Cody diagnosed with Coccidia

[matese]

Yesterday’s vet visit I took in a stool sample, when I was collecting it I saw 3 white something’s close to the surface of his poop, never saw this before and I pick up lots of poo.
Before you see the vet, a tech always enters into the computer reason for visit. I told her I had a stool sample and I saw white whatever near the surface. The vet comes in, we / she does her thing (I have another thread about the vet visit) then she looks at the poo and confirms yes, white things. They ran a fecal float, diagnoses Coccidia, I am sent home with Marquis paste and plungers. Tech says Coccidia can be transmitted to humans, wash hands after handling poop. I ask how did he get this, she says from dirt, sniffing another dogs poop. I tell her he’s not been near any dogs poo. She says it survives in dirt, earth, from an animals infected poop. Cody is 99.9% a backyard dog. So how did he get this? We do have feral cats in the area, and wild life, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, field mice, moles, voles etc. I have seen no deer poo. Can Coccidia be gotten from wild life poo, if so, does anyone know what I can do so Cody does not continue to get this. I have had 2 other dogs living here, playing in that yard, they NEVER got this. Come to think of it, now as I am writing this, I took him to be groomed, as soon as I take him out of the car I always see if he has to make pee-pee, he sniffed a poop, which I pulled him away from. I looked this morning to see how I can prevent him from getting this, again, more aspirin, so much information, but no answer for what I was looking for, nor did I read how long it takes from sniffing infected feces to them being infected with it. Would anyone know this. Also tech said can be transmitted to humans, I read it cannot be. I called my vet this afternoon to get an answer, can it be transmitted to humans. After they check with vet that is on duty today I am told the Dr. said some types of Coccidia can be transmitted and some cannot. So now this makes things very clear, duhhhh more aspirin. Does anyone know a positive yes or no, if it can be transmitted? My hands are chap from washing and scrubbing palms, back of hands, between fingers. Washing floor with bleach, what about carpets, besides just vacuuming? I need more aspirin.

[Yorkiemom1]

Coccidia is in the dirt and most dogs actually have this in their intestines....the immune systems in older/adult dogs usually keep this from flaring up. Stress is a great precipitator and will cause a dog or puppy to "break" with coccidia....usually, anytime you have a pup for a week and you start to see diarrhea with blood tinged mucus in it, that pup is "breaking" with coccidia from the stress it is experiencing with new home, new people, gone siblings and no momma, etc.......usual treatment is Albon along with Amoxicillin and Flagyl. Cody is a rescue, so he more than likely picked this up long before you ever got him and it is dormant in his intestine. I do NOT think it is transmitted to humans...I do not remember anything in any literature I have about coccidia, that humans can get it.

[matese]

I wish this is the case, that he had it before coming to me. I had 2 other dogs here, they never had it. I looked on the internet, read, read, & read, no where did I see where it can pass on to humans. This dog may have HAD stress with prev. owner, I try to keep his life stress free, I am getting stressed trying to keep him stress free lol. My next life I wanna come back as Cody owned by Joan. This med he's on Dexamethasone 2 side effects are excessive drinking and urinating, he woke me up at 12 midnight, pee pee, again at 2:30am pee pee at 5am pee pee. Thanks for the info.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Oh, no! Poor baby! Poor you! I had two rescues with it - one a huge, emaciated Great Dane hours away from euthanasia at the pound and getting through that disease process back then was awful for that huge dog and me, too. I hope Cody's run of it is a shorter course than my two dogs were years back. Hopefully today's meds and methods are better.

[matese]

He is happy, peppie, playful good appetite. Well I should say before this med he was, he's been sleeping a lot,the alligie the last stool sample given to my vet was the end of March. I believe he recently got this. In this afternoons stool I saw tiny tiny white spots, lots of them. Today is only the 2nd day he is on the med. I was given med for 7 days, bring in stool sample 3 weeks after med.is finished. I hope this does the trick. Over the years Veterinarian
treatment, medications have sky rocketed, because of modern technology animals get better treatment, live longer lives. Thank you for sharing your story, and your concern for my lil Cody.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by matese

He is happy, peppie, playful good appetite. Well I should say before this med he was, he's been sleeping a lot,the alligie the last stool sample given to my vet was the end of March. I believe he recently got this. In this afternoons stool I saw tiny tiny white spots, lots of them. Today is only the 2nd day he is on the med. I was given med for 7 days, bring in stool sample 3 weeks after med.is finished. I hope this does the trick. Over the years Veterinarian
treatment, medications have sky rocketed, because of modern technology animals get better treatment, live longer lives. Thank you for sharing your story, and your concern for my lil Cody.

I'm pulling for Cody! He's obviously a lucky dog to have you caring for him.

