EOSINOPHILIC PLEURAL OR PERITONEAL EFFUSIONS IN DOGS AND CATS - 14 CASES (1986-1992)

Case records of 9 dogs and 5 cats with eosinophilic effusions were rev iewed. The animals ranged from 11 months to 13 years old. Seven animal s had pleural effusions, 5 had peritoneal effusions, and 2 had pleural and peritoneal effusions. Neoplasia was confirmed in 6 animals and su spected in 1. Eosinophilic pleural effusion was diagnosed 2 days after pneumothorax developed as a consequence of thoracic tube placement in a cat, and pneumothorax was diagnosed in another cat with eosinophili c peritoneal effusion. Other abnormalities seen in 1 or 2 animals asso ciated with eosinophilic effusion were radiographic signs of interstit ial or peribronchial pulmonary infiltrates, a history of allergic resp iratory tract and shin disease, intestinal lymphangiectasia and lung l obe torsion, chylothorax, bite wounds causing intestinal perforation, and feline leukemia virus infection. Based only on the protein concent ration of the effusion, 7 effusions were classified as transudates and 7 were classified as exudates. Five of the 14 animals had eosinophili a (> 1,200 eosinophils/mul); 3 of these animals had neoplastic disease . Mean eosinophil count in blood samples was not significantly differe nt between animals with neoplasia and those without. Eosinophil counts in blood samples were not linearly related to counts in effusions; ho wever, in some animals the number of eosinophils in the effusion was m uch higher than the eosinophil count in blood, suggesting concentratio n of eosinophils in the effusion.