs, breed of dogs were taken. Similarly, presence and absence of
tick in dogs was also noted. Hematological analysis was performed to complete blood
counts using haematology analyzer. A thin blood smear was prepared for the
examination of haemoparasites. Data were analyzed in SPSS software to test
significance. A total of three species of haemoparasites, Babesia, Anaplasma, and
Ehrlichia sp. were recorded in this study. Pet dog’s parasitic prevalence was recorded
at 18%. Among them, male dogs were found to be the higher prevalence (11%)
followed by females (7%). Similarly, shelter dogs showed a 31% of prevalence. Among
them, 21% of males and 10% of females were affected by haemoparasites. The age,
sex, and breed of the dogs found to have no statistically significant effect on the
prevalence of haemoparasites. However, significant difference was noted between
ticks-infected dogs with haemoparasitic prevalence. Hematological analysis revealed a
significant decrease in red blood cell count (P<0.05) in Parasite-positive dogs.
However, other blood parameters like platelets, packed cell volume, haemoglobin,
lymphocytes, monocytes, and eosinophil and basophils were not found to be correlated
in haemoparasites in both shelter and pet dogs. Hence, dogs of Kathmandu valley need
to treat haemoparasites regularly in order to break the transmission chain.
Description
Keywords
Prevalence, Pet dogs, Haemoparasites Breed, Haematological parameter