[chestermama]

sending good thoughts for cody

[LovelyPuppies]

Sorry for Cody And for you, lol. I hope it's just a mild case - which it sounds like it is if he is still eating and playing normally.

Tilly came home to me with Coccidia. Your vet told you it can be transmitted to humans because there IS a strain that humans can get...but it isn't as common and the only way to know FOR SURE if it is the strain humans can get is to have the stool sent to a parasitology lab (I think I said that name right).

Unless you have an immune disorder Cryptosporidium (the strain of Coccidia humans can get) will more than likely not do much to you. When humans contract Coccidia it shows as stomach cramps and diarrhea (sometimes vomiting)...but again I have to say that it is not common and shows itself in the elderly, very young, and those with weakened immune systems (HIV etc).

As for cleaning, I "steam cleaned" with a warm water and borax solution. I went ahead and bought a $99 "steam" cleaner from Target so that I could have it for future use. I figure with another animal in the apartment it'll be easier to keep things nice and clean

I also kept her confined to a small play space the ENTIRE time she was medicated/still sick. I changed her pee pads EVERYTIME a poo touched them. I bathed her every other day (she had issues laying in her poo). I changed the towels in her crate every other day. I changed the towels/sheets in her pen every other day. I washed all of her toys and towels and sheets on HOT wash with regular detergent and a nice shake of borax.

After her first treatment, she was Coccidia free.

Stay vigilant with keeping her play area clean and you will be fine

[LovelyPuppies]

OH, and Coccidia is not the type of parasite that say, a tapeworm is.

Coccidia are microscopic and are enveloped in CYSTS that leave the body in POOP. If not cleaned properly, the area where the poo has touched could have the cysts and if the puppy licks them BAM they are reinfected - hence why I went ahead and cleaned my carpets to be EXTRA safe LOL.

[yorkiemom76]

Originally Posted by Yorkiemom1

Coccidia is in the dirt and most dogs actually have this in their intestines....the immune systems in older/adult dogs usually keep this from flaring up. Stress is a great precipitator and will cause a dog or puppy to "break" with coccidia....usually, anytime you have a pup for a week and you start to see diarrhea with blood tinged mucus in it, that pup is "breaking" with coccidia from the stress it is experiencing with new home, new people, gone siblings and no momma, etc.......usual treatment is Albon along with Amoxicillin and Flagyl. Cody is a rescue, so he more than likely picked this up long before you ever got him and it is dormant in his intestine. I do NOT think it is transmitted to humans...I do not remember anything in any literature I have about coccidia, that humans can get it.

Everything Yorkiemom1 said. The only other thing I would add is, that to my knowledge, coccidia can't be seen with the naked eye (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) so I'm not sure what the white things were that you seen. I'm a vet assistant so I see a lot of poop every day. Looking at fecal floats and smears under the microscope is part of my job and I've never seen coccidia by just looking at the sample, I've only ever seen it under the microscope.

[matese]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

I'm pulling for Cody! He's obviously a lucky dog to have you caring for him.

Thank you Jeanie, I want him healthy and happy, he's such a good boy, I am blessed to him.

Originally Posted by chestermama

sending good thoughts for cody

Thank you for your concern and kind words.

[matese]

Originally Posted by yorkiemom76

Everything Yorkiemom1 said. The only other thing I would add is, that to my knowledge, coccidia can't be seen with the naked eye (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) so I'm not sure what the white things were that you seen. I'm a vet assistant so I see a lot of poop every day. Looking at fecal floats and smears under the microscope is part of my job and I've never seen coccidia by just looking at the sample, I've only ever seen it under the microscope.

Friday when I collected his stool to bring to the vet I saw 3 white what ever, near the surface of the stool, I didn't see the entire thing just part of it, the 3 were not all in one spot, 2 were on one side of stool the other was on the other side of stool, it looked like rice, but, I didn't see the front or the end I am thinking I saw the middle of what ever. It appeared to be flatter and a bit wider and whiter then rice. This was the sample I took to the vet that they did the fecal float on. Cody was not feed rice so I knew it wasn't that. Yesterday what I saw when I picked up his poop was many, many white dots, the size of the tip of a sewing needle, the entire poop had this. The poo I picked up this morning I saw nothing at the surface. I don't mush up his poo to look to see if there is anything in it. I know parasites can only be seen under microscope and not with the naked eye, this is what is causing me great concern.

[yorkiemom76]

Originally Posted by matese

Friday when I collected his stool to bring to the vet I saw 3 white what ever, near the surface of the stool, I didn't see the entire thing just part of it, the 3 were not all in one spot, 2 were on one side of stool the other was on the other side of stool, it looked like rice, but, I didn't see the front or the end I am thinking I saw the middle of what ever. It appeared to be flatter and a bit wider and whiter then rice. This was the sample I took to the vet that they did the fecal float on. Cody was not feed rice so I knew it wasn't that. Yesterday what I saw when I picked up his poop was many, many white dots, the size of the tip of a sewing needle, the entire poop had this. The poo I picked up this morning I saw nothing at the surface. I don't mush up his poo to look to see if there is anything in it. I know parasites can only be seen under microscope and not with the naked eye, this is what is causing me great concern.

