Message Number: YPG590 | New FHL Archives Search
From: ferrethealer@aol.com
Date: 2006-12-19 04:21:20 UTC
Subject: Coccidia Re: [ferrethealth] Digest Number 54
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com

In a message dated 12/18/06 9:54:03 PM Eastern Standard Time,
ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com writes:
What I am wondering now, after a bout of coccidia in ONE of my boys and a ?
in another, both of whom are responding well to meds, soup and babying, is - is
it true that coccidia is hard to detect, some unknown number of vets do not
recognize it, and it could take 5 or 6 tests easily to finally identify it? I
was told this by a non-medical person who seems to believe this to be accurate
and up-to-date info. I can't agree with or refute the info - I just don't know.

**In my opinion and experience, coccidia is not all that hard to diagnose, as
an animal having diarrhea due to coccidia tends to be shedding a good number
of organisms and therefore it's pretty easily found, especially if several
specimens are checked. It is possible that some of my colleagues have had other
experiences, of course.

The tricky thing about coccidia is to look for it and to be able to recognize
the less common species of coccidia found in some cases. For example, the
most common one seen by vets is Isospora - but one often found in ferrets is
Eimeria, which looks slightly different and is a bit different size. Depending
on the experience and training of the person running the fecal sample, it might
be missed due to that. Also, occasionally an animal will break with diarrhea
prior to the beginning of shedding of large numbers of oocysts, so a negative
sample early in the disease might be a problem with diagnosis.**

Dr. Ruth
*****************************************
Save lives - spay or neuter your pet.


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