Vogeloidesmassinoi (Davtjan, 1933) Dougherty, 1952
In 1933, Davtjan reported on worms recovered from the small bronchioles and lungs of 30% of some 100 cats that were examined in Armenia. The worms are white, and the males are 8 to 14 mm long and the females are 26 to 40 mm long. The worms have six well-developed lips surrounding the mouth. The esophagus is clearly divided into an anterior muscular and a posterior glandular portion. The male has a pointed tail, spicules that are similar and about 200 m long, and a gubernaculum. The vulva of the female is located near the anus. The eggs are thick-shelled and ovoid with a length of 38 to 58 m and a width of 25 to 34 m. The mature eggs contain larvae. In 1952, Dougherty transferred the species described by Davtjan to a new genus, Vogeloides. There appears to be no other reports of this species from cats.
In 1977, Pence and Stone described the pathology associated with Vogeloidesfelis in the bobcat, Felis rufus, in West Texas, USA. They found that the severity of the pathology observed depended on the intensity of infection with these worms. There was a patchy interstitial pneumonia with edema of the alveolar sept observed immediately adjacent to infected bronchioles. In bobcats with more than 100 worms, the lesions expanded to involve most of the lungs. The parenchymal changes were tentatively attributed to an interstitial pneumonia resulting from a blockage of the terminal air passages by the nematodes.
REFERENCES:
Davtjan EA. 1933. Ein neuer Nematode aud den Lungen der Hauskatze. Osleroidesmassino, nov. sp. Deutsch Tierärztl Wchschr 41:372-374.
Dougherty EC. 1952. A note on the genus Metathelazia Skinker, 1931 (Nematoda: Metastrongylidae). Proc Helm Soc Wash 19:55-63.
Pence DB, Stone JE. Lungworms (Nematoda: Pneumospiruridae) from west Texas carnivores. J Parasitol 63:979-991.