Fatal Toxoplasmosis in Sand Cats (Felis margarita)

Abstract

The sand cat (Felis margarita) is a small-sized felid occurring in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The sand cat captive-breeding program at the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife in Sharjah, UAE, has until recently been severely compromised by very high newborn mortality rates. Two different pairs of sand cats gave birth, respectively, to one and two litters (with a total of eight kittens) between 1999 and 2006. Seven out of eight kittens died between the third and 21st wk of life. Toxoplasmosis was confirmed as the cause of death in these two litters. Adult cats had high antibody titers to Toxoplasma gondii before pregnancy, suggesting that maternal immunity did not protect the kittens against infection with T. gondii and that maternal immunity might not have prevented transplacental transmission of the parasite. This observation contrasts with what is seen in domestic cats. To date, this is the first report on confirmed fatal toxoplasmosis and prevalence of T. gondii in sand cats.

Toxoplasmosis in Sand cats (Felis margarita) and other animals in the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife in the United Arab Emirates and Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, the State of Qatar

“…FM016 and FM017. On 2 March 2006 two kittens (FM016 and FM017) were born in captivity to a breeding pair that had given birth to another T. gondii infected litter the previous year (Pas and Dubey, 2008a). The kittens were weighed and examined twice a week in an attempt to detect disease in the early stages.…”

“…However, toxoplasmosis causes severe illness in Pallas cats (Felis manul), and the parasite can be transmitted transplacentally from asymptomatic mothers to kittens (Kenny et al, 2002;Basso et al, 2005;Dubey, 2009). Recently, a similar phenomenon was described for Sand cats (Felis margarita) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Pas and Dubey, 2008a).…”

“…We recently reported severe congenitally acquired toxoplasmosis in Sand cats at the BCEAW (Pas and Dubey, 2008a). In the present paper we report additional cases of fatal toxoplasmosis in Sand cats in UAE and the State of Qatar, and genetically characterize T. gondii isolates from these cats for the first time from this host.…”

Toxoplasmosis

“…Clinical toxoplasmosis has rarely been diagnosed in wild felids; most instances have occurred in zoo animals. Existing reports include two 4-to 6-month-old lions in captivity at the Jos Zoological Gardens, Nigeria (Ocholi and others, 1989); a 6-year-old captive Pallas cat from the Milwaukee County Zoo, Milwaukee, Wis., (Dubey, Gendron-Fitzpatrick, and others, 1988); a colony of pallas cats in a California zoo (Riemann and others, 1974); a 6-month-old bobcat from Georgia (Smith and others, 1995); a 1-week-old bobcat from Montana (Dubey and others, 1987); a 9-month-old cheetah from South Africa (Van Rensburg and Silkstone, 1984); a cheetah from a Texas zoo (Cannon, 1974); and sand cat kittens from a breeding center in the United Arab Emirates (Pas and Dubey, 2008). The bobcat from Montana was probably congenitally infected.…”

Haematology and biochemistry values of captive sand cats (Felis margarita) in Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort, United Arab Emirates

“…It is found in sand and stone deserts ranging from the north of Africa to Asia, with the Arabian Peninsula as its center of distribution. It is well adapted to living in arid areas and in areas, where temperature changes are extreme, with temperatures ranging from 0 °C to 58 °C [1] . The sand cat is mainly nocturnal, spending the days in a shallow burrow or under vegetation.…”