Hemotropic Mycoplasmosis In a Cat: First Case in Southeastern Anatolia Region, Turkey

Abstract

The material of this case report was consisted of a 5-year-old female British Shorthair cat brought to Harran University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine with complaints of weakness, loss of appetite and stupor for a few days. The physical examination revealed prolonged capillary refilling time (5 sec), pallor and icteric mucous membranes, low body temperature (37.2 °C), hyperpnea (64 breath per minute) and bradycardia (96 beats per minute). In the haemogram, anemia (3.4 M/mm3) with decreased haematoctrit (17.6 %), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (2 pg), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (3.9 g/dl), platelet (35 m/mm3) and haemoglobin (0.7 g/dl) along with severe leucocytosis (50.2 m/mm3); in microscopic examination of blood smear, hemotropic mycoplasmas were determined. After the treatment involving tetracycline (10 mg / kg twice a day, oral), prednisolone (1 mg / kg twice a day, oral) and iron preparations (50 mg / kg once a day, intramuscular) administrations, clinical symptoms disappeared and hemogram parameters returned to normal reference range. This report is the first case of hemotropic mycoplasmosis identified in a cat in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, and as a result of diagnostic methods and treatment protocol performed in the case, it was concluded that hemotropic mycoplasma should be considered in the etiology of diseases associated with anemia and icterus.