STAINING ABNORMALITIES OF DERMAL COLLAGEN IN CATS WITH CUTANEOUS ASTHENIA OR ACQUIRED SKIN FRAGILITY AS DEMONSTRATED WITH MASSONS TRICHROMESTAIN

This retrospective study compared the Masson's trichrome staining prop erties of collagen in the skin of normal cats and cats with cutaneous asthenia or acquired skin fragility. A Masson's trichrome staining abn ormality was seen in all (n = 8) cats with cutaneous asthenia, three o f four cats with acquired skin fragility, and none (n = 10) of the nor mal cats. A grading system developed to classify the intensity and dis tribution of abnormally stained collagen fibres indicated that cats wi th cutaneous asthenia had higher scores (P < 0.001) than normal cats. Cats with acquired skin fragility had intermediate scores that were no t significantly different from either of the other two groups.