Abstract
The prevalence of Salmonella in dogs and cats was investigated and analysed for serotyping, susceptibility to antimicrobial drugs and risk factors assessment. In total, 151 faecal samples from 103 and 48 healthy and nonhealthy (diarrheic) cats and dogs, respectively were examinated. Salmonellae were confirmed by laboratory and biomedical characteristics and further serotyped then subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility tests. Risk factors that are typically associated with the shedding of salmonellae were assessed using Fisher's exact tests. Salmonella was detected in 18% (n=27/151) of pets. Most of the positive samples 85%(n=23/27) were from healthy cats and 7.4% (n=2/27) from healthy dogs and 7.4% (n = 2/27) from a diarrhoeic cat and diarrhoeic dog. Only one sample from each diarrhoeic cat and diarrhoeic dog were positive for Salmonella. total, 25 salmonellae (93% of strains) were serotyped as S. Thompson mostly originated form healthy cats (n = 23/25). All were resistant to tetracycline and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and expressed ed only resisted an overall intermediate susceptibility patterns to ciprofloxacin. Also, multidrug resistant S. Kentucky and S. Minnesota were identified from a diarrhoeic and an healthy dog, respectively. This is the first isolation report of Salmonella from cats and dogs in Libya. It indeed represents a public health concern wich requires further monitoring.