Worms, giardia, and coccidia love to invade a young animal’s body.
To prevent disease and spread of infection fresh fecal samples are checked for these parasites.
Most young animals have been wormed or treated for giardia or coccidia before they get to the vet hospital with panacur, drontal, albon,or metronidiazole by the owner, breeder, or pet store.
Some young animals do not get the right medicine for the parasite. Hookworms are harder to kill then other roundworms, and some wormers will not take care of them. Several doses may be necessary. Coccidia is treated with sulfa drugs like albon. Giardia can be treated with panacur or metronidiazole. The right amount and timing of treatment may be necessary in some resistant cases. Most puppies and kittens do fine with a couple broad spectrum wormings from 6 to 16 weeks.
A fresh fecal sample can be checked for bugs by diluting a small amount on a slide and looking at it. This is a screening method known as “direct smear”. A “fecal float” means putting a bit of the sample in a solution that “floats” the worm eggs, coccidia, or giardia cysts to the surface of the container where they can be “captured” by a cover slip.
Check out my video on the “direct smear”
About the author:
I love animals and their bond with us. My new book Dog Dish Diet: Sensible Nutrition for Your Dog's Health is out and available on my website (http://dogdishdiet.com ). I have been an animal lover my whole life. As a teenager, I worked at a pet sh...
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