All protocols were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of
Cornell University and were conducted in accordance with the ARVO
Statement for the Use of Animals in Ophthalmic and Vision Research.
Conjunctival swabs were collected from 200 canine eyes (100 dogs)
meeting the following inclusion criteria: no clinical or historical evidence
of external ocular disease, no history of receiving systemic
antimicrobials in the preceding 30 days, and no history of receiving
topical ophthalmic medications in the preceding 30 days. Samples
were collected from dogs representing 27 separate canine breeds. Slit
lamp biomicroscopic examination (Kowa SL-14; Kowa Co., Tokyo,
Japan) was performed for each eye before sample collection.