The study of prevalence and associated risk factors of diseases and other clinical conditions diagnosed in dogs and cats in Douala city, Cameroon

Summary Over a period of 5 years, a study was undertaken to establish the prevalence of clinical diseases in dogs and cats in Douala city, Cameroon, based on sex, breeds and age. Data were collected from clinical cases of dogs and cats admitted in six private veterinary clinics and analysed using Chi2 test statistics. A total of 2397 clinical conditions were recorded; among them, dogs and cats were 2222 (92.7%) and 175 (7.3%), respectively. For dogs, the most occurring clinical diseases comprised parvovirosis (16%), helminthoses (8.2%), gastroenteritis (7.8%) and poisoning (7.8%), whereas pet cats showed highest prevalence of helminthoses (9.7%), poisoning (5.1%) and dermatitis (2.9%). The sex-wise highest prevalence was observed in male (dogs 67% and cats 59.4%) than female (dogs 33% and cats 40.6%) (P = 0.009). Cross breeds (31.7%), local breeds (24.02%) and German shepherd (13.1%) were mostly affected, while highest clinical diseases were found (96, 54.9%) in the local cat breed counterpart. Incidence of diseases was more in puppies (68.7%) and in young cats (75.5%) compared to other age groups. The result of this study might help to instruct pet owners on preventive measures and to develop supplementary effective disease management and control strategies against pet animal diseases.