title: Isolation and comparative investigation of vaginal mycoflora in feline population of urban and dairy cattle herds.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this work was to identify the predominant fungal species present at vaginal site in different healthy cats including households, stray and cats in industrial dairy cattle herds.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fungal isolates of vaginal fluids of 100 cats were collected using the sterilized cotton swabs from discharges of vagina. The isolates were identified according to their morphological characteristics and biochemical profile. Were included 34%, 33% and 33% households, stray cats and cats of industrial dairy cattle herds of Mashhad-Iran, respectively. They were short hair cats.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Vaginal fungi were isolated from 69% of feline population. Fungal isolates were obtained from vagina of 22%, 25% and 22% of households, stray cats and cats of industrial dairy cattle herds, respectively. There were no significant differences among the cats. The highest fungal agent was recovered in cats of 1-2 years old. Twenty two different isolates were recovered in this study. The most frequently recovered species samples were Penicillum spp. (11%) followed by Aspergillus section Nidulanti (4%). However, the vagina of healthy cats could be contaminated by 2-4 different fungal agents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is concluded that fungal infections can occur in vaginal cavity of different healthy kinds of cats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Theriogenology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: garoussi@ut.ac.ir.
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Garoussi
authors.affiliation: Section of Mycology, Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eidi
authors.affiliation: Graduated student from Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mehravaran
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D002415:Cats; D002417:Cattle; D003612:Dairying; D005260:Female; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009181:Mycoses / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D010407:Penicillium / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015995:Prevalence; D014505:Urban Population; D014621:Vagina / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: Cats; Cats of dairy herds; Chats; Chats de troupeaux laitiers; Chats domestiques; Chats errants; Household cats; Mycoflora; Mycoflore; Poils courts; Short hair; Stray cats; Vagin; Vagina