Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium bacteraemia in a puppy with canine parvoviral enteritis

A 12-week-old female intact, pit bull terrier cross breed puppy presented with vomiting and haemorrhagic diarrhoea. Phagocytosed bacterial rods were observed on peripheral and central blood smears. A commercially available canine parvovirus ELISA test and subsequent electron microscopy for viral particles both tested negative on faecal sampling. The owners declined treatment and the puppy was euthanased. The postmortem revealed enteric necrosis, purulent meningoencephalitis, necropurulent hepatitis and diffuse interstitial pneumonia, with heavy Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium growth on blood and tissue culture. The Salmonella species were sensitive to most commonly used antimicrobials including ampicillin. Canine parvovirus enteritis was diagnosed by positive canine parvovirus specific immune-peroxidase staining of intestinal tissue sections. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to describe canine parvoviral enteritis complicated by a salmonella bacteraemia, and the detection of a bacteraemia on a peripheral blood smear in a live dog.