Furry animal allergens, particularly cat and dog hair and dander, are common allergens in indoor environments, affecting the health of people world widely. Key sensitizing components such as Fel d 1 from cats and Can f 1 from dogs have been extensively studied and identified by the scientific community. Component resolved diagnosis (CRD) technology in modern diagnostic methods provides an accurate way to identify and distinguish these components, which is extremely important for the prevention of furry animal allergies and the formulation of personalized treatment strategies. To enhance the understanding of furry animal component diagnosis and promote the alignment of the Chinese discipline of allergology with international standards, this article interprets and explains the content of the \"Molecular Allergology User\'s Guide 2.0\" recently released by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. It focuses on the epidemiological characteristics of furry animal components, the diversity of allergen protein families, and their clinical diagnosis and management.
毛皮动物过敏原，尤其是猫狗的毛皮和皮屑，是室内环境中常见的过敏原，影响全球广泛人群。关键的致敏组分，如猫的Fel d 1和狗的Can f 1，已被科学界广泛研究并识别。现代诊断方法中的过敏原组分诊断（component resolved diagnosis，CRD）技术提供了一种精确识别和区分这些组分的方式，这对于预防毛皮动物过敏的发生以及制定个性化的治疗策略极为重要。为加强对毛皮动物组分诊断的认识并促进我国变态反应学科与国际接轨，本文对近期欧洲过敏与临床免疫学会发布的《过敏原组分诊断指导建议2.0》进行内容解读，着重阐述了毛皮动物过敏原的流行病学特征、过敏原蛋白家族多样性及其临床诊断和管理。.

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a potentially fatal tick-borne zoonosis caused by SFTS virus (SFTSV). In addition to tick bites, animal-to-human transmission of SFTSV has been reported, but little is known about feline SFTSV infection. In this study, we analyzed data on 187 cats with suspected SFTS to identify biomarkers for SFTS diagnosis and clinical outcome. Body weight, red and white blood cell and platelet counts, and serum aspartate aminotransferase and total bilirubin levels were useful for SFTS diagnosis, whereas alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and serum SFTSV RNA levels were associated with clinical outcome. We developed a scoring model to predict SFTSV infection. In addition, we performed a phylogenetic analysis to reveal the relationship between disease severity and viral strain. This study provides comprehensive information on feline SFTS and could contribute to the protection of cat owners, community members, and veterinarians from the risk of cat-transmitted SFTSV infection.

Cats are increasingly favored as companion animals; their health has drawn widespread attention. Given the continuous improvements in the required living standards of both humans and animals, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies, diarrhea, constipation, periodontal disease, obesity, diabetes, and other health issues have become recognized as valid pet problems. Antibiotics are commonly used to treat pet diseases, greatly improving animal health. However, antibiotic abuse is common, especially when seeking to treat bacterial infections. Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms that may be directly ingested in food or as feed additives; they improve the intestinal microflora balance, enhance immunity, and ensure healthy growth. However, cat data are usually inferred from reports on dogs or humans; cat research remains preliminary in nature. Therefore, we here describe the current understanding of how probiotics improve cat health, facilitating the further development and application of probiotics for cats.

Toxoplasmosis is an important zoonotic disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii that can infect almost all warm-blooded animals worldwide, including humans. The high prevalence of T. gondii infection and its ability to cause serious harm to humans and animals, especially immunodeficient individuals, make it a key public health issue. Accurate diagnostic tools with high sensitivity are needed for controlling T. gondii infection. In the current study, we compared the performance of recombinant SAG2, GRA6, and GRA7 in ELISA for the serological diagnosis of T. gondii infection in cats. We further investigated the antigenicity of recombinant dense granule protein 3 (rGRA3), rGRA5, rGRA8, and rSRS29A expressed in a plant-based, cell-free expression system for detecting antibodies in T. gondii-infected cats. In summary, our data suggest that GRA7 is more sensitive than the other two antigens for the serodiagnosis of T. gondii infection in cats, and GRA3 expressed in the cell-free system is also a priming antigen in serological tests for detecting T. gondii infection in cats.

