Intestinal Parasites in Canines

You may have been to your veterinarian recently and was asked if you wanted a fecal exam performed on your dog/cat. You may have declined the test and thought that if your dog's feces look normal then there is no need to test the feces. Fecal testing in the past was overlooked until health officials on the human medical side began realizing the affects of transferring intestinal parasites from animal to human. Your pet may not show signs of intestinal parasites initially, however, when it is too late, you risk infecting yourself or others with the parasites. Especially if you have a young child around the house that put's his/her hands in places you don't know and then shove their hands in their mouths or rub their eyes. The unfortunate thing about intestinal parasites in humans is that we can get what are called cutaneous larva migrans or ocular larva migrans.

Cutaneous larva migrans is a condition in which intestinal parasites make their way to the cutaneous layer (under skin) and cause irritation, etc. Ocular larva migrans is a condition in which the parasites enter the eye. These conditions can be avoided if you test your pet annually for parasites by simply bringing in a fecal sample and testing them. For a $20 testing fee, it is well worth it. For those of you who want to save money and not test yearly, it is not a very smart move on your behalf. It is actually pretty irrresponsible not testing your pet for parasites. If you pay the $20 fee for the test, think of what you could potentially be saving. If you don't test and your pet come in contact with roundworm, tapeworm, hookworm, etc., then you must give oral medication to kill the parasite and examination, etc. Wouldn't it be cheaper to just test yearly and prevent a parasitic outbreak in your pet?There is a medication called Heartgard that prevents your pet from developing roundworm and hookworm. It also prevents your pet from contracting heartworm disease, another parasite that migrates to the heart chambers and can eventually cause death. It is well worth it to test annually and be sure your pet does not have intestinal parasites. Many states are now requiring home owners to report that their dog has had an intestinal parasite so that the buyer knows that there have been worms present in the feces in the backyard. In order to clean a backyard that has been defecated on with contaminated feces, owners have to either poor gasoline on the lawn and set it on fire or dig down 6 inches and get rid of the dirt. Either way, would you want to deal with burning or ripping up your yard just because you did not want to pay for an intestinal parasite test?