ASSOCIATIVE COURSE OF DIROFILARIASIS IN THE CAT CAUSED BY DIROFILARIA IMMITIS AND DIROFILARIA REPEN

Since 2006, dirofilariasis of domestic and wild carnivores has been an inpatient condition in the North-West Caucasus. Until 2023, we only recorded the infection with one Dirofilaria species, Dirofilaria immitis in the cat. In 2023, we used the method of pathoanatomical dissection to record, for the first time in the region, an associative infection caused by sexually mature nematodes Dirofilaria immitis and Dirofilaria repens in a dead Siamese cat aged 7 years diagnosed with seropurulent dermatitis that had been taken to the Veterinary Clinic of the Kuban State Agrarian University, the Yeisk District (flooded landscape and geographical zone) to establish the cause of death. Mature nematodes Dirofilaria immitis were localized in the right heart (atrium) and pulmonary artery in the number of 5 specimens, of which were 2 males and 3 females. Mature nematodes Dirofilaria repens in the number of 3 specimens, one male and 2 females, were located freely in the subcutaneous tissue and localized in the area of the right mammary glands. We explain this by the fact that nematode Dirofilaria repens does not show such flexibility to adaptation as Dirofilaria immitis in the cat as a species, which is obviously due to its specific anatomical and physiological features.