Occurrence of zoonotic parasites in cats (Felis catus) at an urban pet market

Abstract

Cats (Felis catus) are felids which have a close emotional bond with human beings. Because of the close contact with their owners, they harbor many parasites of zoonotic importance. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and intensity of infestation of important zoonotic parasites of cats from a well-known pet market in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Fecal samples from 30 cats were examined for one year, of which 28 cats (93.33%) were infected with 15 different species of parasites. Among them, Trichuris vulpis had the highest prevalence (93.33%). Other highly prevalent parasites were Capillaria spp (90%), Toxascaris leonina (76.67%), Toxocara cati (73.33%) respectively.

In general, kitten (≥6 months- 1 year) and young (>1- 2 years) cats had higher parasitic prevalence (100%) than the adult cats (>2- 3 years) (prevalence 81.82%). According to sex, 15 out of 16 males (93.75%) and 14 out of 14 females (100%) were infected with at least one sp. of parasite. T. vulpis (100% in female vs 93.47% in male), Capillaria spp. (85.71% in female vs 93.75% in male) and T. cati (78.57% in female vs 75% in male) were the parasites that had higher prevalence rate in both male and female hosts. Prevalence of parasites in pet cats was highest in winter (100%) and summer (100%), followed by in monsoon (83.33%). The current study reported the occurrences of commonly found cat parasites in a pet market of the capital city of Bangladesh and should be useful for a basis of study for further molecular identification of important zoonotic parasites of Bangladesh.