Abstract
A total of 593 cats consisting of 144 adults and 449 kittens obtained from Animal Protection Center, Prefecture of Kanagawa, were examined. Of these, 51 (8.6%) had Campylobacter, 12 (2.1%) had Yersinia, and 8 (1.4%) had Salmonella. In adult cats, the respective recovery rates of the 3 bacteria were 9.0, 5.8, and 2.1% and in kittens, 8.5, 0.9, and 1.1%. Of 64 Campylobacter strains, 48 from 36 cats were identified as C. jejuni and 16 from 16 cats were as C. coli. Of 12 Yersinia strains, 6 were identified as Y. enterocolitica, 5 were as Y. frederiksenii, and 1 was as Y. pseudotuberculosis. Biovars (Wauters) of the 6 Y. enterocolitica strains were biovar 1 (5 strains) and biovar 2 (1 strain) and their serovars were 06 (1 strain), 07 (1 strain), 014 (1 strain), and ungroupable other than 01 to 033 (3 strains). Eight Salmonella strains were all identified as S. choleraesuis subsp. choleraesuis and belonged to 4 serovars, agona (3 strains), blockley (3 strains), braenderup (1 strain), and typhimurium (1 strain). These results indicate that Campylobacter is carried in the healthy pet cats more frequently than Yersinia and Salmonella.
