Aim:The aim of this study was to determine the relevant tools in the diagnosis of liver cirrhosis in dogs.Material and Methods:A total of 140 dogs presented at Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, showing clinical signs of hepatic insufficiency were subjected to clinico-hemato biochemical, urological, ultrasonographic (USG), and USG guided fine-needle biopsy examinations by standard methods. On the basis of these results, 6 dogs out of 140 dogs were found to be suffering from liver cirrhosis. Six clinically healthy dogs constituted the control group.Results:The dogs suffering from liver cirrhosis manifested inappetence, halitosis, abdominal distension, weight loss, melena, icterus, anemia, and neutrophilic leukocytosis with the left shift. Levels of hemoglobin, lymphocytes, packed cell volume, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular Hb (MCH), and platelet count were significantly lower in liver cirrhosis group than control group while total leukocyte count, neutrophils, and MCH concentration were significantly higher. Glucose, total protein, albumin, A/G ratio, and fibrinogen were significantly lower, and creatinine, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, prothrombin time, and APTT were significantly higher than the control values. Ultrasound revealed diffuse increase in echogenicity with rounded and irregular liver margins. Cytological examination of the ascitic fluid and fine-needle aspiration biopsy of liver was not fruitful in the diagnosis of liver cirrhosis.Conclusions:Liver cirrhosis causes clinical and hemo-biochemical alterations, which require special consideration when treating diseased animals. USG, diffuse increase in echogenicity of liver, rounding and irregularity of liver margins and microhepatica were the consistent findings. It is suggested that USG along with hemo-biochemical alterations may be used as a diagnostic tool for liver cirrhosis in dogs.

Aim:As in India especially, the Punjab state sero-prevalence and distribution of ehrlichiosis in relation to clinico-hematobiochemical response remains largely unexplored. Thus, this study was designed to determine the prevalence of vector (tick)-borne tropical canine pancytopenia caused by Ehrlichia canis through enzyme labeled ImmunoComb® (IC) assay in dogs from in and around Ludhiana, Punjab. Correlation of prevalence was made with various clinico-hematobiochemical parameters.Materials and Methods:Seroprevalence study was carried out using IC® test kit (Biogal, Galed Labs). The study was conducted in 84 dogs presented to the Small Animal Clinics, Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, Punjab.Results:Out of 84 suspected dogs for ehrlichiosis, based on peripheral thin blood smear examination 12 (14.28%) cases were positive for the morulae of E. canis and 73 (86.90%) dogs were found positive to E. canis antibodies through IC® canine Ehrlichia antibody test kit, respectively. Among the different age groups 1-3 years of aged group showed highest prevalence (41.09%), followed by the 3-6 years age group (32.87%), infection levels were lower in the <1 year of age group dogs (13.69%) and more than 6 years age group dogs (12.32%). The highest prevalence was seen in Labrador retriever. This study indicates that season plays a very important role in the prevalence of ehrlichiosis. The most common findings observed were anemia, leukocytosis, neutropenia, lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, eosinophilia followed by hyperbilirubinemia, increased levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase, hypoalbuminemia, hyperglobulinaemia, decrease in albumin and globulin ratio, increase in blood urea nitrogen and creatinine.Conclusions:Serological techniques like IC® are more useful for detecting chronic and subclinical infections and are ideally suited to epidemiological investigations.

The 399 clinically healthy quarters from 101 Murrah buffaloes were analyzed for somatic cell count (SCC; DCC and microscope methods) and biochemical composition of milk in relation to udder health. The udder health revealed specific subclinical mastitis (SSM) in 7% and non-specific mastitis (NSM) in 49% of quarters. Latent infections comprised 1%. Staphylococci (43%), streptococci (39%) and corynebacteria (18%) constituted chief etiological agents in SSM. Electrical conductivity increased significantly both in SSM and NSM compared to healthy quarters. Significant effects for SNF and density were seen in SSM only. DCC and microscope depicted similar cell counts with a correlation coefficient of 0.89. The correlations of DCC with CMT and EC were 0.85 and 0.51, respectively. Quarters with negative CMT reactions had DCC values of < 3 × 105 cells/ml. The DCC means for negative, trace, and +1 to 2 CMT scores were 122, 238, and 593 (× 103) cells/ml, respectively. Lactose with discrimination ability of 83.76% was found better indicator of udder inflammation in buffaloes. Buffaloes unlike cows have low numbers of quarter infections, respond similarly as cows to udder inflammation but at different levels, and DCC may be effectively employed for expressing milk cell count in this species

Aim:To study epidemiology of forestomach (reticuloruminal, omasal, and abomasal) disorders in cattle and buffaloes.Materials and Methods:The 106 buffaloes and 32 cattle referred for treatment to the university large animals teaching hospital with the complaint of gastrointestinal diseases constituted the study material. The cases were diagnosed based on history, clinical examination, hematology, biochemistry, radiography, peritoneal fluid analysis and ultrasonography, rumenotomy, and postmortem. A questionnaire was prepared containing important information on housing, husbandry practices, including feeding practices and individual animal information viz. age, species, month of the year, parity, gestation (month), and recent parturition. The animals were divided into eight groups and analysis of variance was performed to study risk factors associated with each condition.Results:The forestomach disorders are widely prevalent in cattle and buffaloes between April and October, during summer and rainy season (90%) and constituted a significant proportion of diseased cows and buffaloes (138/1840) at the hospital. Different forestomach disorders and their prevalence was: Diaphragmatic hernia (DH) 17%, traumatic reticuloperitonitis (TRP) 14%, idiopathic motility disorder or vagus indigestion (VI) 22%, adhesive peritonitis (AP) 13%, frank exudative peritonitis (FEP) 12%, reticular abscess (RA) 8%, ruminal and omasal impaction (RI) 5%, and abomaso duodenal ulceration (ADU) 9%. DH and RA were significantly more common in buffaloes as compared to cattle. Similarly, impactions were more in buffaloes but its incidence was very low (5%). ADU was present in buffalo as commonly as in cows. Exclusive feeding of wheat straw was present in an abysmally low number of animals and hence could not be considered the cause of these disorders. DH was significantly higher in buffaloes (>5 years) of 5-8 years of age and TRP, VI and AP were observed in cattle and buffalo of 2-8 years of age during the second half of gestation to 1 month post-calving. FEP (12%) occurred more commonly within 1 month of parturition.Conclusions:DH, TRP, frank and AP and ADU are causes of the widely prevalent forestomach (reticuloruminal, omasal and abomasal) disorders in cattle and buffaloes.

The findings of this study substantiate that subcutaneous administration of three doses of iodized oil given at 24 h interval is effective in decreasing rectal temperature of hyperthermic cattle.