Leishmania chagasi and L. donovani: experimental infections in domestic cats.

The susceptibility of domestic cats to visceral leishmaniasis was examined by inoculating cats with amastigotes of Leishmania donovani and L. chagasi by the intravenous route, and with promastigotes of L. chagasi by the intradermal route. Parasites were recovered from intravenously inoculated cats as long as 16 weeks after inoculation, but parasites apparently did not locate in the viscera in cats inoculated intradermally. Parasites were not detected in intravenously inoculated cats killed at 24 weeks of infection. All cats developed significantly elevated serum antibody titers to Leishmania spp., but none developed the symptoms usually associated with visceral leishmaniasis in humans.