WORMS WE SHARE
Bring in a fecal sample to check your pet for parasites - no pet visit required. Our fecal tests are 25 times more sensitive than a standard in-house fecal float. Our lab charges $28.23 for each fecal. The
sample will be tested for hookworms, roundworms, giradia, coccidia, and tapeworms.
Stop by the
office to pick up a container or turn a ziplock bag inside out to
collect the sample. Please make sure to wash hands very carefully after
collecting the sample. Call Joy at 407-330-7387 for drop off times.
Worms We Share
This article was published in the Orlando Sentinel.
Dogs and cats may transmit potentially dangerous worms to you and your family.
Worms – not a terribly popular topic, but one that could cause you and
your pet a stay in the hospital. Many household pets in central
Florida are carriers of worms, but most dog and cat owners are unaware
of the problems and risks, and do not know that hookworms and
roundworms may transmit harmful diseases to family and friends.
"Many pet owners are unaware that intestinal roundworms and hookworms
could pose a health threat to their pets and even family members,"
said Dr. Peter Schantz of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, a veterinarian and specialist in parasites. "It is
important for pet owners to learn about these potential dangers and
why it is necessary to protect their dogs and cats from these
infections."
Interestingly, many puppies and kittens may actually be born with
these worm infections contracted from their mothers and can easily
acquire new infections from soil and other sources in the environment.
The scary thing is that pets with worms can be a source of infection
for humans.
Small children are especially vulnerable. They may be infected through
contact with contaminated feces, soil, sand, plant life or other
objects. Because children's play habits bring them into closer contact
with objects that may be contaminated by feces of pets, they are more
likely to be infected than adults. These areas include sandboxes,
playgrounds, patios and backyards.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an
estimated 10,000 cases of toxocariasis (human infection with
roundworms) occur every year in the United States. And the disease is
not simple. Children infected by roundworms and hookworms can suffer
from a serious condition called larva migrans, which may result in
permanent visual or neurological damage.
Dogs infected with roundworms and hookworms can suffer from abdominal
pain, vomiting and diarrhea, loss of appetite, severe weight loss or
even sudden death. However, dogs may be infected and pass the worms to
others without showing any signs of illness.
Roundworm and hookworm infections are treatable, however, prevention
is a much better strategy.
"The steps pet owners take now to protect their pets from roundworm
and hookworm infections will greatly benefit the health and
development of the pet as well as reduce the risk of transmission to
people," said Dr. Schantz.
Your veterinarian can test a sample from your pet's feces to see if
there are any worms present. Ask you veterinarian if they can send the
sample to a lab for a centrifugation parasite screen. The
centrifugation method can be twenty times more sensitive than the
standard float.
Here are seven steps you can take to help prevent this problem and
protect your family and your pets:
1. Talk with your veterinarian about de-worming your puppy or kitten
at an early age and have your adult pets feces tested for intestinal
parasites once or twice a year.
2. Give your pets a monthly preventive, which protects your dog or cat
against heartworms and treats and controls roundworms and hookworms.
3. Clean up properly after your pet, especially around your home and
lawn. Clean your pet's living area at least once a week. Feces should
be either be buried or bagged and disposed of in the trash.
4. Wash your hands after handling your pets or their feces.
5. Teach children to always wash their hands after playing with dogs
and cats and after playing outdoors.
6. Do not allow children to play in areas that are soiled with pet or
other animal stool.
7. Cover your child's sand box when not in use and teach children that
it is dangerous to eat dirt or soil.
This is a perfect example of how you can work with your veterinarian
to simply and inexpensively prevent a potentially serious disease.
Once you do, stop worrying and enjoy your four legged family members.
------------
Dr. Wes Borgman is a veterinarian at the Seminole Animal Hospital on
HE Thomas Jr Pky in Sanford. Dr. Wes can be reached at 407 330 PETS
(7387)
Most cases of human ascarid and hookworm
infections can be prevented by practicing good personal hygiene, eliminating
intestinal parasites from pets through regular deworming, and making potentially
contaminated environments, such as unprotected sand boxes, off limits to children.
It is also important to clean up pet feces on a regular basis to remove
potentially infective eggs before they become disseminated in the environment
via rain, insects, or the active migration of the larvae. Hookworm
eggs can develop into infective stage larvae in the soil in as little as 5
days, and ascarid eggs within 2 weeks, depending on temperature and humidity.
To illustrate the extent of environmental contamination that can occur as
the result of one infected puppy, a single female ascarid can produce more
than 100,000 eggs/day, resulting in millions of potentially infective ascarid
eggs per day spread throughout the area the puppy is allowed to roam.
Once the eggs become infective, they can remain infective in the environment
for years.
Most pet owners do not know that their
pets may carry worms capable of infecting people. Therefore, practicing veterinarians
can provide an important public service by recommending regular fecal examinations,
providing well-timed anthelmintic treatments, counseling clients on potential
public health hazards, and advising them on any precautionary measures that
may be undertaken. Veterinarians are in an ideal position to provide pet owners
with this service because of their access to the pet-owning public, their
knowledge and training, and their role in the human-animal bond."