Infectious endocarditis and chylothorax in a cat.

A 6 yr old domestic longhair cat was evaluated for progressive weight loss, weakness, and dyspnea. Results of a physical examination and electrocardiogram were suggestive of cardiac disease. Thoracic radiographs revealed pleural effusion, which thoracocentesis revealed was consistent with chyle. An echocardiogram was performed, and aortic valve endocarditis with secondary aortic insufficiency was presumptively diagnosed. The cat was treated with broad-spectrum oral antibiotics and palliative cardiac medications. Two days after discharge, the cat's dyspnea returned, and it died suddenly. Histopathology and culture confirmed Pseudomonas bacterial endocarditis of the aortic valve. Bacterial endocarditis in the cat has rarely been reported in the literature. This case described heart failure and chylothorax resulting from bacterial endocarditis.

Cerebral healing after craniotomy to evacuate a Coenurus cerebralis cyst.

An 11-month-old ewe developed neurological signs caused by a space-occupying lesion in the left cerebral hemisphere. Successful surgical evacuation of a Coenurus cerebralis cyst was carried out, the neurological signs regressed and the ewe produced twins in the following breeding season. Sixteen months after the surgical treatment the ewe was found dead and necropsy revealed a vegetative endocarditis. In the brain, at the site of cyst evacuation, there was a collapsed subcortical cavity lined by siderotic fibrovascular tissue and surrounded by a modest glial reaction. These observations confirm that the clinical signs of cerebral coenuriasis are related to the space-occupying effect of the parasitic cyst and indicate that partial replacement by gliomesodermal tissue plays a part in healing of the collapsed cyst.