Coccidia confusion
 

Ok when I took home my baby from the breeder last Monday we went to the vet that Tuesday with a fecal sample. He told me my baby had a tapeworm and coccidia. Well doing research extensively on both, I'm getting a feeling she didnt have coccidia. She does have the tapeworm because I've seen the "rice" segments in her poo. But the coccidia just doesnt seem right. She didnt have any symptoms of it so I'm confused:confused:. I saw that she can get it from the stress of coming to a new home but can that really happen overnight. I got her Monday at 6pm and we went to the vet Tuesday at 3pm and the fecal sample was taken that night around midnight. Is it possible that she has coccidia, it just dont seem right. Any/all advice welcomed and thank you in advance:D
P.S.
I havent noticed any fleas on her and was told tapeworms come from fleas. Just confused:confused::confused::confused:

its possible she picked both of those things up at the breeders. If the vet said she has coccidea its most likely because he saw the eggs in the stool sample. she doesn't necessarily have to have the bad signs of coccidea to actually have it. Or it might have already been clearing up when you took her in (maybe the breeder was already deworming her for it and didn't tell you?). Also your pup doesn't have to have fleas to get tapeworms. i'd just continue to give her the meds and then retest her stool when they are done. no harm in that.

In regards to the tape worm, your baby might never have had a flea on her self, but if the mommy had fleas or fleas in the breeders house and the baby injested it, etc then the baby could have gotten the tape worm from that.

When we got Cooper he had tape worms but NEVER had a flea that we had seen and I figured out on my own it was tape worms because the breeder had said a couple of times about what type of flea prevention to use because it had been the worst year for fleas, etc, and we figure that is where he got them even though he had NO flea dander or actual fleas himself.

My personal opinion is that many vets diagnose with coccidia and giardia so they can sell more meds.

That's what I'm thinkng too because I trust the breeder I got Autumn from and believe that her dogs didnt have this. I visited her home and saw all the pups and parents and they seem very well taken care of. Time to search for a better vet. I dont like medication for myself so I definatley dont like unneccessary meds for my little girl she's only 3lbs and medications are so strong. Thanks again:D

i got my puppy with whipworms and the breeder had no idea she had them. she didn't show any signs of having worms and she didn't think any of the other dogs did either. turns out the eggs were in her stool when they tested the sample. i never saw any evidence of worms. i did look at the stool sample myself so i know they were there.

anyway, all i'm saying is that your puppy may very well have these worms even if your breeder doesn't think she does.

Funny how the vets even invite people to look for themselves. Easy enough to have planted them. JMO

I sold 4 puppies, all raised together, two went to the same home.

According to the various vets.

One puppy had NO worms
one puppy had giardia
two puppies had hook worms.

Non of mine showed any sign of worms at all. No diahrrea, nothing in the stools.

My dogs are not exposed to other dogs feces, or any other animal feces. when I take then to the vet I do not alllow them to walk on the floor, I insist that the scale be sanitized before I put my dog on it.




.

I am a vet tech. i checked myself after the vet and another tech checked.

sure my situation is unique and even if i didn't personally check i still would have trusted the vets i worked with. not everyone can say the same about the trust in their vets. i won't argue that some vets are shady and like to give out crap or charge excessively because i know some crappy vets that do it.

edit: and i just have to laugh at your term "planted". most of the time the techs run the fecal and heartworm tests. they have no reason to lie. it doesn't pad their pockets....believe me... sometimes however there is a mistake and tests are confused. with a fecal sample the techs usually won't think twice about it (heartworms are a different story). they'll just say they found so and so to the vet and the vet will tell them to get so and so prescription to give to the owner.

Spike has Coccidia, What my vet told me is that it is indeed a parasite but it's nothing to worry about unless the dog starts having symptoms. It's hard to get rid of and isn't worth it if the dog isn't having the symptoms. Some dogs can go through their whole lives having it and not having any symptoms at all. Spike's never had a symptom so i'm not going to worry about it unless he starts getting sick. Hope I helped!

Well while researcching it I learned that it lies dormant in their system, but that stress can trigger it. Stress like a car ride, a new home etc.

Which might be why so many new owners have to deal with it and the breeder doesn't have any signs of it.

But I still think many vets just diagnos it to sell the meds. Especially a vet who charges $90 for an office visit and an antibiotic, when he had just seen the puppy the day before.

My personal Dr does not charge that much.

get a second opinion on i was told my little girl had it to and i took a sample to another vet and he didn't see a thing and she has been completely fine we need to watch these vets and not trust them so much they do try to get more money out of us any way they can.

