Photos from capcvet.org
The Invisible Monsters Within and On Us– Parasites – from our pets.
Parasitic diseases are one of the scariest and least understood diseases that our clients deal with. As a general rule, parasites are “beasties” or “bugs” that live in your pet’s body but you almost never see. Therein lies the problem! So many people believe, ‘If I’m not seeing them, I don’t have to worry about them.’ Wrong!! Most of our parasites, whether directly or through the diseases they carry, have the ability to kill your pet. Most parasites cannot be seen with the naked eye!
HOT TOPICS: Controlling parasites is an important part of your pet’s health care
Most parasites cannot be easily seen with the naked eye
Wildlife is a source of parasites
Good hygiene is vital around your pet
Heartworm Disease
Testing and Treatment
Regularly check your pets for parasites
Your pet’s parasites and you
Environmental Issues
Controlling parasites is an important part of your pet’s health care
In fact, in the case of heartworm disease in cats the first sign seen in 30% of cases is sudden death. From a professional level, there is nothing worse than telling a loving owner that their pet died of a disease that is almost 100% preventable. In most cases these same owners were aware of the problem, but they thought it was a low risk and an expense they could easily avoid.
I have even seen websites on which the self-proclaimed “authority” claims these preventions were unnecessary costs. I have yet to meet the owner who lost their pet due to a parasitic disease that felt that the savings of the cost of medicine was worth it. In fact, most could have saved a large amount of expense if they had opted for disease prevention versus going through the diagnostics, treatment, and hospitalization of the pet once they were sick.
Most parasites cannot be easily seen with the naked eye
Our parasites can be classified into two major groups, external or internal. Most people are familiar with the external parasites, like ticks and fleas because they can be seen with the naked eye. They are less familiar with mites and lice, which usually require a microscope to see.
Internal parasites are almost never seen. If they are visible, it is usually because our pet has a horrendous amount of worms, and they are shedding live worms via the stool or vomit. Typically these internal parasites are diagnosed via eggs in a fecal test, blood test, or in the case of tapeworms, they will shed segments of the worm, which are often overlooked by clients.
Wildlife is a source of parasites
Spread of parasites. Most of our external parasites are spread through contact with infected animals or the environment. In our area the wildlife (coyotes, rabbits, mice, etc) are the most common sources.
The one common exception, seen most commonly in dogs, are demodectic mites. These mites are not felt to be contagious, and they live in the pores of the dog’s skin. They seem to have a symbiotic relationship with the dog because they can be found in healthy dogs. However, if allowed to over-grow, these mites can cause severe skin problems, especially in puppies.
Good hygiene is vital around your pet
Most internal parasites are passed via a fecal/oral route. This is why hygiene around your pet is so important. This is also why we never recommend letting your dog lick you in the face. He would not be a normal dog if he did not lick his anal area occasionally, making face-licking a high risk activity! This is of greatest concern with our kids because of the danger of kids getting these parasites and because they are at the perfect height for getting licked in the face.
Heartworm Disease
Heartworm disease will often cause a dog to go into heart failure. 30% of cats that get heartworm die suddenly with no other clinical signs
Heartworms are another important internal parasite that we deal with. This parasite is carried by mosquitoes (and yes, we do have mosquitoes). The baby worm, or microfilaria, is picked up when the mosquito bites an infected animal, with wildlife being a major reservoir for heartworm disease. The worm actually undergoes some of its development in the mosquito and then, via the bite of the mosquito, is injected into another susceptible animal. The worm then migrates for up to 6 months in your pet before it ends up at the heart. By the time the worm reaches the heart or nearby blood vessels, the worm is 6 to 14 inches long! Heartworm disease will often cause a dog to go into heart failure. Cats are actually considered an abnormal host, and 30% will die suddenly with no prior warning signs.
