ABSTRACT. Two different allergy tests, antigen-specific immunoglobulin E quantification (IgE test) and flow cytometric analysis of antigen-specific proliferation of peripheral lymphocytes (lymphocyte proliferation test), were performed to examine differences in allergic reactions to food allergens in dogs with food allergy (FA). Thirteen dogs were diagnosed as FA based on clinical findings and elimination diet trials. Seven dogs clinically diagnosed with canine atopic dermatitis (CAD) were used as a disease control group, and 5 healthy dogs were used as a negative control group. In the FA group, 19 and 33 allergen reactions were identified using the serum IgE test and the lymphocyte proliferation test, respectively. Likewise, in the CAD group, 12 and 6 allergen reactions and in the healthy dogs 3 and 0 allergen reactions were identified by each test, respectively. A significant difference was found between FA and healthy dogs in terms of positive allergen detection by the lymphocyte proliferation test, suggesting that the test can be useful to differentiate FA from healthy dogs but not from CAD. Both tests were repeated in 6 of the dogs with FA after a 1.5-to 5-month elimination diet trial. The IgE concentrations in 9 of 11 of the positive reactions decreased by 20-80%, whereas all the positive reactions in the lymphocyte proliferation test decreased to nearly zero (P<0.05), suggesting that lymphocytes against food allergens may be involved in the pathogenesis of canine FA.

ABSTRACT. Fifty-six hamsters with demodicosis were treated with daily oral administration of ivermectin (0.3 mg/kg). Thirty-three cases (58.9%) were cured and 6 cases (10.7%) had improved clinically but needed to continue treatment. Of 5 cases (8.9%) who relapsed within 3 months and were retreated with ivermectin, 4 were cured and 1 needed further treatment. Five cases (8.9%) had improved clinically but died within 3 months. Seven cases (12.5%) had not improved and died within 3 months. Overall 49 (87.5%) hamsters had improved clinically. No significant differences in prognosis of demodicosis were detected according to sex, breed, age and clinical features, but the prognosis of demodicosis in hamsters with concurrent disease was poor. KEY WORDS: demodicosis, hamster, ivermectin.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 63(11): 1245-1247 In hamsters, demodex is thought to be a common parasite [7,8,11,13,15] and to cause demodicosis associated with immunosuppressive disorders [3,13,15,16], but this latter conclusion is drawn from single case reports or studies of hamsters kept under experimental conditions, and clinical confirmation of underlying disease is often deficient or lacking. In addition, there is little information regarding the response to treatment of demodicosis in hamsters [4]. Demodicosis in dogs is usually treated with amitraz [1], but most topical drugs may be unsuitable for the treatment of demodicosis as they fail to reach the deep-seated immature stages of the mites [8]. Ivermectin treatment has been evaluated in dogs with generalized demodicosis [6,9,10,12,14] and the efficacy of this drug has been reported [9,14]. Topical treatment with amitraz seems to be effective in hamsters with demodicosis [1,13,15], although the efficacy of amitraz varies from one animal to another and the duration of treatment is long for their life-span. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of ivermectin treatment in hamsters with demodicosis in Japan.The veterinary records of all hamsters with demodicosis diagnosed between January 1997 and December 1999 in Kyoto, Japan were reviewed. Demodicosis was diagnosed in hamsters with alopecia associated with a large number of demodex mites visible microscopically in skin scrapings. Careful physical examination of all hamsters and ultrasonography or X-ray of some hamsters was performed, but extensive work-ups such as a CBC, serum biochemical analyses, or serum hormone levels were not performed. Fiftysix hamsters were treated with daily oral administration of ivermectin (0.3 mg/kg). These hamsters were considered to be cured when all skin lesions caused by the demodex mites had resolved and the results of microscopic examination of skin scrapings remained negative for 3 months. The distribution of demodicosis in male and female hamsters was evaluated with the z-test. The influence of sex, breed, age, clinical features at initial presentation and concurrent disease on prognosis was evaluated with the Kruskal-Wallis test and/or Mann-Whitney U test. Differences at P<0.05 were co...

ABSTRACT. The genetic variability of 182 unrelated mongrel dogs living in various areas of Japan (from Hokkaido to Okinawa) was studied by collecting their blood. Ten microsatellite loci were chosen from different autosomal chromosomes. After combining a few rare adjoining alleles to allelic classes, it was confirmed that the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was attained in each locus. The polymorphic information contents (PICs) of the loci, Ren37A11, Ren48E01, AHTk253, ZuBeCa30, Ren277K09, Ren42N13, AHT130, PEZ03, PEZ12, and AHT121, were 0.58, 0.63, 0.67, 0.67, 0.68, 0.71, 0.79, 0.80, 0.80, and 0.80, and the power of discriminations (PDs) were 0. 80, 0.85, 0.87, 0.88, 0.88, 0.89, 0.94, 0.94, 0.94, and 0.94, respectively. The combined mean exclusion chance (MEC) was 0.9995, indicating that these microsatellite loci are useful for kinship testing of Japanese dogs. KEY WORDS: kinship test, microsatellite, polymorphism.

Fleas not satisfactorily eliminated by repeated administration of an imidacloprid product to a dog were examined. Flea specimens collected from the dog were identified as the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis. Sensitivity of the flea isolate to imidacloprid and fipronil was evaluated by in vitro knock-down tests in comparison with 3 isolates obtained from other dogs naturally infested by cat fleas. The isolate from the refractory case was found to show low sensitivity to imidacloprid, but was sensitive to fipronil. The fleas on the 4 dogs were then completely eliminated with a spot-on formulation containing fipronil as an active ingredient.

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Abstract:The diseases observed in 543 canine cases presented at an animal hospital in Tokyo from April 2002 to September 2004 were investigated. Skin diseases were seen in 41.1% of the cases (223 cases) including 109 cases of allergic dermatitis (20.1%). Among 109 cases with allergic skin disease, 59 cases (54.1%) were of atopic dermatitis and/or food allergy. These results were consistent with those reported in Europe and USA including breed predisposition.