Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Fatal necrotising fasciitis and muscle infection in a 9-year-old cat
By Sura, R et al.·Published in The Veterinary record·2008·Department of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Fatal necrotising fasciitis and myositis in a cat associated with Streptococcus canis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 9-year-old cat suddenly worsened after a week of treatment for a suspected knee injury and sadly passed away. The owner noticed hair loss and discoloration on the cat's left hind leg. A postmortem examination revealed severe infections in the skin and muscle, along with pneumonia and other serious conditions. Tests showed that the bacteria responsible for the infections were from the Streptococcus canis group. Unfortunately, despite the veterinary care, the cat did not survive due to the severity of the infections.
People also search for: cat skin infection treatment · why is my cat losing hair · cat pneumonia symptoms · Streptococcus canis in cats
Abstract
Necrotising fasciitis and necrotising myositis are rare but serious life threatening conditions reported mainly in human beings and dogs. Most cases to date have been caused by beta-haemolytic streptococci of Lancefield groups A, B, C or G. Necrotising fasciitis has been reported only twice in cats and necrotising myositis has never been described. This paper describes a fatal case of necrotising fasciitis and myositis with pneumonia and septicaemia in a nine-year-old cat. The cat had been undergoing treatment for a suspected tear of the cranial cruciate ligament, but on the seventh day of treatment it suddenly deteriorated and died. On postmortem examination, there was an area of hair loss from its left hindlimb and discoloration of the underlying fascia and biceps femoris muscle. Severe necrotising fasciitis and myositis, with numerous intralesional Gram-positive coccoid bacteria, was diagnosed histologically. Other findings included necrotising pneumonia, pleuritis, focal encephalitis, myocarditis and nephritis. Culture of the affected tissues yielded a pure, heavy growth of Streptococcus canis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18390855/