Toxoplasma gondii, which causes toxoplasmosis, is prevalent in warm-blooded animals, such as cats, dogs, and humans. T. gondii causes economic losses to livestock production and represents a potential risk to public health. Dogs and cats are common hosts in the epidemiology of toxoplasmosis. The current molecular diagnostic tools for T. gondii infection require high technical skills, a laboratory environment, and complex instruments. Herein, we developed a recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA)-clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 12a (Cas12a) assay to detect T. gondii. The lowest limit of detection of the assay was 31 copies/μL for the T. gondii B1 gene. In addition, we established a visual RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a lateral flow band assay (RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a-LFA) combined with a digital visualization instrument, which minimized the problem of false-negative results for weakly positive samples and avoided misinterpretation of the results by the naked eye, making the LFA assay results more accurate. The assay established in this study could identify T. gondii within 55 min with high accuracy and sensitivity, without cross-reaction with other tested parasites. The developed assay was validated by establishing a mouse model of toxoplasmosis. Finally, the developed assay was used to investigate the prevalence of T. gondii in stray cats and dogs in Zhejiang province, Eastern China. The positive rates of T. gondii infection in stray cats and dogs were 8.0% and 4.0%, respectively. In conclusion, the RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a-LFA is rapid, sensitive, and accurate for the early diagnosis of T. gondii, showing promise for on-site surveillance.
OBJECTIVE: Toxoplasma gondii is a virulent pathogen that puts millions of infected people at risk of chronic disease reactivation. Hosts of T. gondii are distributed worldwide, and cats and dogs are common hosts of T. gondii. Therefore, rapid diagnosis of early T. gondii infection and investigation of its prevalence in stray dogs and cats are essential. Here, we established a visual recombinase polymerase amplification-clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 12a-assay combined with a lateral flow band assay and a digital visualization instrument. Detailed analyses found that the assay could be used for the early diagnosis of T. gondii without false-negative results. Moreover, we detected the prevalence of T. gondii in stray cats and dogs in Zhejiang province, China. Our developed assay provides technical support for the early diagnosis of T. gondii and could be applied in prevalence surveys of T. gondii in stray dogs and cats.

BACKGROUND: Feline herpesvirus type 1 (FHV-1) is a life threatening highly contagious virus in cats and typically causes upper respiratory tract infections as well as conjunctival and corneal ulcers. Genetic variability could alter the severity of diseases and clinical signs. Despite regular vaccine practices against FHV-1 in China, new FHV-1 cases still commonly occur. The genetic and phylogenetic characteristics of FHV-1 in Kunshan city of China has not been studied yet. Therefore, this study was planned to investigate the prevalence, molecular characteristics of circulating strains, and phylogenetic analyses of FHV-1. This is the first report of molecular epidemiology and phylogenetic characteristics of FHV-1 from naturally infected cats in Kunshan, China.
METHODS: The occulo-nasal swabs were collected from diseased cats showing respiratory distress, conjunctivitis, and corneal ulcers at different veterinary clinics in Kunshan from 2022 to 2023. Clinical data and general information were recorded. Swab samples were processed for preliminary detection of FHV-1. Thymidine kinase (TK), glycoprotein B (gB) and glycoprotein D (gD) genes were sequenced and analyzed to investigate genetic diversity and evolution of FHV-1.
RESULTS: The FHV-1 genome was detected in 43 (43/200, 21.5%) samples using RT-PCR targeting the TK gene. Statistical analysis showed a significant correlation between age, vaccination status and living environment (p < 0.05) with FHV-1 positivity, while a non-significant correlation was observed for FHV-1 positivity and sex of cats (p > 0.05). Additionally, eight FHV-1 positive cats were co-infected with feline calicivirus (8/43,18.6%). FHV-1 identified in the present study was confirmed as FHV-1 based on phylogenetic analyses. The sequence analyses revealed that 43 FHV-1 strains identified in the present study did not differ much with reference strains within China and worldwide. A nucleotide homology of 99-100% was determined among gB, TK and gD genes nucleotide sequences when compared with standard strain C-27 and vaccine strains. Amino acid analysis showed some amino acid substitutions in TK, gB and gD protein sequences. A potential N-linked glycosylation site was observed in all TK protein sequences. Phylogenetic analyses revealed minor variations and short evolutionary distance among FHV-1 strains detected in this study.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that genomes of 43 FHV-1 strains are highly homogenous and antigenically similar, and the degree of variation in major envelope proteins between strains is low. This study demonstrated some useful data about prevalence, genetic characteristics, and evolution of FHV-1 in Kunshan, which may aid in future vaccine development.

