Introduction. Herd reproduction is the fundamental mechanism ensuring the efficiency of animal husbandry in the past, present and future. The significant problems in cattle herd breeding existing in our country make the researchers continue their search for the new methods, methodologies and means of prophylaxis and treatment of the inflammatory diseases of the animal genital tract. For implementation of these findings, it is necessary to determine the regularities in the cow genital tract protective mechanisms. The present research aims at studying the changes in the vaginal mucosa cytological composition through the alteration of the sexual cycle stages in cows.

Materials and Methods. The objects for the study were the newly-calved cows of the Holsteinized black-and-white breed in different sexual cycle stages: the control group included the cows in the stage of equilibration, the experimental group № 1 – the cows in the heat phase of the excitation stage and the experimental group № 2 – the animals in the ovulation phase of the excitation stage. The research was conducted using the set of methods: the pH-metry of the vaginal mucosa for making a semi-quantitative assessment by means of a colpo test and the cytological investigation carried out in compliance with the commonly accepted methodology.

Results. During the pH-metry of the vaginal mucosa, no feasible differences were found between the studied groups, namely, in the control group the pH index was 6.58±0.08, in the experimental group № 1 – 6.66±0.10, in the experimen-tal group № 2 – 6.83±0.10. The cytological analysis of the cow vaginal smears revealed the following: the parabasal cells predominate in the equilibration stage (19–25 %), the superficial cells – in the heat phase (58–62 %), whereas in the ovulation phase there increases the number of intermediate cells (30–34 %).

Discussion and Conclusions. The relationship between the clinical status, pH level, vaginal mucus cell composition in cows has been traced. The obtained data can be used by the veterinarians of the cattle farms to identify the phase of «silent» heat in cows.

Introduction. Gastroenteritis is a widespread canine pathology often complicated with the pain syndrome and characterized by development of intoxication, dehydration, haemoconcentration and such inflammatory reaction as the neutrophilic left shift leukocytosis. The aim of the work is to provide a clinical description of the canine acute gastroenteritis dependingon the pain syndrome presence and severity degree.

Materials and Methods. 31 dogs sick with acute gastroenteritis were studied, they were divided into 2 subgroups: the first (n=14) – animals with the acute gastroenteritis not complicated with the pain syndrome; the second (n=17) – animals with the acute gastroenteritis complicated with the pain syndrome.

Results. In dogs with acute gastroenteritis, the depression or anxiety, vomiting, diarrhea, subfebrile fever, abdominal wall tenderness on palpation, decreased skin turgor, moderate tachycardia and tachypnea were observed. When analyzing the clinical and anamnestic data, it was found that before the symptoms emerged, 65% of the animals had consumed the poor-quality or rough feed (bones). In 35% of cases, the reason of acute gastroenteritis could not be detected. Contamination and increased growth of opportunistic pathogens in the gastrointestinal tract cause the development of intoxication, dehydration and systemic inflammatory syndrome. Alimentary gastroenteritis in 54.8% of sick dogs is complicated with the acute pain syndrome, which is a predictor of the disease severity degree.

Discussion and Conclusions. In dogs with acute gastroenteritis complicated with the pain syndrome, the severe tachycardia and tachypnea get developed, the number of erythrocytes, leukocytes, band and segmented neutrophils, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and hematocrit in the blood significantly increase. The perspective for the further research is foreseen in the development and clinical testing of the multimodal analgesia methods in animals with the inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases.

Introduction. Due to the world’s population growth, the need for food products increases. The only way to solve the problem is to develop the animal husbandry, poultry and fish farming, which are currently facing the acute deficit of protein feedstuff. Due to the chemical composition, the larvae of the yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) beetle, zofobas (Zophobas morio) beetle and the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) could be efficiently used in the compound feed production. Therefore, our research aims at the comparative study of the biological features of the above insects and their larvae in the context of improving the technology of the new types of feed protein production.

Materials and Methods. The research was conducted by comparing the biological features of the following insects: Tenebrio molitor, Zophobas morio and Hermetia illucens.

Results. The specific temperature conditions in the native ranges of the studied insect species were revealed. That could benefit the larvae artificial rearing technology. The aspects of the natural fodder base influence on the formation of the larvae nutrient medium upon their rearing for feed protein production were determined. The larvae growth intensity of the studied insect species was compared.

Discussion and Conclusion. The study of Tenebrio molitor, Zophobas morio and Hermetia illucens biological features brought us to the conclusion that using their larvae as feed protein in production of the compound feed is expedient. Based on the chemical composition features of the above larvae, both in their natural and protein feed flour form, they can be recommended for feeding the valuable fish species, poultry, pigs and small domestic animals.

