Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Ear infections in dogs and cats - how to tell if it's serious
By Ginel, Pedro J et al.·Published in Veterinary dermatology·2002·Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Spain·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: A semiquantitative cytological evaluation of normal and pathological samples from the external ear canal of dogs and cats.
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs and cats with ear infections (otitis externa) had higher counts of yeast and bacteria in their ear canal samples compared to healthy pets. In dogs, abnormal yeast counts were over 5, and for cats, over 12. Similarly, bacterial counts above 25 in dogs and above 15 in cats indicated an infection. These findings help veterinarians identify ear infections based on the number of these organisms present. Treatment for ear infections often includes cleaning the ears and using antifungal or antibacterial medications, which can lead to improvement in symptoms.
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Abstract
Numbers of desquamated epithelial cells, yeast cells and bacterial organisms were counted in samples collected from the external ear canal of 37 normal dogs and 16 normal cats, and from 24 dogs and 22 cats with otitis externa. The aims of the study were to establish quantitative reference ranges and to correlate these data with the clinical status of the dogs and cats. Numbers of yeast cells and bacterial organisms were significantly increased in dogs (P = 0.05; P = 0.0001) and cats (P = 0.0001; P = 0.0001) with otitis externa, and in most cases high counts were correlated with clinical signs. Mean Malassezia counts per high-power dry field of > or = 5 in the dog and > or = 12 in the cat were considered abnormal. Mean bacterial counts per high-power dry field of > or = 25 in the dog and > or = 15 in the cat were considered abnormal. When used to differentiate normal from inflamed external ear canals, these figures provided a low sensitivity but a specificity of > or = 95%.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12074704/