Epizootiology of Infectious Diseases of Dog in Some States in Nigeria (2015–2018)

An epizootiology of infectious diseases/conditions of dog in some veterinary clinics from Benue, Plateau states and the Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria were assessed from 2015 to 2018. This study revealed about seventeen (17) infectious clinical cases/conditions from 1865 cases recorded within the period of four (4) years. These comprised of helminthoses (17.8%) having the highest prevalence followed by babesiosis (17.5%), parvovirosis (15.9%), ectoparasitism (11.3%), scepticemia (6.9%), Mange (5.7%), urinary tract infections (4.7%), canine distemper (4.2%), colitis (3.9%), myiasis (2.7%), trypanosomosis (2.1%), leptospirosis and transmissible venereal tumor (1.9%), respiratory infections (1.7%), otitis (1.0%) and orchitis (0.7%). Puppies (0–6 months old) 50.2% were mostly affected. Incidences of diseases were more in Alsatians (23.7%), Cross (22.9%), Nigerian indigenous breed (20.5%), Caucasian (9.6%) and Rottweiler (8.9%). More cases of vaccinated (68.7%) were recorded against the unvaccinated (31.3%) dogs while male (57.1%) dogs had a higher frequency of cases as compared with their female (42.9%) counterpart. Disease incidence was highest in dry season (54.3%) especially in the months of December (13.3%), January (11.1%) and February (10.6%).The highest frequency of disease incidence was recorded in 2015 (36.4%). Most the infectious clinical cases/conditions recorded from this study were preventable cases demanding veterinary care in order to prevent the risk of zoonosis.