Reptile & Amphibian Forums

since i'm at a microscope all day,,, and i'm somewhat familiar with what pinworm ova and coccidia looks like,,,, i was just wondering if anyone here does fecal exams and how difficult are they to do???
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0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Eddie)
2.0.0 Dogs (Black German Shepherd-Nicholas, Black Lab-Cooper)
1.1.0 Budgies (Kia and Simon)
0.0.1 ?Fiddler Crab (Crusty)
0.0.25 Various Fishies (Freshwater)
2.1.0 Hubby and kids (Boy and a Girl)

Just takes practice, like when you first started doing human stuff. I am a vet tech, but I am self taught when it comes to reptiles. I pester vets and buy all the books I can get may hands on. I just do wet mounts (no need for floats in these guys). A litle poop a little saline and stir . Add coverslip view under 40X and 100X objectives. There are many normal flora and commensals (including low levels of coccidia). Like i said hemore you do the better you get at it.
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Stacey

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Stacey

Stacey,

I want to start doing my own fecals. I have a vet that has promised to help me get started on doing fecal floats when I get my scope. I had no idea that you didn't need to do the whole float thing. You can just add a little saline to a small amount of poo and put it on a slide? That sounds way to easy. I thought I was going to have to buy all the stuff to do the floats and it can be pretty spendy to get started. But if I can do it that way that's great! Any other info you have for someone just starting out doing their own fecals would be really appreciated. Is there a particular book that I should get? I have "Understanding Reptile Parasites" but I can't remember who it is by.

Thanks!
Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons

It is by Roger Klingenberg DVM. He also has another book that has a color guide also available from thebeanfarm.com, that I think is a little better.
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Stacey

Parasite book link

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Stacey

on more than one occasion I have had things show up in floats that were not there in a direct. Get a gallon of fecasol (will last you a year) and a small pill bottle and your good to go. Put the fecal in the bottle with some fecasol, cap and shake. Then pour the contents into the cap until a meniscus forms and place a slide cover over it. Wait 10 minutes, place on the slide and view.

Dont skip the float!
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

He's right!! There are many times that parasite eggs do not show in a direct, but will float in fecalsol. I'm a licensed vet tech....most of the time, we skipped the direct and only did the float. Better chance of it showing up in a float than on a direct, but still may not show...so several fecals may be neccessary to diagnose a parasite problem.

I would agree with mammals, but not necessarily with reptiles. I am going off advice from Dr. Doug Mader. It is his opinion that we over deworm reptile as it is and any parasite that is at pathogenic levels will be picked up on direct. You need to be careful you are not deworming when finding parasites at levels that are mutalistic or commensal. Just my two cents. We get a lot more info from a direct and a gram stain.
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Stacey

Of course I am refering to routine/annual fecals on healthy animals, which I believe is what the original post is referring to. We always do floats in sick, debilitated, or recently purchased/shipped animals. ( Sorry, I was thinking during dinner and I thought my previous post might be misunderstood)
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Stacey