{"id":25,"date":"2012-03-30T22:26:52","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T22:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.animalhealthfoundation.net\/blog\/?p=25"},"modified":"2012-04-25T21:00:27","modified_gmt":"2012-04-25T21:00:27","slug":"pet-fecal-exams-are-and-excellent-diagnostic-and-preventive-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.animalhealthfoundation.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/pet-fecal-exams-are-and-excellent-diagnostic-and-preventive-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Pet Fecal Exams are and excellent Diagnostic and Preventive Tool"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This question comes up every day at veterinary hospitals; how important is the laboratory analysis of a dog or cat\u2019s stool? Years ago, fecal exams were done only on animals with digestive problems, either diarrhea or vomiting. But times have changed and so has our knowledge of disease-causing parasites.<\/p>\n<p>First, there are newer ones that, years ago, never existed in our local environment. Just a few years ago, we rarely saw hookworm or whipworm infections. But as people have moved with their pets from other parts of the country into South County, these \u201cbugs\u201d have emerged as a potential problem. In addition to intestinal worms, protozoa (named giardia) are nearly endemic in many parts of California, causing digestive upset in animals and people. And those pet store over-the-counter medications? Unfortunately, they\u2019re not effective in eliminating many of these parasites.<\/p>\n<p>Veterinarians and medical doctors are keenly aware that some animal parasites can also infect children, causing serious illnesses including blindness and paralysis. It\u2019s a nasty world out there and we can\u2019t just look the other way. So we\u2019re always on the lookout.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m sure your vet made the right decision insisting on that fecal exam. Considering your pooch\u2019s weight loss, it makes sense to check into the potential for a parasitic problem. Fecal exams should be done whenever there are signs of indigestion, weight loss or unthriftyness. It\u2019s good medicine for your pooch AND for your family.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\u00a0Pete Keesling is a retired veterinarian and hosts Dr. Pete&#8217;s Petpourri, Sundays at 1 p.m. and Friday mornings at 7:10 on KSCO 1080 AM. Reach him at <a href=\"mailto:smvet3@yahoo.com\">smvet3@yahoo.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Morgan Hill, CA<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This question comes up every day at veterinary hospitals; how important is the laboratory analysis of a dog or cat\u2019s stool? Years ago, fecal exams were done only on animals with digestive problems, either diarrhea or vomiting. But times have changed and so has our knowledge of disease-causing parasites. First, there are newer ones that, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cats","category-dogs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pet Fecal Exams are and excellent Diagnostic and Preventive Tool | The Animal Health Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.animalhealthfoundation.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/pet-fecal-exams-are-and-excellent-diagnostic-and-preventive-tool\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pet Fecal Exams are and excellent Diagnostic and Preventive Tool | The Animal Health Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This question comes up every day at veterinary hospitals; how important is the laboratory analysis of a dog or cat\u2019s stool? 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