The thing with Coccidia is that the sample needs to contain "oocites" or eggs, when tested, and the dog or puppy may not be sedding it all the time in every single stool sample taken.
Also the fact that a dog or a puppy has tested positive for it does mean it is affected or will ever be affected by it, just means it is a carrier.
The medication given, "ALBON" in most cases is very safe and will cause no harm of given under the right directions of a vet, because coccidia can KILL A PUPPY and can make a puppy so weak, it is worthy to follow the vets instructions and go ahead and give it.
It is not profitable to any vet to prescribe a course of Albon unnecessarily , it only costs between 12.00 to 18.00 dollars per puppy if you buy it at the vets office. That being said, which vet would be willing to put his/her reputation in line for such little money? Specially if you already paid for a fecal exam and a wellness visit/ physical ? It makes no sense to say that the vets will "invent" that puppies have worms.
Worms and coccidia and other parasites can be dormant in the puppy's body and only show up after the stress of the ride to a forever home, separation from the mom and siblings etc... that is probably the main reason why it will show in a fecal exam done by the new owner.

PREVENTION is much cheaper than treatment. If you were BLESSED ENOUGH to have taken the right sample to your vet, where he/she saw eggs, larvae or worms or else... BE THANKFUL and go ahead and prevent further heart aches.

I have had my share of "FITS" with vets, but the majority of the vets will always have the best interest of the pets and pet owners in mind.

If People start breaking the VET x PET OWNER trusting relationship that can turn really bad.

We are seeing so much improvement on animal medicine, pets are living longer than ever and with so much new technology and preventative approach our pets have a longer, healthier life and that is also rewarding and fulfilling for the pet owners and families too.

We need to be very careful, specially in a forum like this.
As a breeder i put in my contract that every new family is responsible to take their puppy / dog regularly to the vets and actually that is a deal breaker for me. If people loose their thrust and become discouraged to bring their animals to the vets it will not be a good thing.

XOXO

i think you might want to get a second opinion, but all in all, i would far more trust my vet than most of the stuff i read online. that being said things like nutrition and dog food i trust my own judgement because i don't think vets are training in nutrition and do try to sell Science Diet and Royal Canin too much and i don't like that stuff for mine.

anyways if you don't think you can trust this vet, it's time to find one you can, and if you find one you do trust, ask for tons of references and then put faith in him/her and let it go and let them do their job!!

hope that helps out

Thanks for all the advice on this subject so far. My friend just took her cat to the same vet and guess what?...He has coccidia and tapeworm... what are the odds of that. I know that it can be possible but it just sounds a little fishy and her vet bill ended up being 173 dollars:eek: that was so crazy so Im not too sure what to think of ths vet but I will be looking around for another one. I do take advice from this forum but not to the extreme that I wont take my baby to a vet, i just like hearing opinions and how others deal with different situations with their babies so i can get kind of an idea of what to do. Thanks again to all on this subject

Don't be so nieve. Not only vets, but family Drs will order tests etc if they get more money from it.

The vet is not ruining his reputation because he is erroring on the safe side. No harm is done to the puppy and he made money off the meds and the follow up checks.

Why do vest routinely ask for stool samples if there is no sign of illness? My vet doesn't ask for them.

Unless the puppy had diarrhea or some other symptom, why would they check the stool. Especially since they already know that finding them in the stool does not mean that they are infested with them (they could be carriers) and also NOT finding them in the stool does not mean that they don't have them.

its important to have stool samples checked at least every year even if they are not showing signs. worms can be passed from the dog to other dogs, cats, and even people, especially children. there have been cases of children getting worms from dogs and becoming very sick. the owners didn't know the dogs had worms because it wasn't showing signs of being sick.

you may think smartpuppiepets is being naive, but in my opinion you are being naive and cynical.

maybe your vet should ask for them. you might be surprised. not every vet is out for money. your opinion comes off as telling people they shouldn't listen to their vets or that their vets are wrong. in my opinion that is wrong.

This is a big pet peeve for me. I don't have, and I don't want my Dogs having Cocci. So if I purchase a new puppy and it comes to me with Cocci.. since it spreads, I have to treat everyone, and steam clean everything to kill it. It can, and does kill a puppy quickly, so I for one, would treat for it in a heartbeat. It is so easily prevented, I don't understand why it is so common, and not taken seriously. Moms that are treated prior to whelping will have puppies Cocci free. As a breeder, I feel there is no excuse for not at least trying to prevent it in the 1st place. My Vet is the life-line for my dogs especially in emergencies, and I trust her completely. I hope you find one that you trust.

Question....My dog cant go outside to use the bathroom yet so she uses the puppy pads and i clean up her poop soon as I see her go should I be replacing the pads that she poop on? i tend to change them every other day and sanitize her area too every other day? Should it be more often? Thanks for any advice
Oh and i did treat her for it to be on the safe side

Yes the scaled bothers me too. The table is sanitized, then they want you to just put them on the scale. Gross. We had the vet show us the slide too. Eva did have Cocidia she was very sick though. Usually they have really fizzy poo. This same vet though didn't test further and Eva had Giardia too(went for a second opinion). It was weeks and weeks before she was in the clear.