BACKGROUND: Rectal temperature (RT) is an important index of core temperature, which has guiding significance for the diagnosis and treatment of pet diseases.
OBJECTIVE: Development and evaluation of an alternative method based on machine learning to determine the core temperatures of cats and dogs using surface temperatures.
METHODS: 200 cats and 200 dogs treated between March 2022 and May 2022.
METHODS: A group of cats and dogs were included in this study. The core temperatures and surface body temperatures were measured. Multiple machine learning methods were trained using a cross-validation approach and evaluated in one retrospective testing set and one prospective testing set.
RESULTS: The machine learning models could achieve promising performance in predicting the core temperatures of cats and dogs using surface temperatures. The root mean square errors (RMSE) were 0.25 and 0.15 for cats and dogs in the retrospective testing set, and 0.15 and 0.14 in the prospective testing set.
CONCLUSIONS: The machine learning model could accurately predict core temperatures for companion animals of cats and dogs using easily obtained body surface temperatures.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of three different doses of oral pregabalin on minimum alveolar concentration of isoflurane (MACISO) in cats.
METHODS: Prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, blinded, crossover trial.
METHODS: A group of eight healthy adult cats aged 24-48 months.
METHODS: Cats were randomly assigned to three oral doses of pregabalin (low dose: 2.5 mg kg-1, medium dose: 5 mg kg-1, high dose: 10 mg kg-1) or placebo 2 hours before MACISO determination, with the multiple treatments administered with a minimum 7 day washout period. Anesthesia was induced and maintained with isoflurane in oxygen until endotracheal intubation was achieved, and maintained with isoflurane with volume-controlled ventilation. MACISO was determined in triplicate using the bracketing technique and tail clamp method 120 minutes after pregabalin or placebo administration. Physiologic variables (including heart rate and blood pressure) recorded during MACISO determination were averaged and compared between the pregabalin and placebo treatments. One-way analysis of variance and the Friedman test were used to assess the difference for normally and non-normally distributed data, respectively. The Tukey test was used as a post hoc analysis. Values of p < 0.05 were considered significant.
RESULTS: The MACISO with the medium- and high-dose pregabalin treatments were 1.33 ± 0.21% and 1.23 ± 0.17%, respectively. These were significantly lower than MACISO after placebo treatment (1.62 ± 0.13%; p = 0.014, p < 0.001, respectively), representing a decrease of 18 ± 9% and 24 ± 6%. The mean plasma pregabalin concentration was negatively correlated with MACISO values. Physiologic variables did not differ significantly between treatments.
CONCLUSIONS: Doses of 5 or 10 mg kg-1 pregabalin, administered orally 2 hours before determining MACISO, had a significant isoflurane-sparing effect in cats.

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To evaluate the overall prevalence of FIP infection in cats in mainland China and associated risk factors, studies on the prevalence of FIP conducted from 1 January 2008 to 20 December 2023 were retrieved from five databases-CNKI, Wanfang, PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect-and comprehensively reviewed. The 21 studies selected, with a total of 181,014 samples, underwent a rigorous meta-analysis after quality assessment. The results revealed a 2% prevalence of FIP (95% CI: 1-2%) through the random-effects model, showing considerable heterogeneity (I2 = 95.2%). The subsequent subgroup analysis revealed that the age and gender of cats are significant risk factors for FIP infection in mainland China. In order to effectively reduce and control the prevalence of FIP on the Chinese mainland, we suggest improving the immunity of cats, with special attention given to health management in kittens and intact cats, and continuously monitoring FIPV.