A survey on bacterial involvement in neonatal mortality in dogs

Bacterial infections represent the second cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality in dogs, thus the present study aimed to investigate the bacterial involvement in canine neonatal death and to evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility of the isolated bacteria. Fifty-one newborn purebred puppies, born dead or dead within 28 days of age, belonging to 36 different litters, were enrolled and the following procedures were performed on their fresh dead bodies: necropsy, collection of swabs from liver, kidney, lung, small bowel, and possible thoracic and/or abdominal effusion, for both bacteriological examination and antimicrobial susceptibility test, and collection of samples from the same organs for histology. About 47% of total swabs was bacteriological positive (pure bacterial culture or bacterial association). In 65% of the newborns puppies the mortality was likely due to a bacterial infection. Although the high multidrugs resistance, the most effective antimicrobials were third generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones. In case of neonatal mortality, bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility test become essential for a targeted therapy in surviving littermates and for the management of following pregnancies in bitches with recurrent neonatal loss.