Introduction

Studies indicated that skin disorders are the highest proportion of complaint of the small animal owners.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to provide up-to-date data on the prevalence of skin diseases in domestic cats in Botucatu city, São Paulo (SP), Brazil.

Methods

Were used the medical records of cats with skin disorders presented and treated at Veterinary Teaching Hospital (FMVZ-UNESP, Botucatu, SP, Brazil) between 2013 to 2016. Dermatological diagnoses were established by surface sampling, hair examination, cytologic examination, examination for fungi and bacteria, biopsy and dermatohistopathologic examination.

Results

Two hundred and seventy-two cats were diagnosed with skin disorders. One hundred and twenty-five (45.96%) of the cats were male and 147 (54.04%) were female with an age and body weight ranging from 1 months to 19.3 years (median: 5.6 years), and from 0.3 to 8.7 kg (median: 3.61 kg), respectively. Two hundred and seventy-two (86.40%) cats were crossbreed, 26 (9.56%) were Persian and 11 (4.04%) were Siamese. The most prevalent clinical signs were itching and alopecia (37.21%), following by alopecia (31.79%) and itching (31.00%). The most common primary final diagnoses were dermatofitosis (32.40%), otitis (23.79%), scabies (14.05%), flea infestation/allergy (10.74%), neoplasia and unspecified dermatoses (4.96%), superficial bacterial folliculitis (4.13%), sporotrichosis (3.31%), cryptococcusis and aspergillosis (0.83%).

Conclusions

These results provided a valuable data on the prevalence of feline skin disorders in general practice in São Paulo state, Brazil. To the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first survey study on feline skin disorders in Botucatu city, SP, Brazil.