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A 3-year-old Chihuahua was presented because of exercise intolerance, respiratory distress, and syncopal episodes. At the age of 10 weeks, the dog was diagnosed with a congenital small left-to-right shunting ventricular septal defect and a mild right ventricular outflow tract obstruction via echocardiography. At that time, the dog was asymptomatic, but the breeder’s veterinarian heard a murmur. Both cardiac defects were judged to be clinically non-relevant at that time. However, at 3 years of age, echocardiography revealed a severe right ventricular obstruction, known as a double-chambered right ventricle, along with right-to-left shunting via the ventricular septal defect. Because of chronic hypoxemia due to the right-to-left shunting, erythrocytosis developed. Flow reversal via the shunt was caused by a progressively worsening right ventricular obstruction leading to a supra-systemic right ventricular systolic pressure. Because of the poor prognosis, the dog was euthanized, and the heart was submitted for post-mortem examination. Gross pathologic findings revealed the close proximity of the right ventricular obstructive lesion to the ventricular septal defect. Histopathology revealed localized muscular hypertrophy and severe endocardial fibrosis. The suspected pathogenesis of the progressive obstruction was infiltrative myocardial fibrosis due to turbulent blood flow from the left-to-right shunting ventricular septal defect, as described in humans.

Additional file 1: Table S1: Biochemistry results of a female dog infected with Hepatozoon canis at the time of first presentation (day 0), 62 days post-partum and 112 days post-partum performed with cobas 2 c 701 (Roche Deutschland Holding GmbH) in the laboratory Laboklin (Bad Kissingen, Germany). Table S2: Complete blood count results for seven puppies infected with Hepatozoon canis at day 125 post-partum performed with ADVIA 2120i [Siemens Healthineers] in the laboratory Laboklin (Bad Kissingen, Germany). Table S3: Biochemistry results of 7 puppies infected with Hepatozoon canis at day 62 post-partum performed with cobas 2 c 701 (Roche Deutschland Holding GmbH) in the laboratory Laboklin (Bad Kissingen, Germany) with age-related reference intervals according to Rortveit et al. (2015). Table S4: Biochemistry results of seven puppies infected with Hepatozoon canis at day 125 post-partum performed with cobas 2 c 701 (Roche Deutschland Holding GmbH) in the laboratory Laboklin (Bad Kissingen, Germany).

Most mammary tumors in pet rabbits are carcinomas, prognostic factors are unknown. The aim of this study on rabbit mammary carcinomas was to determine the expression of myoepithelial markers that have a prognostic relevance in human cancers. Mammary carcinomas (n = 119) of female or female-spayed pet rabbits were immunostained for cytokeratin AE1/AE3, vimentin, smooth muscle actin (SMA), and calponin, and percentages of non-neoplastic myoepithelial cells (ME cells) and calponin-positive neoplastic cells were determined. Using statistical analysis, data were correlated with the age of the rabbits and histological tumor characteristics. All carcinomas contained retained spindle-shaped ME, while 115 also contained hypertrophic ME (HME). A statistically significant relationship existed between a higher age and an increase in HME. In 111 carcinomas (93%), tumor cells expressed calponin. There was a significant correlation between higher percentages of calponin-positive tumor cells and a lower mitotic count, an increased percentage of tubular growth, and a lower grading score, respectively. Data suggest that pet rabbit mammary carcinomas develop from progression of in situ cancer and that the extent of calponin expression in tumor cells influences their biological behavior. These results provide the basis for a long-term follow-up on the prognostic significance of calponin expression in mammary cancer cells.

Supplemental Material, DS1_VET_10.1177_0300985818788611 for Estrogen Receptor–α and Progesterone Receptor Expression in Mammary Proliferative Lesions of Female Pet Rabbits by Sophie Degner, Heinz-Adolf Schoon, Claudia Laik-Schandelmaier, Heike Aupperle-Lellbach, and Sandra Schöniger in Veterinary Pathology