Research Article

Disease Prevalence and Therapeutics of Pet Dogs at Central Veterinary Hospital (CVH), Bangladesh

Sudip Kumar Sharma1, Al-Nur Md. Iftekhar Rahman1,2, Mahfuzul Islam1,3*

1Faculty of Animal Science & Veterinary Medicine, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207; 2Department of Animal, Nutrition, Genetics and Breeding, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207; 3Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207.

Received | December 01, 2023; Accepted | December 25, 2023; Published | December 30, 2023

*Correspondence | Mahfuzul Islam, Faculty of Animal Science & Veterinary Medicine, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207; Email: [email protected]

Citation | Sharma SK, Rahman ANMI, Islam M (2023). Disease prevalence and therapeutics of pet dogs at central veterinary hospital (CVH), Bangladesh. Res J. Vet. Pract. 11(4): 49-53.

DOI | http://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.rjvp/2023/11.4.49.53

ISSN | 2308-2798

Copyright: 2023 by the authors. Licensee ResearchersLinks Ltd, England, UK.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

INTRODUCTION

Dogs may be the most frequent household pets in the world, having adapted to live with humans in every country, including Bangladesh (Chomel, 2014; Hossain et al., 2022; Ansari-Lari and Oroji, 2023). They have improved the social, emotional, and physical health of their owners—especially the younger ones (Dohoo et al., 1998; Robertson et al., 2000; Leonard et al., 2012). Dogs belong to the family Canidae and order Carnivora. Canis familiaris is the official designation for the domesticated dog. There are about 400 breeds of Canis familiaris, ranging in size and shape from the tiny teacup chihuahua to the large Irish wolfhound (Dysko et al., 2002).

In Bangladesh, keeping pets is becoming more and more common. For passing the time during their leisure, people are concerned about taking care of pets especially dogs (Hossain and Kayesh, 2014; Garoma and Diba, 2022). Nevertheless, despite the positive outcomes, the intimate relationship between dogs and people continues to pose a serious risk to public health since dogs act as reservoirs of infectious disease agents that can be transferred to humans and other household animals (Robertson et al., 2000; William et al., 2002; Molyneux, 2004; Colella et al., 2020; Ng-Nguyen et al., 2020; Kouamo et al., 2021; Mendoza Roldan and Otranto, 2023). According to Tarafder and Samad, (2010), at least 36 significant zoonotic diseases are acquired from dogs globally. Although Bangladesh has been linked to the presence of several significant zoonotic diseases acquired from dogs, there are nevertheless relatively few inland reports on this subject. Consequently, it is necessary to look into diseases in dogs, particularly in Dhaka, due to the presence of a large number of pet population. While studies on the clinical diseases in pets have been conducted in various parts of Bangladesh (Tarafder and Samad, 2010; Mahmud et al., 2014; Parvez et al., 2014; Yadav et al., 2017; Hasib et al., 2020; Hossain et al., 2022), there is comparatively little information available regarding the prevalence and associated risk factors of these conditions in dogs in Dhaka city. Furthermore, right choice of drugs is the key to treat clinical diseases. Keeping all the points in our mind, the goal of the current study was to ascertain the prevalence, associated risk factors as well as drug usage of clinical diseases in pet dogs that were brought to the Central Veterinary Hospital (CVH) in Dhaka to receive medical attention.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Research Area and Duration

The study was employed 90 pet dogs that were brought to the Central Veterinary Hospital (CVH) in Dhaka between July and August of 2022. All the animals were registered in the patient registered book, including breed, age, sex, and complaint of the owners.

Methods of diagnosis of diseases

The complaints of patient owners, clinical disease histories, and patient clinical examinations were considered as the basis for the clinical evaluations of diseased animals. Diagnosis of clinical diseases was carried out based on clinical signs and reported symptoms, rather than diagnostic tests (Tarafder and Samad, 2010). Moreover, a thorough medical history, including vaccination status, travel, food, and environmental history, as well as information about any possible intoxication sources was taken carefully from the owners.

Statistical analysis

Each patient’s data was gathered and entered into Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Office Excel-2013, USA). Using the Minitab17 software (Minitab Ltd., UK), the Pearson’s Chi-square test was used to evaluate all of the study’s data. A significance level of p<0.05 was assigned to differences.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Prevalence of clinical diseases of pet dogs at CVH