The ones that look like rice sound like tapeworms to me and those don't always show up in a fecal float but you can see them in the stool. Tapeworms are flat and the size of rice. As gross as it sounds, I would probably dig through the stool sample. If he has tapeworms, unless you've dewormed recently, they should be moving. If you've dewormed him, you should still be able to see them but they'll be dead and dried out. I'm not sure about the white dots.

[matese]

Originally Posted by LovelyPuppies

Sorry for Cody And for you, lol. I hope it's just a mild case - which it sounds like it is if he is still eating and playing normally.

Tilly came home to me with Coccidia. Your vet told you it can be transmitted to humans because there IS a strain that humans can get...but it isn't as common and the only way to know FOR SURE if it is the strain humans can get is to have the stool sent to a parasitology lab (I think I said that name right).

Unless you have an immune disorder Cryptosporidium (the strain of Coccidia humans can get) will more than likely not do much to you. When humans contract Coccidia it shows as stomach cramps and diarrhea (sometimes vomiting)...but again I have to say that it is not common and shows itself in the elderly, very young, and those with weakened immune systems (HIV etc).

As for cleaning, I "steam cleaned" with a warm water and borax solution. I went ahead and bought a $99 "steam" cleaner from Target so that I could have it for future use. I figure with another animal in the apartment it'll be easier to keep things nice and clean

I also kept her confined to a small play space the ENTIRE time she was medicated/still sick. I changed her pee pads EVERYTIME a poo touched them. I bathed her every other day (she had issues laying in her poo). I changed the towels in her crate every other day. I changed the towels/sheets in her pen every other day. I washed all of her toys and towels and sheets on HOT wash with regular detergent and a nice shake of borax.

After her first treatment, she was Coccidia free.

Stay vigilant with keeping her play area clean and you will be fine

I have a rug shampooer, is there a diff, between that and a steam cleaner?

Cody is 100% house trained,he will only make outside,never in the house, only when I first got him and he had diarrhea, he would wake me up whining in my ear, if I didn't get up fast enough he made in the house,then he would hang his head in guilt for doing this, but he was very sick and couldn't hold it, he woke me every 2 hours, I would jump out of bed so he wouldn't make in the house and he wouldn't have that guilty "I did a naughty thing" look. I have a very large deck, it took a long time for Cody to use the deck, he prefers the yard, grass, dirt, his prev. owner leash walked him. I have many wild critters and prefer he use the deck at night and early mornings. I always rinse his pee pee with a pitcher of water, not happy I am having him use my deck, something my other dogs were NOT ALLOWED to do. Since adopting him I have always monitored his poo, easier to see on deck then search the entire yard. His poop is firm, never sticks to the deck so I always just picked it up, no need to rinse with water. I think the tech told me this can be transmitted did it as a precaution to me. I did call my vets office yesterday because all that I read on the internet did not state humans can catch this from their animals. They checked with the vet that was on duty, they said the Dr. said some types of Coccidia can be transmitted!!!!! All I was told that it is Coccidia. When I asked the tech how Cody could have gotten this, one of the things she said was from smelling his own infected poo.When Cody does his poo I am always there and pick it up right away, yesterday he did turn to smell it, iyiyi, now I have to stay closer to him that this does never happens again. What I just learned from you If not cleaned properly, the area where the poo has touched could have the cysts and if the puppy licks them BAM they are reinfected. This is something I have not done, I will scrub the entire deck today and rinse well with the hose. Then every time he poos I will scrub that area. I don't want this med he is taking to be in vain. I am praying this treatment will be the only one needed. The tech told me, after the med is finished (it's for 7 days) I don't have to make a special trip to drop off a stool sample, she said the next time you "pass by" you can drop it off. My vet is 40 minutes away, several towns away, I never JUST PASS BY lol. I told her when the med, is finished I will bring in a sample, she told me that is too soon, I asked when to bring it in, she said wait 3 weeks after med is finished to give the med a chance to work, then bring it in. I think that's to long to wait, what are your thoughts on this. thank you so much for your input. I have learned much from your post and yorkiemom1. I have had many dogs, many breeds, poodles, mini schnauzers then yorkies captured my heart and have had only yorkies for over 30 years, with all these dogs they never had this Coccidia, this is so upsetting to me. Again Thank you.

[LovelyPuppies]

Totally sounds like tapeworms...

Years ago I had a schnoodle, and she always had tapeworms. None living - I kept up with her dewormings. I would just always find the dried "rice" on the bed...