Untuk Apa Tes Tinja Hewan Peliharaan Anda?

2024 Pengarang: Daisy Haig | [email protected]. Terakhir diubah: 2023-12-17 03:10

Jadi untuk apa tes caca yang memalukan itu?

Cukup menegangkan jika bagian belakang hewan peliharaan Anda dilanggar oleh batang plastik, bukan? Jadi apa gunanya?

Anda berkata: Jika tujuannya adalah untuk membuat hewan peliharaan saya lebih sehat dan bebas parasit, maka saya akan mempercayai penilaian Anda, tetapi saya harus mengatakan, pemeriksaan tinja adalah jenis hukuman yang kejam dan tidak biasa. Saya tidak mendapatkan penghinaan semacam itu sampai saya laki-laki dan empat puluh, kan? Dan kotoran tidak begitu membantu, bukan?

Saya katakan: Sebagai permulaan, Anda tidak perlu membiarkan hewan peliharaan Anda menyerah pada tongkat pengecut. Sampel segar biasanya mudah diperoleh pagi (atau sore) sebelum kunjungan tahunan Anda atau setiap saat hewan peliharaan Anda menderita gejala gastrointestinal. Ini tidak begitu sulit, sungguh. Dan jika waktunya tidak tepat (tinja tidak boleh lebih dari satu jam untuk hasil terbaik), rumah sakit dokter hewan Anda pasti tidak akan menolak hak Anda untuk membawa sampel super segar sesuai keinginan Anda. Janji.

Dan ya, pemeriksaan tinja, meskipun relatif murah dan rutin, sangat diperlukan. Tetapi seperti yang akan ditunjukkan oleh posting ini, juga benar bahwa tidak semua tes tinja akan mendeteksi infeksi parasit pada hewan peliharaan Anda. Itu sebabnya pemeriksaan tinja tahunan dan/atau serial mungkin diperlukan.

Sekarang untuk tujuan utama tes:

Dokter hewan selalu mencari parasit yang mungkin masuk ke saluran pencernaan hewan peliharaan Anda. Tentu, kita manusia juga bisa terkena parasit, tetapi gaya hidup modern kita cenderung kurang kondusif untuk infeksi parasit. (Kapan terakhir kali Anda mengendus di halaman, bibir ke tanah, hanya agar Anda bisa menghirup satu atau dua kotoran kucing?)

Ya, hewan peliharaan mendapatkan banyak parasit. Berikut adalah contoh parasit gastrointestinal paling umum yang saya lihat di sini [di surga parasit yang semi-tropis Florida Selatan]:

Cacing gelang pada anjing dan kucing.

Cacing tambang pada hewan peliharaan

Cacing cambuk pada hewan peliharaan

Giardia pada hewan peliharaan

Cacing hati pada hewan peliharaan

Cacing hati pada hewan peliharaan

coccidia in pets

i’ll not go into the gory details on each but you can click on the links and check out the info for a better understanding of how these parasites can potentially affect your pets and even your human family.

sure, pet-popular parasites don’t often infect humans in the so-called, “developed” nations all of you reading this likely live in, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. roundworms and hookworms are still a factor in humans in the us, as is giardia, which will give you the nastiest case of diarrhea you can imagine short of amoebic dysentery.

since veterinarians are also on the front lines when it comes to public health, consider that fecal exams are not just necessary for healthy pets, they’re essential for healthy humans, too, more so if your family members are very young children, very old adults or otherwise immunocompromised (transplant patients, hiv-positive humans, chemo recipients, etc.).

how do we identify these critters in the fecal exam?

the short answer: with a microscope.

the long answer: we take a tiny sample of your pet’s stool (very fresh is always best). a few grams is enough (think an eighth of a teaspoon if that’s easier). then we put it through one of three processes.

1. the smear: we take about a half gram of stool and smear it onto a microscope slide to search for parasites (and bacteria) directly. many times we’ll see them swimming about. finding evidence of parasites in a simple smear is often indicative of severe infection.

2. the float: this method relies on mixing the stool with a special solution. it filters out the big pieces of stool in a tube or other cylindrical vessel and allows the eggs and other small critters to float up to the top, buoyed by the solution’s specific gravity. a microscope slide’s cover slip is typically used to recover the floaters. some parasites, however, aren’t amenable to flotation. eggs seem to do best through this method.

3. centrifugation: spinning the heck out of stool in a centrifuge when it’s mixed in a sugar solution picks up about 50% more parasite eggs and oocysts than through flotation. therefore, i like this method best for worm eggs, giardia, and coccidia––though i’d never go without a smear. problem is, most hospitals don’t yet use this method. it’s more expensive than others and research demonstrating it’s much greater efficacy is fairly recent.

so now you know the truth: not all fecal exams are created equal. not only does this test rely on careful selection of materials and methods, it also requires a trained eye. in our practice, for example, one of our techs detects parasites about 50% more often than the veterinarians and other techs/assistants. (that’s why we also do floats so that she can check them all at her convenience when she comes back from her day off.)

it’s also true that even a parasite-infected animal will often not come up positive on a fecal test. human error and equipment choice are factors, but so is the parasite itself. sometimes they do not make themselves known in the stool. worms sometimes aren’t shedding their eggs and subclinical (low-grade or smoldering) infections may not reveal much, either.

again, that’s why it’s important to perform this test as often as is reasonable. for all dogs and cats at least three times during the first few months of life. i want to see at least two negative tests in a row, a month apart, before i’ll feel comfortable that my patient is parasite-free.

for adults, once a year is great––that is, unless they show gastrointestinal illnesses. in this case, serial fecal tests make sense––or at least one every time the symptoms recur until a definitive diagnosis is made (whether it’s parasites or something else).

ultimately, fecal tests are a critical component of our veterinary hat of tricks. doing without may seem like the economically wisest thing in the absence of gastrointestinal symptoms, but consider: parasites can wear pets down in ways you might not expect. and it’s never wrong to be too safe in the presence of diseases that may also affect your family. ‘nuff said.