title: Retrospective study of clinical and hematological aspects associated with dogs naturally infected by Hepatozoon canis in Ludhiana, Punjab, India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate clinical and hematological aspects of dogs naturally infected with Hepatozoon canis (H. canis) presented at the Small Animal Clinics of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood films of 34 naturally infected dogs were examined for haematological alterations and parasitaemia. Signalment and clinical signs were recorded from the animals. Clinical histories were filled out during the consultation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 34 positive dogs by Giemsa stained peripheral blood films, 88.23% presented parasitaemia by H. canis only, while 11.77% had the combination of H. canis, Babesia sp. and Ehrlichia sp. Young male dogs less than one-year-old, of non-descript breed, were the most commonly affected. And 26.47% were presented with anorexia/inappetence as the only clinical symptom. Other clinical symptoms were mild to moderate fever, pale mucosae and lethargy; a few were also showing the signs of vomiting and diarrhoea. Haematological alterations showed mainly normochromic-normocytic anaemia, leukocytosis and neutrophilia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of this study substantiate that H. canis caused clinical and haematological alterations of the varied intensity in dogs, even with low parasitaemia, should be taken into consideration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Science, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, India.
authors.forename: Sushma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chhabra
authors.forename: Sanjeev Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Uppal
authors.forename: Lachhman Das
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Singla
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D004285:Dogs; D016783:Eucoccidiida / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Clinical signs; Dogs; Haematology; Hepatozoon canis