Introduction. Helminthic infestation in horses is one of the most important problems the veterinary specialists face today, because helminth end-products affect significantly the overall condition of animals. The weight loss, depression, impaired work capacity, deterioration of stamina, exterior characteristics and natural resistance are observed and all together create the favourable conditions for arising the diseases of various etiology and cause considerable damage to horse breeding industry. The aim of the research is to determine the therapeutic efficacy of the anthelminthic drug «Bimectin®» against the intestinal helminthiasis in horses in the Tyumen region conditions.

Materials and Methods. The studies were carried out with regard to the clinical examinations of animals and in compliance with the generally accepted parasitological methods. The infestation intensity (II), extensive efficacy (EE) and intensive efficacy (IE) were assessed, the haematological and biochemical blood tests were made on the 7^th and 14^th day before and after applying the drug. The results were statistically processed using the Statistica 6.1 software.

Results. When assessing the therapeutic efficacy, we have determined that at a single application in the dose of 1.13 g. per 100 kg. of animal weight, the anthelminthic drug «Bimectin®» turned out to be 100 % therapeutically efficient and well tolerated by horses infested with Oxyuris equi and suborder Strongylata helminths, 91.7 % efficient against Parascaris equorum and 83.3 % efficient against Strongyloides westeri helminths.

Discussion and Conclusions. Thus, in the result of assessing the therapeutic efficacy of the anthelmintic drug «Bimectin» against the horse helminthiasis, its economic benefit for using at the horse breeding farms of the region was confirmed, which should be taken into account when planning the combat measures against the nematode infestation in horses.

Introduction. The canine parvoviral enteritis, first detected in 1978 [1], remains a widespread cause of morbidity and mortality in young dogs. The virus high virulence and resistance are attributed to its ability to mutate and undergo changes, that partly explains the continuing epidemic of the canine parvoviral enteritis.

The nature of the disease itself got modified since the first time of virus detection. Although the initial outbreaks had the panzootic character implying high morbidity and mortality, nowadays the majority of adult dogs have either vaccinal immunity or immunity acquired through natural infection, thus the parvoviral infection is primarily manifested in young dogs aged from weaning to six months old as the enteric disease form.

The objective of the study was to investigate the antigenic essence of the canine parvoviral enteritis by analysing the strain phylogenetic relationships in the absence of grouping the same antigenic type viruses upon emerging the mutations.

Materials and Methods. The material for the study was selected by the method of continuous sampling of the medical records (by generating random numbers in the range of 1–255) and conducting interviews with the personnel (veterinary doctors) at the «Animal Clinic» veterinary hospital in Rostov-on-Don from September 2017 to October 2022. Data on the dog owners was concealed, hypotheses were not communicated to the clinic management, that excluded possible errors and conflict of interest. The study focused on the analysis of the epidemiological situation in Rostov-on-Don with regard to the canine parvoviral enteritis incidence and mortality rate, the analysis was based on the practices of the «Animal Clinic» veterinary hospital, volunteer organisations, homeless animal care foundations and «Dog Patrol» nonprofit organisation and was interpolated to the epidemiological situation in the city as a whole.

The study of the canine parvoviral enteritis cases, the disease epidemiology and its combat methods, treatment, prophylaxis and the cutting-edge developments in the field was carried out based on the scientific data of the last 5 years. The objects of the study were dogs of various breeds and ages admitted to the clinic.

Results and Discussion. The established phylogenetic interrelation of the divergent CPV-2b strain with the alike genetic strain-ancestor CPV-2c, indicates a complete replacement of the circulating strains, which has practical value for the veterinary science as it does not merely enable formation of a disease model for a specific region but also allows evaluating the speed and features of spreading the disease and predicting its course and mortality.

Conclusion. For the southern region the parvoviral enteritis is a severe and life-threatening disease due to the rates of its overall incidence and mortality. The results of the statistical analysis of 307 medical records of the dogs diagnosed with the parvoviral enteritis in a number of Rostov-on-Don veterinary clinics revealed twice as high mortality rate in male dogs compared to females, although the distribution of the number of disease cases was relatively equal, except for the range of 30-90 days when a statistically significant difference in mortality was not registered. A separate local surge in mortality rate by over 36 %, which is not correlated either with the reduced number of cases during this period or the average level of fatal outcomes, indicates the need to correlate the patients’ immune status with the applied treatment protocols and the CPV-2c strain penetration, having the higher virulence in Europe (in 2015–2017) [2] and the European part of Russia.

When analysing the «age-number of cases» data, the correlation was made with the surge in patients at the age of about 1 year old. The vaccination reduced the incidence rate in dogs and disease severity in those infected, but at the same time increased the mutation numbers in the virus genome (especially in the genes encoding the protein responsible for binding to the receptor cells [3]), which in turn led to increased virulence.