CLINICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL ASPECTS IN CATS WITH GINGIVOSTOMATITIS COMPLEX

Abstract

Introduction. Gingivostomatitis complex represents one of the most frequent and frustrating disease in small animal clinics (Healey, 2007). The clinical manifestation of this disease complex is described and classified in four stages (Mihaljevic, 2008) but the microbial flora is different in each stage of the disease (Dolieslager, 2010). Aims. The purpose of this study was to evaluate de clinical and microbiological aspects in cats with gingivostomatitis, to correlate the stages of the disease with the bacteria identified from the mouth of each patient. Materials and Methods The study was done between October 2016 - June 2017, in 10 adult cats, mixed breed ,with median age of 7,95 years, from which 8 was male and 2 were female. Each consultation means a careful examination of the oral cavity, which was followed by the sampling from oral cavity. These samples were exanimate microbiologically and we performed antibiogram for each case. Results. Of the ten patients examined, two patients were in the stage I with an average age of 3 years, 7 patients had stage II with an average age of 9 - 12 years and in stage III a single patient was found with the age of 12 years. This aspect shows that the progression of the disease is directly proportional with the ageing. In 3 cases the feline chronic gingivostomatitis was associated with urinary infection (2 cases) and diabetes mellitus (1 case). The oral microbiota is changing depending on the resistance of these bacterias to the more acidic environment present within the biofilm, with the appearance of Gram negative bacili in the advanced stages of the disease. The most effective antibiotics in the cases presented were Enrofloxacin, Convenia, Doxycyclin, and due to antibiotic resistance to Metronidazole and Clindamycin, these are not indicated in the treatement of oral cavity diseases in cats.

Keywords

• cats, clinical aspects, oral microbiome, oral injuries, antibiogram