Ninety clinical cases of dogs were recorded at CVH, Dhaka, Bangladesh, during the period from July to August 2022. The prevalence of clinical diseases in dogs according to disease name and categories are presented in Figure 1 and Figure 2, respectively. The most common clinical case during the study period was canine parvovirus (28.89%), followed by viral fever (18.89%), salmonellosis (14.44%), dermatomycosis (8.89%), canine distemper (6.67%), lice infestation (5.56%), malnutrition (5.56%), gastritis (4.44%), leptospirosis (3.33%), mite infestation (2.22%), and rabies (1.11%) (Figure 1) (p<0.001). According to disease categories, the highest prevalence was found in viral diseases (55.56%), followed by bacterial diseases (17.78%), miscellaneous diseases (10%), fungal diseases (8.89%), and parasitic infestation (7.78%) (Figure 2) (p<0.001). Islam et al. (2019) conducted a similar study; however, they reported viral diseases as the second highest clinical cases (23.37%) after parasitic diseases (25.37%). Parvez et al. (2014) and Yadav et al. (2017) also conducted similar studies; however, prevalence varies among all the above-mentioned studies, which might be due to the demography and the period of studies. Sultana et al. (2016) reported that canine parvovirus infection was the second-highest clinical disease in pet dogs (15.95%), which was next to skin diseases (18.69%). However, in this study, the most prevalent clinical diseases in dogs were viral diseases, especially canine parvovirus, and viral fever, which may be due to not vaccinating the dogs or vaccination failure. Furthermore, the low prevalence of parasitic diseases and dermatitis observed in the present study indicates the carefulness of the pet’s owners.

Association of disease categories with breed, age, and sex of pet dogs.

Figure 3 shows the prevalence of clinical disorders in dogs by age, sex, and breed. At CVH (Figure 3A) (p<0.001), the breeds showed different degree of clinical diseases where approximately 29% in Cross breed, approximately 24% in German Shepherd, approximately 20% in Local breed, approximately 13% in Labrador, approximately 9% in Pug, and approximately 5% in Doberman. This is consistent with the earlier research conducted by Mahmud et al. (2014) and Islam et al. (2019). Viral diseases were the most common disease category among German shepherds, the local breed, and Crossbreeds when compared to other breeds (p<0.05); nonetheless, Cross breeds had the highest prevalence of viral infections relative to other breeds (p<0.05) (Table 1). This research suggests that breed significantly affects clinical diseases in pet dogs.

Male dogs had a higher prevalence of clinical cases (about 69% vs. 31%) compared to female dogs (Figure 3B) (p<0.001). Out of all the disease categories, viral diseases were the most common in both males and females (p<0.05); nevertheless, males were more likely than females to have viral diseases (Table 2). The results of Yadav et al. (2017), who found that male dogs had a greater illness prevalence than female dogs (58.72% vs 41.28%), corroborated this finding. According to this research, sex significantly affects the relationship between illness and pet dogs.

Dogs aged seven months to three years had higher reported clinical cases (62%) than dogs older than three years (20%) and dogs less than six months (18%) (Figure 3C) (p<0.001). In every age group, viral infections were the most common disease category (p<0.05). With the exception of miscellaneous disorders (p<0.05), dogs aged 7 months to 3 years had a higher prevalence of all disease categories (Table 3). Similarly, dogs older than six months had a higher risk of developing clinical diseases (68.02% vs. 31.98%) than dogs younger than six months, according to Yadav et al. (2017). Additionally, young dogs had a reduced proportion of clinical cases (17.55%), according to Tarafder and Samad (2010). Young dogs may have fewer infections because of the extensive attention their pet owners provide for them. This discovery implies that the occurrence of clinical illnesses in domestic dogs is influenced by age.

Pattern of drugs usage for the treatment of clinical diseases of pet dogs

Various medications, including antibiotics, antihistamines, NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines), antifungals, anthelmintic agents, vitamins, and minerals, were utilized for therapeutic purposes. Table 4 displays the findings of the medication use pattern for the treatment of clinical diseases in dogs. Ceftriaxone, a third-generation cephalosporin, was the most often given antibiotic (90%). As an anthelmintic and an antihistamine, pheniramine maleate and ivermectin were suggested, respectively. Meloxicam was the NSAID that was utilized the most after tolfenamic acid. When it comes to treating fungal infections, griseofulvin and fluconazole are equally useful. The best supplements were combinations of vitamins and minerals. According to Hasib et al. (2020), the most commonly prescribed antibiotic for pets was ceftriaxone. The types of clinical conditions influence the medications selected for therapeutic usage.

To sum up, pet dogs came to CVH to receive treatment for various clinical conditions. In dogs, viral infections seemed to be the most common clinical condition. Age, sex, and breed can affect the likelihood of developing clinical illnesses. NSAIDs, anthelmintics, antifungals, antihistamines, and various antibiotics were utilized therapeutically.

Table 1: Association of clinical diseases of dogs between disease categories and breed.

Table 2: Association of clinical diseases of dogs between disease categories and sex.

Table 3: Association of clinical diseases of dogs between disease categories and age.

Table 4: Percentage of drugs used for treatment of diseases of dogs.

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