foetus in pigs. The third newly designed Penta hom probe was found to be suitable to specifically detect P. hominis in the intestine of cats. No background staining was observed using these three probes. Additionally, it was shown that the CISH method with the described probes is not only a reliable technique in necropsy samples but also for analyzing biopsy samples. The specificity of the probes in the routinely processed diagnostic material had been further confirmed by

PCR and sequencing of the amplification products. Compared to the recently published FISH technique for trichomonad identification and localization ( Gookin et al., 2010), CISH has the advantage of not displaying any auto-fluorescence of red blood cells, OSI-906 molecular weight which are in the size range of trichomonads and have been ALK inhibitor mentioned to be a big disadvantage in detecting trichomonads especially in birds. However, previous studies indicated that CISH is a convenient method of visualizing trichomonads in various bird species ( Richter et al., 2010 and Amin et al., 2011). The sensitivity of the technique is considered good, as (1) it proofed to stain

each single trichomonad cell in paraffin-embedded culture samples ( Mostegl et al., 2010 and Mostegl et al., 2011) and (2) it revealed trichomonad infections in cases which would not have been diagnosed by histological examination alone. In previous investigations intestinal trichomonosis in cats has been primarily found in young, pure-bred cats, which lived in multi-cat households. Unfortunately, in none of the 102 examined cats information about the housing conditions was available. In total, only 4 of the 102 cats were

found positive for trichomonads. Interestingly, all positive cases were pedigree cats. In accordance mafosfamide with literature findings, this observation may point to a higher susceptibility of pure-bred cats for this parasitosis (Kuehner et al., 2011). In one of the four trichomonad positive cats (cat 1, Siamese, 8 weeks of age) P. hominis was found. The amount of protozoan parasites was small and apart from a mild crypt distension there were no pathological lesions in this case. This would be in line with other reports, postulating that P. hominis were a mere commensal in the intestine of cats ( Levy et al., 2003). In the three other cats positive for trichomonads, an infection with T. foetus was identified. In cat 3 (Ragamuffin, 16 weeks of age) only scattered T. foetus cells were present within the intestinal crypt lumen and there were only very mild pathological lesions suggesting also other causes than the present trichomonads to be responsible for the clinical signs. In both, cat 2 (Persian, 16 weeks of age) and cat 4 (Persian, 32 weeks of age) large amounts of T.