Nosocomial diarrhea associated with enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens infection in dogs

A retrospective analysis of the medical records of 30 consecutive cases of diarrhea occurring in dogs that were hospitalized in a teaching hospital was performed. A prospective analysis of culture results for Clostridium perfringens of dogs with diarrhea were compared with those of a control nondiarrheal group. Hospital-acquired diarrhea in dogs was found to be associated with multiple serotypes of enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens. Other potential etiologic agents could not be isolated. Clinical signs were variable, and included mild depression, anorexia, and soft to watery diarrhea with or without frank blood, mucus, and tenesmus. Fever was not present. There were no hematologic or serum biochemical abnormalities, nor were there any consistent virologic or parasitologic findings. Salmonella spp or Campylobacter spp were not identified by fecal culture. No risk factors could be identified. A dog that was euthanatized on the day it developed diarrhea had intestinal histologic findings suggestive of clostridial enteritis. Dogs with diarrhea had significantly higher fecal clostridial counts than did dogs without diarrhea (mean log10 counts +/- SD = 6.34 +/- 1.79 vs 4.75 +/- 2.07). Enterotoxin was found in the feces of 41% of diarrheic dogs but in only 7% of dogs without diarrhea.