The present work was done on eighty two stray dogs to be investigated for filariasis via hematological and serum chemistry profiles of naturally infested dogs. Out of the examined dogs, 14 (17.1%) were infested with Dipetalonema reconditum, 12 (85.7%) of them were males and 2 dogs (14.3%) were females. Microfilariae appeared as a snake like with a rapidly, forward movement across the microscopic field in wet smear while in Giemsa stained smears showed a coiled or twisted appearance. Hematological studies revealed hemolytic anemia associated with low erythrocyte counts, hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit value. A marked increase in erythrocyte sedimentation rate, reticulocyte, thrombocyte, total and differential leucocytic counts were encountered, in comparison with the control group. Biochemical analysis of sera from infested dogs showed a significant changes in the determined parameters used for evaluation of liver and kidney functions.It could be concluded that infestation of dogs with filariasis induced a hemolytic anemia, with disturbance in the liver and kidney functions. Introduction Filariasis is one of the most important parasitic diseases caused by the filaroid nematodes with a world wide distribution and affects both man, animals and birds. In Egypt, while many previous studies on herbivorous animal filariasis were conducted both in Sharkia and other provinces throughout the country (1,2,3,4,5,6) few studies dealt with filariasis of dogs (6,7,8,9) and no records of filariasis in this animal species in Sharkia province were documented. On the other hand, local studies on hemoparasites in dogs with particular relation to hematological and biochemical dimensions are limited (10).From this point of view and since filariasis of dogs (dirofilariasis) represent a public health hazards to man (11,12), this study was conducted to investigate the dogs for filariasis and to study the blood cellular and biochemical changes in naturally filariasis infested dogs. Materials and Methods Dogs and blood samplesBlood samples were collected from 82 middle aged stray dogs and examined directly for filariasis. For haematological and biochemical analysis, blood samples were collected from ten microfilaraemic dogs proved free from internal and external parasites through naked eye, blood and faecal examinations. As a control group, five dogs of a comparable age were treated with Praziquantel (5 mg/kg body weight, orally) and Ivermectin (1 ml/50 kg body weight, subcutaneously) and proved to be free from internal and external parasites through repeatedly naked eye, faecal and blood examinations over a period of three months post treatment were used. Blood samples for haematological and biochemical analysis were divided into two portions as following: The 1st portion (5ml) put in clean dry test tubes containing anticoagulants as sodium citrate 3.8% for determination of erythrocyte sedimentation rate, dipotassium salt of EDTA for studies of erythrogram and leucogram, and ammonium oxalate 1% for platelet counts. The 2nd portion (6ml) put in plain centrifuge tubes, left undisturbed for clotting of the blood and the clear straw-coloured serum was carefully separated after centrifugation at 3000 r.p.m. for 15 minutes and kept in the deep freezing at -200C until subsequent biochemical analysis. Parasitological studiesWet smears, modified Knott technique (13) as well as Giemsa stained blood films were used to investigate dogs for microfilariae. The microfilariae were measured using a calibrated eye micrometer and photographed using Leitz microscope (Germany) and Canon digital photo camera (Japan). To study the microfilarial periodicity, blood samples were collected every three hours from three microfilaraemic dogs and used to investigate the day periodicity of microfilariae using the technique of Ezzat and Tadros (14). In brief, 0.5 ml of freshly collected blood was added to 1.5 ml of 2% glacial acetic acid in distilled water tinged with gentian
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