Prevalence of bacterial enteropathogens in pet dogs in Trinidad

The rectal swabs of diarrhoeic and apparently healthy non-diarrhoeic dogs presented to a Small Animal Clinic mere cultured for Escherichia coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter and the enteropathogens were characterized. Overall, of 130 dogs divided equally into two groups consisting of 65 diarrhoeic and 65 non-diarrhoeic dogs, 99 (76.2%), 6 (4.6%) and 18 (13.8%) were positive for E. coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter, respectively. The differences were statistically significant (P less than or equal to 0.05; chi(2)). The prevalences of the enteropathogens in diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic dogs were not statistically significant (P greater than or equal to 0.05; chi(2)). Diarrhoea was significantly (P less than or equal to 0.01; chi(2)) more prevalent in dogs less than 6 months of age and 7 months to 1 year old than in dogs older than 1 year. The prevalences of Salmonella, E. roil and enteropathogenic E. roll (EPEC) strains were not significantly (P greater than or equal to 0.05; chi(2)) associated with age but the prevalence of Campylobacter infection was significantly (P less than or equal to 0.01; chi(2)) higher in dogs less than 1 year old (25.0%) than in older dogs (5.4%). Of 99 E. coli strains tested, three (3.0%), four (4.0%), five (5.1%) and 20 (20.2%) were haemolytic, non sorbitol fermenters, verocytotoxigenic (VT) and EPEC strains, respectively. Resistance to tetracycline (59.6%) and ampicillin (50.5%) was most prevalent and significantly (P less than or equal to 0.01; chi(2)) higher than to six other antimicrobial agents.