A new approach to diagnosis is described based on behavioural signs of which some twenty are listed. Fixation licking, starting at the rump and asymmetrical sitting are among signs added to the existing commonly accepted ones such as ‘scooting’. Normal anal sac fluid is defined as almost clear, slightly yellow in colour, and abnormal material is described in varying forms of coloured pus. Predisposing factors are suggested such as diarrhoea and diets leading to soft bolus. The bacterial flora involved is defined consisting of micrococci, diphtheroids, Escherichia colt, Salmonella, Streptococcus faecalis, Clostridium welchii, Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas and Proteus. Moreover, it is suggested that some unresponsive skin conditions are prolonged through a secondary effect of anal sacculitis.
A survey of the incidence of anal sacculitis in the dog based on a population of 3,053 dogs treated at two urban practices, one in England and one in Australia, showed that 12‐5% of dogs presented at clinics were affected with anal sacculitis. No predisposition in the dogs or selectivity on the part of the disease was found in relation to breed, sex, age or geographical distribution.
From the standpoint that cytogenetic screening in mares is seldom necessary as an aid to diagnosis of the gonadal dysgenesis syndrome, a series of double-blind trials were conducted to test the proposal that present practice failed to explore the potential for cytogenetics in clinical practice. It was demonstrated that diagnoses of infertility might be made where mares were found to be of normal phenotype by clinical examination. Such mares were found to be gonosmic mosaics. One stallion had a polymorphism of the X chromosome and had poor conception rates. It was demonstrated that the true value of chromosome testing in clinical stud practice has previously been misinterpreted and underestimated.
Twelve dogs were used in a series of three experiments designed to simulate the assumed mechanism of initiation of anal sacculitis: infection, impaction and abscessation. The disease was reproduced by inoculation of the sacs with a mixture of Streptococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli and Clostridium welchii in broth, both with and without ligation of the ducts of the sacs. The disease was also produced by ligating the ducts of the sacs without inoculation. In one case, where inoculation was performed and where the condition was chronic, the dog developed a debilitating chronic diarrhoea. The signs described in a previous paper (Halnan, 1976b) were variously encountered in the experimental cases confirming the basis of early diagnosis.
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