TABLE 4-3.

Common Bacterial Culture Results

Site	Commensals	Pathogens
External ear canal
Dog	Malassezia, Clostridium, Staphylococcus (a few), Bacillus (a few); never Streptococcus, Pseudomonas, or Proteus	Many Staphylococcus and Malassezia together; Pseudomonas, Proteus, Streptococcus, Escherichia coli
Cat	Not documented	Staphylococcus aureus, β-hemolytic streptococcus, Pasteurella, Pseudomonas, Proteus, E. coli, Malassezia
Skin
Dog	Micrococcus, Clostridium, diphtheroids, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Corynebacterium, Malassezia	S. aureus (coagulase positive), Proteus, Pseudomonas, E. coli
Cat	Micrococcus, Streptococcus, S. aureus, S. epidermidis	S. aureus, Pasteurella multocida, Bacteroides, Fusobacterium, haemolytic streptococci
Conjunctiva	Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Bacillus, Corynebacterium, diphtheroids, Neisseria, Pseudomonas	S. aureus, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, E. coli, Aspergillus
Vagina	Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Corynebacterium, E. coli, Haemophilus, Pseudomonas, Peptostreptococcus, Bacteroides	Brucella canis; pure culture of organisum (esp. E. coli, Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas) when accompanied by tissue reaction at vaginal cytology
Urine	<1000* organisms/mL; presence of several organisms suggests contamination	More than 100,000* organisms/mL and often pure culture. E.coli, enterobacteria, klebsiella, Proteus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pasteurella multocida, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus

^*Absolute numbers of bacteria depend on the collection technique.