Retrospective study of post-mortem diagnosis of dogs and cats necropsied in the Animal Pathology Sector of Piauí Federal University, Brazil from 2009 to 2014

Abstract

Knowledge of the main causes of death in dogs and cats provides grants for monitoring, planning and evaluation of measures to reduce the percentage of death of these animals. Therefore, the present paper was developed to analyze the diagnostic postmortem of dogs and cats in Animal Pathology Laboratory – UFPI from August 2009 to August 2014, establishing the frequency of causes that led to the animal deaths. 361 dogs and 86 cats were necropsied in this period. Of the dogs, 56.7% were males and 43.3% females. Regarding age at death, in the group of dogs, 29.4% had less than 1 year; 27.7% between 1.1 to 5 years; 23.3% 5.1 to 10 years and 9.1% over 10.1 years. In the group of cats, 61.6% were male and 38.4% female, of which 29.1% were less than 1 year; 39.5% 1.1 to 5 years; 18.6% 5.1 to 10 years and 2.3% over 10.1 years. The main causes of death in dogs were infectious disorders (23.8%), degenerative diseases (14.4%), circulatory disorders (10.2%) and neoplasms 8.6%. In cats, infectious disorders (18.6%), urinary (15.1%), trauma (8.1%) and neoplasms (8.1%) were the leading causes of death. It is concluded that the main causes of death in both pet animal species, diagnosed in animal-UFPI Pathology sector, were infectious diseases. Local veterinary services should be made aware of these results, leading to measures for paying more attention to these diseases and the adoption of prophylactic measures to reduce the occurrence of such diseases in pets.