Clinical Cases of Feline Dermatoses Presented at Veterinary Clinic in Malaysia

Feline skin problems can be classified into infectious cases such as bacterial, fungal, viral or parasitic; and non-infectious cases such as immune-associated, nutritional, endocrine, metabolic or traumatic injuries and miscellaneous. Most infectious feline skin diseases may pose risk of zoonosis to handlers and owners. Total 332 cats presented were examined for skin problems. In a one-year period, out of them 15.7% of the cats were presented with dermatological disorders examined at the Veterinary Clinic, Kelantan, Malaysia. In cats, the most common dermatoses were parasitic aetiologies 105 cases (31.62%), traumatic dermatoses 79 cases (23.79%), fungal dermatoses 84 cases, (25.30%), bacterial dermatoses 32 cases (9.63%), immune-associated dermatoses 17 cases (5.12%), viral dermatoses 3 cases, (0.90%), and other dermatoses 12 cases (3.61%). Parasitic skin problems overall were highly associate with cats that have access to outdoor environment which were outdoor cats (25.7%) and semi- roamer cats (38.6%) which accumulate as 67.3% from total parasitic dermatoses where there is increased risk of direct contact to infested cats. It must therefore be emphasized that the results of the study must be considering some of the following inherent biases where case material was drawn solely from the registered clinical cases, and which case distribution may vary to those available cases to the average private practitioner; individuals studied the animals emphasized on primary complaint of skin problem; and the period covered only for one year.