A Study on the Prevalent Bacterial Population in Oral Cavity of Owned Healthy Dogs and Cats

The aerobic bacteria of the oral cavity were investigated using 50 apparently healthy dogs and cats (25 and 25) randomly selected from animals brought to Veterinary clinics of Esfahan in central Iran. Samples were collected aseptically from the oral cavity and gingival sulcus for bacteriological examination. Standard microbiological techniques were used for isolation and identification of bacterial genera. From a total of 100 samples collected for bacteriological examinations, 159 (83 from dogs, 76 from cats) bacterial isolates representative of different genera were identified. More prevalent identified bacteria from cats and dogs were staphylococci (30.2, 60.3%), streptococci (31.6, 21.7%) and Bacillus spp (7.9, 6%) respectively. Gram-positive bacteria were dominant in this environment.