There are a lot of different parasite treatments, but no single treatment covers all types of parasites. Growing up, if my parents thought the dog had worms they would go down to the feed store and get some “worming medicine.” The trouble with that scenario is that worming medicine is still medicine, and should not be taken lightly, but also there is no cure-all worming medicine.
The great news is that medications used for the prevention of heartworm disease are also effective at treating a large majority of the parasites we most commonly deal with. Unfortunately, even these medications do not treat all types of parasites. The Companion Animal Parasite Council, responsible for monitoring parasite incidences, recommends that all pets should have stool samples checked 2 to 4 times yearly. In our area, we typically recommend twice a year samples to avoid problems.
It’s very important to regularly check your pets for parasites
The Heartworm Society which monitors heartworm disease makes the recommendation that dogs should be tested once yearly and kept on preventive medication year round. They also recommend that cats receive year round preventive medication as well, regardless of whether they are indoor versus outdoor cats. Because cats are considered an abnormal host, there is no test accurate enough to be useful for yearly testing.
By testing for parasites not only do we check for potential breaks in medication but also make sure we are treating all the parasites your pet may get.
Humans very commonly come into contact with parasites from our pets because of our close association with our furry family members. The problem is that we are not the normal hosts for these parasites, and for this reason, parasites do not go through their normal life cycle within us. The good news is that because we are abnormal hosts, some of the parasites do not survive in our body. The bad news is that many do survive however. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is becoming increasingly concerned about the spread of pet parasites to humans because of the rise in incidence of human cases.
There are a whole host of parasites that can affect humans, but because of our limited exposure to the jungles of the Amazon or the swamps in Florida, we have a low risk for exposure to the parasites of these regions. However the majority of people reading this article are still potentially exposed daily to multiple parasites through interactions with our pets.
Child with roundworms in the eye. Roundworms can cause blindness, brain damage and even death in humans.
Some of the parasites affecting humans most commonly include mites, fleas, and ticks externally. Internally, we can get hookworms, tapeworms, roundworms, heartworms, and whipworms. There are certainly health concerns associated with all of these parasites. However, the CDC has recently become particularly concerned about the transmission of roundworms to people, as a human roundworm infection can lead to symptoms as severe as blindness and brain damage. As a father, it is hard for me to fathom how I would deal with a child with brain damage knowing full well I could have prevented it. As a veterinarian, I thought about this daily as I came home to my kids. It is a common happening for me to strip in my garage, so as not to expose my family or my pets to what I deal with at work.
Once your dog or cat has had parasites, often your home and yard are seeded with parasite eggs. Another frightening fact is that many parasite eggs have the ability to survive harsh temperatures and the strongest cleaning chemicals. Unfortunately, this often means that even after treatment for parasites, many cats and dogs will become re-infected from these eggs in the home or the yard.
To put things in perspective, a recent study performed on 2 puppies with roundworms found that each puppy would shed a couple of million eggs per week. This study also showed that normal environmental conditions (drying, heat, freezing) did not kill the eggs.
The general recommendation to ‘decontaminate’ the environment is to cover your entire yard with 6-12 inches of straw and burn it or to remove 12-18 inches of dirt from your yard.
I don’t know about you, but prevention with twice yearly fecals and appropriate preventive medications sounds much easier and more realistic.
Remember:
1. Have your pets tested twice yearly for parasites.
2. Keep your pets on oral and topical prevention year round.
Videos!
Monsters Inside Me – Toxocara “Roundworms”
Monsters Inside Me – Baylisascaris “Racoon Roundworm”
Monsters Inside Me – Toxoplasmosis the “Cat Poop Parasite”
Monsters Inside Me – “Flesh Eating Hookworm”
Monsters Inside Me Video Gallery
Meet the Parasites
Coccidiosis
Demodex Mange
Fleas
Giardia
Heartworms in Cats
Heartworms in Dogs
Hookworms
Roundworms
Tapeworms (Primitive)
Tapeworms (True)
Toxoplasmosis
Ticks
Quick Guide: Which Worms Pose The Greatest Threats
