Transport in containers and an unfamiliar environment are potent stress-inducing factors in domestic cats. This stress can be evaluated using cortisol concentration in serum and through other related physiological responses, such as increased glycaemia and body temperature. There is evidence that in some animal species, while subjected to psychological stress, lower right tympanic temperature is associated with emotional activation. In this study we evaluated the relationship between tympanic temperature, rectal temperature, and glycaemia and stress level as represented by cortisolaemia in domestic cats. Two groups of 18 cats were separated according to higher or lower cortisol serum levels after transportation and exposure to an unfamiliar environment. The right tympanic temperature was lower in the low cortisol group than in the high cortisol group. No significant differences in left tympanic temperature, rectal temperature, and glycaemia were observed between the low cortisol and high cortisol group. The relationship between emotional stress and tympanic temperature is in accordance with a possible emotional lateralisation in domestic cats. This functional tympanic membrane temperature technique could be an alternative method to evaluate the psychological stress in domestic cats.
RESUMO.-Doenças transmitidas por vetores estão emergindo e reemergindo em todo o mundo, representando um desafio na medicina humana e veterinária. Entre essas doenças estão aquelas causadas pelos agentes da ordem das Rickettsiales, que são bactérias Gram-negativas intracelulares obrigatórias, com capacidade de infectar vários animais e seres humanos. Vector-borne diseases have been emerging and reemerging all over the world, causing a challenge to veterinary and human medicine. Among these diseases are those caused by agents of the order Rickettsiales, obligatory intracellular Gram-negative bacteria, with ability to infect several animals and humans. Rickettsiales of the species Ehrlichia spp. and Anaplasma spp. residing in cytoplasmic vacuoles of leukocytes and platelets. Rickettsiales of the species Rickettsia spp. freely infect cytoplasm or nucleus of host cells. The aim of the present study was to investigate the natural infection with Ehrlichia canis, Anaplasma platys, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Rickettsia spp. in captive wild felids at the Federal District and Goiás, Brazil. In addition, it was also aimed to relate possible changes in hemogram with the presence of these agents. Blood samples from 34 animals were analyzed by PCR to detect the presence of DNA from these agents. The DNA of Ehrlichia canis was detected in 5.8% (2/34) of samples. A. platys was detected in 64.7% (22/34), A. phagocytophilum was detected in 5.8% (2/34). The DNA of Rickettsia spp. was not detected in any sample. Two felides presented co-infection with E. canis and A. platys, and two presented co-infection with A. platys and A. phagocytophilum. There were no significant differences in hematological data from positive and negative samples. The data suggest that captive wild felids can serve as potential reservoirs for Ehrlichia spp. and Anaplasma spp., despite hematological abnormalities were not observed. As Rickettsiales das espécies
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