Top 3 Reasons to Perform Annual Fecal Checks on Your Pet

1. To prevent spread to humans, especially children, pregnant women, and the elderly or immune compromised. While not common, roundworms and hookworms can spread to humans causing skin lesions and, in severe cases, blindness and brain lesions. It is usually children who acquire these infections, by playing in the dirt and then putting their hands in their mouth. In addition, protozoal parasites such as giardia, toxoplasmosis, and coccidia can be spread to humans and other pets, causing GI upset and diarrhea.

2. To keep your pet healthy. Parasitic infections do not always cause obvious symptoms until the parasite load is heavy. However, they can cause subtle symptoms such as picky appetite, intermittent soft stool,”poor thrift”, anal itching, and a dull coat.

3. In the Treasure Valley, giardia is common. In the Treasure Valley of Idaho, giardia is a common parasite. Symptoms can be absent, but then become evident in times of stress or secondary to other causes of GI upset. You may end up with a pet with acute onset of severe diarrhea, sometimes even bloody diarrhea.

Some other information to note:

1. In some cases, it is best to perform fecal checks twice yearly. Examples of situations where this would be beneficial would include pets that live on farms, cats that routinely catch rodents, dogs that decide they like to eat stool from other animals, or pets with a history of recurrent giardia or parasites.

2. Even if your pet rarely leaves its property, it can still be at risk. Anytime he or she decides to eat rabbit or cat stool from the yard, snacks on something “not-so-appetizing” at the park, drinks standing water from a puddle, or sniffs the neighbor dog’s hind end in greeting, he or she could contract a parasite. The only extremely low risk animals are indoor-only cats that live in a household where all cats are kept indoors, and where the household dogs are routinely screened for parasites.

3. Monthly heartworm prevention is also helpful, because in addition to preventing heartworm (which is on the rise in the Treasure Valley), it prevents several intestinal worms as well. It does not prevent protozoal parasites or all types of worms, however, which is why routine fecal checks are still important.

If you have any questions about parasites and your pet, as well as other things you can do to prevent spread of parasites to children and other animals, please feel free to call or email us!

Andrea Sparzo, DVM
River City Vet Hospital
Meridian, Idaho
208-888-7300
info@rivercityvet.com

New Fecal Policy - REQUIRED by 11/01/11!

Have you recently received this flyer from your Wags & Wiggles Facility? If not, Wags & Wiggles is now REQUIRING yearly fecal & parasite testing. As of November 1st, all current and new clients will need to show proof of a Negative fecal testing done within 90 days.

As of September 2011 we have decided to add fecal (poop) and parasite testing to our daycare requirements. We have not had a big issue with the spread of parasites at our facilities due to our extensive cleaning and supervision, however we feel this new policy will only make our daycares and the community better. Some parasites can go undetected in dogs without symptoms of illness. There may always be a chance that your dog can get sick being around other dogs despite current vaccinations and fecal tests, but we want you to know that we love your dogs and want to implement everything possible to keep them happy and healthy.

This is what you need to know about this policy:

• We recommend two tests: Ova/Parasite Test and Giardia Elisa Test. The Ova/Parasite test is MANDATORY. The Giardia Test is optional but is strongly suggested especially for Giardia prone areas like Irvine. Giardia is notoriously hard to detect in a standard flotation fecal test. This is why we suggest the Elisa Test. The Ova/Parasite test will check for all other parasites such as Roundworms, Tapeworms, Hookworms, Pinworms, Coccidia & other parasites. We anticipate that if you have current status with your veterinarian there will be no office charge. Contact your own veterinarian regarding their own policies.

• If you are a new client, you must present confirmation from your veterinarian that your dog had a fecal and the results came back Negative. The test must have been done within 90 days prior to starting daycare or puppy class.

• If you are an existing client, you will have until November 1st to present verification of a clean fecal. The fecal must have been done in the last 90 days.

• All clients will be required to present proof of a clean fecal on a yearly basis. Hopefully you can tie this into your vaccination schedule. We will keep track of your fecal status in our computer and will remind you when your yearly due date comes around.

• If your dogs fecal shows a parasite, you must seek treatment, and present a clean fecal result to us at the end of the treatment.

We know that asking you to get this test done may be difficult for your busy schedule. However, we are confident that our clients will respond positively to keeping their dogs in the safest daycare possible. We recommend that you get this fecal testing done through your own veterinarian. However, in the case of immediate need (such as emergency boarding), we have made arrangements with a local veterinarian to be able to do the fecal testing through W&W. Please contact either the RSM or the Tustin Facility for details.

Any dog that shows up for boarding or daycare after November 1st without proof of a clean fecal will not be allowed in the play area until this testing is done.

Here is some additional information on Giardia and Parasites: Giardia is an organism that lives in the small intestine of dogs and cats. If your dog shows symptoms, it’s usually very watery diarrhea. Some dogs will lose weight (but still eat fine), have bad smelling poop with an abnormal pale color. Giardia transmits through feces. Your dog does not have to eat poop to get Giardia. They can drink infected water on walks or at dog parks, they can get Giardia on their feet and then lick their feet, and through normal nose to butt greetings with other dogs. Treatment is usually a 10-14 day long treatment of antibiotics.

Click here for more information on Giardia

Click here for more information on Common Small Animal Parasites

If you have any questions regarding this new policy – Please contact your Wags & Wiggles Facility today and we will be happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have. Tustin: 714-368-7077 RSM: 949-635-9655

-Romi