Dermatophytes and Malassezia are common pathogen in Taiwan. However, systemic Candida albicans (C. albicans) infection in animals has not yet been reported here and is rare elsewhere in the world. This report, describe a young dog, in which a submandibular pyogranulomatous lymphadenitis caused by C. albicans infection progressed to systemic candidiasis. The diagnosis was based on the fungal culture of aspirates from the submandibular lymph node and exudates around the lymph node. The dog did not respond to oral fluconazole therapy and required euthanasia because the dog appeared serious sign of seizure. At necropsy, multiple lymph nodes were also shown to be affected, and the fungal culture of cerebrospinal fluid was positive for C. albicans. In this first documented case of systemic C. albicans infection in a dog from Taiwan, we assess the possibility of candidiasis as a re-emerging infection in companion animals.

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A six-year and one-month old, male, Netherland dwarf rabbit was presented with a one-month history of cutaneous mass that had rapidly grown. At the initial presentation, a spherical tumor of approximately 23 mm in diameter was recognized on the abdominal skin. The tumor was surgically removed. Histopathological examination revealed that the tumor consisted of small basaloid cells arranged in a nodular or fascicular form, and was diagnosed as trichoblastoma. In the postoperative follow-up, the rabbit has showed neither metastasis nor recurrence for more than one-year after the sugery. Although trichoblastoma in rabbits is known to be predisposed on the dorsal and lateral sites of the thoracic skin, the tumor of the present case developed on the abdominal skin, which is thought to be relatively uncommon sites to be affected with this tumor.

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A five-year-old, spayed female, Shetland sheepdog was presented with six-month history of progressive, symmetrical alopecia and pigmented macules on the ventral neck, abdomen and caudomedial thigh along with enlarged vulva and mamillaes. The dog showed no pruritic behavior on the skin lesions. Serum estradiol, 17α-hydroxyprogesterone (17α-OHP), progesterone, testosterone and cortisol levels before and after ACTH stimulation showed no abnormalities, whereas cytology of vaginal smear revealed complete cornified epithelial cells, suggesting estrus. Exploratory surgery revealed a remaining ovary on the right side of abdomen. Surgical removal of the remaining ovary caused regrowth of hairs from 21 days after surgery, and the coat was almost at normal appearance at day 187 after surgery. Thus, the dog was diagnosed as having sex hormone-related dermatopathy associated with remaining ovary. Our findings also suggested that time course analyses of cytology of vaginal smear is useful in diagnosis of sex hormone-related diseases, especially in cases in which serum sex hormone levels showed no abnormality.

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