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. 1991 Dec;107(3):659–665. doi: 10.1017/s0950268800049359

Gastrointestinal carriage of Clostridium difficile in cats and dogs attending veterinary clinics.

T V Riley 1, J E Adams 1, G L O'Neill 1, R A Bowman 1
PMCID: PMC2272098  PMID: 1752313

Abstract

Cats and dogs being treated at two veterinary clinics were investigated for gastrointestinal carriage of Clostridium difficile using selective solid and enrichment media. Thirty-two (39.5%) of 81 stool samples yielded C. difficile. There were significant differences in isolation rates between clinics, 61.0% of animals being positive at one clinic compared to 17.5% at the other (Chi-square, P less than 0.005). Of 29 animals receiving antibiotics, 15 (52.0%) harboured C. difficile while 11 (23.9%) of 46 animals not receiving antibiotics were positive (Chi-square, P less than 0.01). There was no difference in carriage rate between cats (38.1%) and dogs (40.0%). The environment at both veterinary clinics was surveyed for the presence of C. difficile. Fifteen of 20 sites at one clinic were positive compared to 6 of 14 sites at the other clinic. Both cytotoxigenic and noncytotoxigenic isolates of C. difficile were recovered from animals and environmental sites. These findings suggest that household pets may be a potentially significant reservoir of infection with C. difficile.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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