I would say if the stools are soft take the meds. If they are firm, reconsider if you are worried.

Thanks for your post. It is not good when people try to discourage pet owners from taking their vets seriously. And also i think most pet owners are not educated about how vets are also trained to keep "the humans" safe from "zoonotic" diseases. Some worms can cause great harm to humans. you are very right.
XOXO

Are you a vet to give that advice?

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: I agree and it is sad that a breeder would make such outlandish statements.

While I am a hugh believer of learning as much as I can and questioning my vet is part of that process I would never think there is a conspiracy going on at my vet. My vet doesn't spend 24/7 with my dogs and they are making a decision based on maybe 10 minutes of looking at the dogs and my input. I wonder how many people would make incorrect diagnosis based on this.

I also believe poop of our little ones is very critical to understand if our dogs are healthy or not. Just like when we give a urine sample at our checkup..it tells a story and while you might feel good your sample might tell a different story.

Please people do not take a chance of not going to a vet and do not believe all of them are out to rip you off. Unless you have a degree it is critical to the health of your dog to listen to the experts and do some of your own homework. If you do not trust your vet then find one you do.

Just when you think you have heard it all.
What kind of money does a vet make on fecal testing? Good grief!
I pray that no one who is reading this thread believes that vets would do something like that.
Sure, there are bad vets and bad doctors; but to sit here when someone is asking for advice about medical issues with their pups and tell them vets have a conspiracy going on to make money is just so wrong.
Some vets are better diagnosticians than others. Find one you trust and stick with him/her.
I don't know what I would do without my vet whom I trust. Is she cheap? No! I don't expect that. But, I would never think that she was ripping me off.

To the OP: If your vet sent that sample out to a lab and it is positive for coccidia, I personally think you should treat your pup!
If it were my pup, I would treat for bot the coccidia and the tapeworms.
Do you want to wait until the pup is sick? seriously....I would not ignore this!

I did treat her for both it's just I was seeking answers about it because of what i read and it was a lttle confusing and tht my friends cat had it too and he's an inside cat and they never met. It just was too confusng to me and i just wanted to see what others thought...Thank you:)

I don't see how taking a stool sample in once a year is going to prevent anything. They can be infected by worms the day after you take the stool sample in.

If there are no signs then chances are the dog does not have them, or they are not active.

If you do the research, you will find that unless they catch it at exactly the right stage, that it cannot be detected in one stool sample, that you would have to take in every stool sample for 72 hours.

Vets are aware of this. Most people are not.

So I am not being cynical, or nieve. I am being realistic. Vets, are not beyond doing extra tests to make more money and telling you that the dog needs deworming meds. They know it won't hurt the dog, so why not.

My vet is a very good vet, he is just not one that does a lot of unnecessary tests.

think what you want and do what you want, just don't tell people not to listen to their vets when their dogs are infected with something. coccidea and even the common round worm can kill a puppy if left untreated.

I did not see anything in your original post about a cat and from what I read I was not clear on whether you treated or not. I am glad you followed through...not much money to treat and better than to wait for symptoms to show up!
:)

Just for the record. I worm my puppies, and I have never had a sick puppy, nor have any of my buyers ever had a sick puppy.

Until this last time. One breeder said her puppy had giardia although it had no signs of it. Another buyer bought two puppis. Her vet said they both had hook worms, no giardia. Another buyer said her vet found no worms at all.

Now these puppies all ate the same food, drank the same water, nursed from the same mother. Yet the only two that had the same worms were the two that went to the same vet.

And still none of my dogs here showed any signs of anything.
so sure seems strange to me

I did however make the decision to worm each and every dog again, just to be sure. Because I would never want to sell someone a sick puppy.

You want to judge me for what I posted, when I have read post after post on here where someone has come on saying they want to breed dog X to dog Y, that the vet said it was ok, and the breeders and non breeders on here have torn them apart telling them not to listen to the vet cause he is not a breeder blah blah blah.

And time after time someone has asked about something that their vet had said one thing and they were told to get a second opinion.

And the Op said she took her dog to another vet and that vet found no signs of coccidia.

So, are you saying that the vets and the labs are in a conspiracy to fleece pet owners?

My vet sends fecals out to a lab.

I honestly cannot imagine a vet taking such a risk of losing his/her livelihood by doing something something like what you are saying; and to insinuate that it is widespread is very much a concern. Something of this nature is reportable to state boards! How much money do you really think vets would make doing this?

I am stunned that you make such accusations against a professional group!