Prevalence of Enteropathogens in Dogs Attending 3 Regional Dog Parks in Northern California

Hascall, K.L.; Kass, P.H.; Saksen, J.; Ahlmann, A.; Scorza, A.V.; Lappin, M.R.; Marks, S.L.

Fecal consistency was significantly associated with both the presence of enteropathogens and the number of enteropathogens detected, and younger dogs were significantly more likely to be infected with enteropathogens. Interestingly, most of the risk factors evaluated were not significantly associated with fecal score or the presence of 1 or more enteropathogens, including the presence of other household pets having diarrhea and the frequency of dog park attendance. Dogs with looser feces were more likely to be infected with Giardia spp., and the presence of C. perfringens alpha toxin gene and cpe above a threshold level of 300,000 gene copies/gram feces was weakly correlated with diarrhea, whereas dogs infected with C. difficile did not have altered fecal consistency. Infection with C. difficile and C. perfringens has been inconsistently associated with diarrhea in dogs; 19 however, both species have been associated with an acute hemorrhagic diarrheal syndrome in dogs. 20, 21 Studies are warranted in healthy dogs to determine the prevalence of recently identified C. perfringens spore-forming toxins (netE and netF) associated with hemorrhagic enteritis in dogs. 22 Canine circovirus (DogCV) has been implicated as an emerging pathogen of concern in dogs, and the role of this virus in causing diarrhea in dogs is currently being investigated. Circovirus has been associated with vasculitis and hemorrhagic gastroenteritis on necropsy; however, coinfection with additional enteropathogens in 68% of diarrheic dogs in 1 study complicates the diagnosis. 23 The prevalence of DogCV detected in this study (9%) was similar to that found in Li et al.'s study (11% and 6.9% in diarrheic and nondiarrheic dogs, respectively). The amplification of DogCV DNA from normal dogs and the lack of association with fecal score suggest that this virus might be nonpathogenic in many dogs.