Salmonella Y Felinos

Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 33(1): 83–84, 2002 Copyright 2002 by American Association of Zoo Veterinarians

POSITIVE EFFECTS OF DIET CHANGE ON SHEDDING OF SALMONELLA SPP. IN THE FECES OF CAPTIVE FELIDS
Charles E. Lewis, David A. Bemis, Ph.D., and Edward C. Ramsay, D.V.M.
Abstract: A high prevalence of fecal Salmonella shedding in a collection of healthy exotic felids precipitated achange to two new commercially available feline diets. One year after initiation of the new diets, 18 fecal samples from individual felines, their exhibits, and representative samples of the diets were cultured for Salmonella spp. Only one culture grew a Salmonella sp. Salmonella uganda was cultured from the feces of one snow leopard (Felis uncia). Feeding a diet with minimal to no Salmonellacontamination lowered Salmonella shedding rates in this collection of captive exotic felids. Key words: Felidae, fecal shedding, Salmonella, diet.

BRIEF COMMUNICATION Salmonellosis is a naturally occurring disease in many animals. Zoo animals generally receive exposure to the bacteria through contaminated food and water.2 A previous study identified a high prevalence (94%) of fecal shedding ofSalmonella spp. in the Knoxville Zoological Garden’s (KZG) collection of healthy exotic felids when animals were fed a commercial, horsemeat-based exotic feline diet and raw chickens.1 The source of the bacteria shed by those animals was not definitively identified, but culture of the food items resulted in the growth of several Salmonella spp.1 After the previous study, KZG changed to feeding two othercommercially available feline diets in September 1999. The new uncooked, horsemeatbased product (Zoo Carnivore Diet , Dallas Crown, Inc., Kaufman, Texas 75142, USA) is produced in a USDA-approved slaughterhouse. This raw diet is now fed to all the exotic felids of the zoo, except the bobcats (Felis rufus). A cooked, dry product (Eukanuba, Iams Company, Dayton, Ohio 45414, USA) was fed only to thebobcats. The present study was undertaken to determine if the rate of shedding of Salmonella spp. in the feces in the zoo’s felid collection had changed after consumption of these new diets for 1 yr. Two fecal samples were obtained approximately 2 wk apart from individual felids or felid exhibits at KZG in October and November 2000. The animals and exhibits sampled were: one male Siberian tiger(Panthera tigris altaica), one female tiger (P. tigris), an exhibit containing two female tigers, one male Asian lion (P. leo persica), an exhibit containing a pair (one male and one female) of African

From the Department of Comparative Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, P.O. Box 1071, Knoxville, Tennessee 37901-1071, USA. Correspondence should be directed to Dr. Ramsay.

lions (P. leo),an exhibit housing a group of African lions (one male and two females; P. l. krugeri), an exhibit containing a pair of bobcats, one male and two individual female cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), and one male and one female snow leopard (P. uncia). Four samples of the horsemeat-based diet and three of the cooked diet were also cultured. Sampling and cultures were performed by the same laboratory andin the same manner as described previously.1 No Salmonella spp. were cultured either from 17/ 18 (94%) fecal samples or from any of the food items. A single Salmonella sp., S. uganda, was isolated from the fecal sample of one snow leopard. The results of this study are markedly different from those found by Clyde et al.1 when culturing samples from the feline collection in 1995. Ten of the animalsor exhibits from which cultures were obtained in 1995 were used for reculture in the present study. Fecal samples from those animals or exhibits each grew at least one Salmonella sp. in 1995. All were negative for Salmonella spp. in 2000. With the exception of a pair of African lions (P. leo) and a single Asian lion (P. l. persica), all animals from which cultures were obtained both in 1995 and...