Dogs & Health: The stool test is one that is often forgotten. A big mistake since thanks to a little attention it is possible to monitor the health of our four-legged friend at 360 degrees.
It is done very quickly but dog owners often find it a trivial analysis. In fact, it is commonly believed that the analysis of feces is only important to ascertain the presence or absence of "worms" and that these are still noticeable with the naked eye. In reality, this is not exactly the case. To begin with, the stool examination is able to give us a lot of information on the health of our friend's gastrointestinal tract, but not only. It can tell us if the food administered is well assimilated by the animal and if there are infections of various kinds; it is even able to signal the presence of bronchus pulmonary nematodes. Obviously, most of the time this test is performed to obtain information on the presence of intestinal infections.
Those who believe that the presence of "worms" are visible to the naked eye are wrong. In the event that adult roundworms are found visible in the faeces, we are faced with a rather serious and dangerous situation that has been underestimated for too long. With the examination of the feces, on the other hand, it is possible to prevent the problem as the vet looks for eggs and larvae, invisible to the naked eye.
Regarding the problem of intestinal infections, it is good to dispel at least two other fairly common myths:
• it is not true that intestinal parasites only affect puppies. Not infrequently the problem is also of adult dogs;
• the dog prone to a parasitic infection does not necessarily produce poorly formed stools or suffer from diarrhea. Rather, he proves tired, with a significant drop in physical performance as parasites are able to steal some nutrients that are essential for him.
The importance of this examination does not end here: it finds the presence of particularly widespread pathogens such as giardia and coccidia and therefore allows for rapid repairs.
Veterinary: Periodic analysis
What every owner of dog should remember is that prevention, as usual, is better than cure. Preventing in this case means periodically carrying out a stool examination. This is important not only for the animal, but also and above all for humans. In fact, it is not uncommon for some parasites that affect four-legged friends to be transmitted to humans. The two most famous cases are certainly that of Toxacara canis and Echinococcus, both of which are able to pass from dog to man causing infections that are also quite serious. If, on the other hand, you have a puppy at home, the ideal would be to carry out a fecal examination even before the deworming that many perform "blindly". In fact, dogs should be dewormed only when necessary. To avoid what for some has become a habit, the advice is to carry out the necessary analyzes, really check for the presence of parasites and in that case administer specific drugs for the case, in the doses recommended by the veterinarian. In this way you can avoid unnecessary therapies that can prove harmful to the animal.
Veterinary: The collection of the sample
When examining the stool, not only the veterinarian or the testing center is important, but also the owner of the dog. In fact, it is he who will have to take care of the collection of the sample to be analyzed and will have to do it following some attentions.
Recent feces: It is important to keep an eye on this detail since the more recent they are, the more information the feces will be able to offer to those who analyze them.
Avoid alterations: once the faeces have been collected they must be kept in a sterile environment. Therefore, they must not come into contact with other elements or organisms capable of altering them. For this reason it is advisable to keep them in airtight containers that are easily found in pharmacies. Collected feces should be stored at the right temperature until they are delivered. During the summer months it is best to keep them in the fridge.
The right amount: it is also important to collect not too limited quantities of feces; in the event that an examination is to be repeated a good amount of material will benefit the work of the laboratory.
Once the diagnosis has been received, it is important to rely on your veterinarian; unfortunately, do-it-yourself is quite common, but getting treated by a doctor you could avoid a lot of problems, for yourself and for your four-legged friends.
Above all, several veterinarians say that this test is useless if the stools are solid ...