Cytological and microbiological analysis of canine otitis externa

Abstract

The ear discharge of fifteen dogs was examined for cytological and microbiological evaluation along with antibiotic sensitivity testing. The ear discharge of ten healthy dogs was also analyzed for comparative data. Cytological analysis showed that inflammatory cells and rod shaped organisms in highly infected cases. Otic microbiota in healthy cases revealed Bacillus spp. and Staphylococcus spp., while in clinical cases Pseudomonas spp., E coli, Klebsiella spp. and Alcaligenes spp., were also identified by using universal primer 16S rRNA PCR. The yeast Malassezia pachydermatis was isolated from ear discharge of all dogs. Among the anti-microbial drugs tested, Gentamicin had the most effective response against the otic microbes, followed by ciprofloxacin while neomycin had the least.