Infection with Cytauxzoon felis in domestic cats can cause fever, lethargy, depression, inappetence, icterus, and often death. With a high mortality rate, cytauxzoonosis was historically considered a fatal disease. Within the last 15 years, cats with or without treatment have been recognized as chronically infected survivors of C. felis infection. Our objective was to determine the prevalence of C. felis in healthy domestic cats from Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Infection with C. felis was determined using DNA extracted from anticoagulated whole blood and PCR amplification using C. felis-specific primers. Chi-square, Fisher’s exact tests, and odds ratios were used to compare proportions of cats infected with C. felis. Blood samples were collected from 902 healthy domestic cats between October 2008 and April 2012. DNA from Cytauxzoon felis was detected in 56 of 902 (6.2%; 95% confidence interval, 4.7–7.9) samples. The highest prevalence of C. felis infection (15.5%; 10.3–21.7) was observed in cats from Arkansas, followed by cats from Missouri (12.9%; 6.1–24.0), and cats from Oklahoma (3.4%; 2.2–5.1). Cats sampled in Arkansas and Missouri were 5.1 and 4.2, respectively, times more likely to be chronically infected with C. felis than cats from Oklahoma. Infection with C. felis is common in domestic cats through Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The high prevalence of C. felis reported herein suggests that infected domestic cats are likely reservoirs of infection for naive felines. The high prevalence of C. felis substantiates the importance for the use of approved acaricides on cats to prevent cytauxzoonosis.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the most costly disease of beef cattle in North America. Because Pasteurella multocida is a commensal of the upper respiratory tract, it is generally considered an opportunistic pathogen. However, studies in swine indicated that there may be a limited number of strains associated with disease, suggesting that some are more virulent than others. Although this may also be true of isolates from cattle, appropriate typing methods must be established before this possibility can be investigated. The purpose of this study was to compare effectiveness of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fingerprinting to more traditional approaches for typing bovine P. multocida isolates. Isolates were obtained from 41 cases of fatal BRD and subjected to random amplified polymorphic DNA PCR (RAPD-PCR), whole cell protein (WCP) profiles, outer membrane protein (OMP) profiles, and serotyping. The discrimination index was calculated for each typing method and combinations of each using Simpson's index of diversity. Correlation coefficients were calculated to assess concordance between classification results achieved through genotypic (RAPD-PCR) and phenotypic (WCP, OMP, and serotyping) approaches. All characterization methods were capable of discriminating between isolates. However, there was poor concordance between techniques. There were also few significant associations between typing results and epidemiologic data. Random amplified polymorphic DNA PCR was validated as being a repeatable and reliable means of discriminating between P. multocida isolates obtained from cattle. Isolates obtained from fatal cases of BRD in calves in a commercial feedlot demonstrated significant diversity, justifying additional investigation into whether P. multocida is a strictly opportunistic pathogen in cattle.

Weaning of beef calves is a stressful event that negatively impacts health and performance. A variety of interventions have been proposed to reduce stress and improve gains following weaning. This study used 288 7- to 8-month-old calves from two separate locations, to examine four different weaning strategies, as well as the impact of shipment. Calves were blocked by weight and sex, and then randomly assigned to one of four treatments: abrupt weaning (AW), where calves were separated from the dam on day 0 (D0) and allowed no further contact with the dam; fence line (FL), where calves were weaned on D0 but had fence line contact with dams for 7 days; nose flap (NF), where on day -6 calves received a nose flap that interferes with suckling, then had the flap removed and were weaned from the dam on D0; and intermittent separation (SEP), where calves were removed from dams for 24-h intervals on day -13 and day -6, then weaned on D0, but allowed fence line contact with the dam for 7 days. Each treatment group was further divided into two subgroups, one of which was shipped early (D0 for AW, day 7 for others) or shipped later (day 28). Body weight and sickness were recorded for all groups. Results showed a negative impact on gain for early shipping compared to later shipping, and poorer gain in AW calves than most other treatments. Results of the analyses of morbidity were inconclusive. This study found that delayed shipment following FL weaning improves performance under common management conditions for the US cow–calf industry.