Bacterial flora of the vagina and uterus of healthy cats

J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1990 Mar 15;196(6):902-6.

Abstract

Bacterial culturing was conducted on samples from the reproductive tracts of 53 clinically healthy female cats. Aerobic bacteria were isolated from 52 of 53 vaginal swab samples and from 2 of 29 uterine swab samples. Anaerobic bacteria were detected in 4 of 30 vaginal and 1 of 29 uterine cultures. The aerobic bacteria included species of Acinetobacter, Actinomyces, Corynebacterium, Escherichia, Haemophilus, Klebsiella, Lactobacillus, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus. Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, Streptococcus canis, and E coli were the most common organisms and were isolated from 56%, 52%, and 44% of the vaginal samples, respectively. Anaerobes isolated from vaginal samples included 3 species of Bacteroides and 2 isolates of Peptococcus. The single uterine anaerobe isolate was a Lactobacillus sp. The number of bacterial species isolated from each vaginal culture ranged from 1 to 8 (mean, 3). The number of colony forming units tended to vary inversely with the number of bacterial species detected in each sample.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bacteriological Techniques / veterinary
  • Cats / microbiology*
  • Estrus
  • Female
  • Uterus / microbiology*
  • Vagina / microbiology*