Journal of Veterinary Parasitology

Hepatozoon canis was experimentally transmitted to an infection-free dog through oral feeding of naturally infected adult Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks. Gamonts of H. canis were observed after 32 days post infection (DPI), parasitaemia reached to a peak of 60% after 54 DPI and subsequently plummeted to <5% after 72 DPI, where upon the dog was immunosuppressed with dexamethasone sodium. Upon immunosuppression, gamonts were noticed in as many as 74% of the circulating neutrophils after 84 DPI and the dog succumbed to the infection after 88 DPI. Gross and histopathological changes in the liver, spleen and bone marrow are described.