ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To describe the health disorders seen in captivity in 206 pet prairie dogs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Review of medical records of pet prairie dogs that were presented to a veterinary clinic in the period January 2002 to December 2011. RESULTS: The most frequent diseases were respiratory (28.2%), dental (25.2%), integumentary (22.3%) and digestive (19.4%). The most common clinical disorders were rhinitis, elodontoma, hypothermia, gastrointestinal stasis, diarrhoea, obesity and gastrointestinal tympany. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This listing of clinical diseases will help clinicians focus their disease investigation and increase clinical awareness of prairie dog diseases. There was a high rate of poor or unsuitable husbandry and this was often associated with clinical disease. Of the diseases seen commonly in this study, only elodontoma has been previously reported as being common.
Subject(s)
Sciuridae , Animals , Dogs , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Six entire male rabbits, between four and eight years old, were presented with a fluctuant scrotal and/or inguinal swelling resulting from inguinal herniation of the urinary bladder. Concurrent problems included urinary sediment (two rabbits), multiple uroliths (one rabbit) and testicular tumour (one rabbit). All rabbits underwent herniorrhaphy surgery. There was a successful outcome in four of the six cases.
Subject(s)
Hernia, Inguinal/veterinary , Urinary Bladder Diseases/veterinary , Animals , Hernia, Inguinal/surgery , Herniorrhaphy/veterinary , Male , Rabbits , Urinary Bladder/surgery , Urinary Bladder Diseases/surgery , Urolithiasis/surgery , Urolithiasis/veterinaryABSTRACT
Fifty-three tumours were diagnosed in samples originating from 167 different black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) submitted to Northwest ZooPath (NZP) between 1996 and 2009. Three prairie dogs had more than one type of neoplasm. Thirty-two of the 50 prairie dogs were from zoological parks in the USA; 17 were owned privately and one was from a wildlife centre. Ages ranged from 2-9 years (median age 5.6 years) for 41 animals in which age was known. Thirty-nine (73.6%) of the tumours were classified as malignant and 14 (26.4%) were benign. Common sites for tumours were the liver, the alimentary tract and the haemolymphoid and integumentary systems. Hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatocellular adenoma, lymphoid malignancies and elodontoma were diagnosed most commonly.
