Therapeutic Management of Canine Babesiosis along with Identification of Vector: Case Study

Abstract

Present study was conducted in two Labrador male dogs and one non-descript bitch with history of off feed, fever, vomiting and diarrhea, dullness, ocular discharge, bleeding from nostrils in bitch and presence of ticks on body surface. Based on history and clinical findings, disease was diagnosed tentatively as babesiosis which was further confirmed by blood smears examination. Blood smears examination showed presence of small dot shape B. gibsoni protozoal parasite in large number of RBCs. Babesiosis affected dogs were treated with imidocarb dipropionate, ivermectin and oxytetracycline along with other supportive therapy. Treated dogs showed marked improvement after 2 days of treatment and complete recovery was on day 4th of treatment in non-descript indigenous dog and on day 6th of treatment in Labrador dogs. For identification of vector, ticks were collected in screw cap bottles contain 80 parts ethanol, 05 parts glycerin and 15 ml distilled water and identified on the basis of the morphological characters of the gross specimens and permanent slides of the specimens by mounting process. The isolated ticks were identified as Rhipicephalus, Hyalloma and
Haemaphysalis spp.