Retrospective study of the case load of domestic cats at the Veterinary Hospital of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais from 2005 to 2014

The aim of this study was to characterize the diseases of domestic cats based on necropsy and histopathological examinations at the Veterinary Hospital of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (HV/UFMG) from 2005 to 2014. A total of 408 necropsy and 197 biopsy samples were analyzed according to gender, age, and breed. The most frequent diagnoses included infectious/inflammatory or parasitic diseases (22.5%), physical agents (18.1%), proliferative (15.2%), and degenerative (13.5%) diseases. Polytrauma (10.8%) was responsible for the highest number of feline deaths, with the odds three times higher in animals up to 24 months of age (P=0.005 OR 3.47 [95% CI: 1.40-8.57]). Epithelial neoplasms corresponded to 26 diagnoses, with 20 (4.9%) malignant cases. The occurrence of carcinoma and its subtypes was 18-fold higher in older cats (P<0.01 OR 18.15 [95% CI: 7.41-44.45]). Chronic renal failure was more frequent in cats over 120 months (P=0.01). Males were nine times more likely to develop lower urinary tract diseases when compared to females (P=0.001 OR 9.50 [95% CI: 2.78-32.48]). Regarding the biopsies, adult to elderly animals were ten times more represented (P<0.001 OR 10.8 [95% CI: 3.22-36.79]).