One of my objectives with this blog is to stick to subjects I have personal experience and knowledge of. That usually means veterinary aspects or the conservation biology of endangered animal species I have come across.
Yesterday I came across Toxocara canis the first time. This has to be one of the most striking internal parasites of puppies that you could come across. Two weeks ago I acquired a Siberian Husky puppy. I grew concerned with her failure to put in weight, diarrhoeia, vomiting and inappetence, I had been weighing her several times a day. I have also been keeping a close eye on her toilet habits - not least becaause this is part of her house training. Yesterday I observed her in the cat of defecating. I could not believe the size of the helminth worm she passed in her faeces. It was quite unmistakeable. The worm was obtained using clinician's rubber gloves for purposes of examination. These worms have to be properly stretched out to measure them. Measuring them is fundamental to identifying them. This one was approx 10cm. I was too shocked to be customarily scientific about it.
The active ingredient is febantel in the wormer/anthelminthic used. Four hours after administration, the worm was passed. My concern now is how many more there are. But the prescription is for three days, then 15 and that should be suficiente to get the worms at any stage of their life cycle,
The taxonomic hierarchy is
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Nemathelminthes (roundworms)
Class Nematoda
Order Ascaridida
Superfamily Ascaridoidea
Family Ascarididae
Genus Toxocara
Species Toxocara canis
What I want to be taken from this is that identification is relatively easy, though it takes a parasitologist to confirm differential diagnosis with Toxascaris leonina. A dog digests its food in approx four hours and I was pleased with Febantel. The puppy is now thriving.
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