Dog Protozoa Infection

There is an organism called protozoa, thought to be the lowest form of dog life. Thereare several forms, of which the sporozoite named coccidia is the mostimportant. These one-celled minute organisms live among the cells ofthe intestinal lining. Their life history is exceedingly complicated, andthe damage they do is accounted for by the enormous numbers thatdevelop before the body eventually overcomes them. Two other types,babesia and toxoplasma, cause considerable damage as parasites of pets.

Each species of dog and bird is infested by specifictypes of coccidia, but some have more than one. Dogs and cats havethree principal forms affecting both species. Rabbits, poultry, and evenreptiles are afflicted. All types of coccidia are extremely prevalent, theyear round in warm climates and in the summer in the cooler climates.This disease, coccidiosis, affects dogs ofall ages. It is self-limiting and usually passes with no treatment justabout as quickly as wills any treatment devised to date. Any dog, oncerecovered, will never again have the disease caused by that particular

Three common types as they appear when enlarged through a microscope.

Puppies are usually quite severely affected, while mature dogs mayshow no symptoms other than impairment of appetite and loose stools.Symptoms to be watched for are loose stools, often with bloody color,maturating eyes, elevated temperature (about 103°), loss of appetite,general unthriftiness. In severe cases, weakness and depression are ap-parent as well as emaciation, dehydration, and death.

In size, coccidia are microscopic. The form found in the feces, theegg, or oocyst, is roundish wills a nucleus inside. Some oocysts showdivided nuclei. The forms infesting dogs and cats are Isospora rivolta, I.bigemina, and I. fells.

After it has been outside of the host for several days, the coccidiumegg form develops into the infestive stage, provided conditions arefavorable. Flies carry it to feeding pans or dog pick it up by lickingtheir feet or by getting feces into their mouths. Inside the dog thecoating of the egg form is digested and the infestive forms that havedeveloped in the egg are released. These bore into the cells lining theintestine and develop until they divide into other bodies.

This division and growth damages or destroys the cells, but thesenew forms now enter other cells and repeat the cycle. This goes onthrough several divisions and attacking of new cells, until at lengthmale and female forms are produced. The males fertilize the femalesand thus produce the egg form that is passed out with the feces anddeposited with the loose stool to infest other dog.

Coccidiosis is a disease not easily differentiated by external symp-toms from some other diseases. Microscopic investigation is necessaryto establish the diagnosis. Puppies affected during the teething period (from three and a half to five months) may be left with pitted teeth, asthey may be from distemper and other febrile diseases.

When nursing puppies are infected they seem to have mild cases. Itaffects them much more severely after they have been weaned.Whether this is the result of changing from a diet rich in fat to onewith a very low level of fat, as is so often done, or whether the mother'smilk possesses some antibody, or the puppies possess some maternalimmunity, we cannot say. It is known, however, that puppies weanedon a high-fat diet survive the disease with less loss of physical conditionand weight than those on a low-fat diet.

Puppies can contract the disease from their mothers' breasts. Theyalso pick it up from infected quarters. Coccidiosis has been called the"pet shop disease," because where puppies are placed together indis-criminately there is likely to be one or more infected. Not being house-broken, they drop stools into which other pups are bound to walk, andinfection is a certainty in that case. When direct contact is not respon-sible for infection, flies are usually the cause. Even in kennels where the environment is immaculate, where puppies are raised in wire bottomcages, coccidiosis can occur regularly as long as other dogs in the kennel are carriers.

PREVENTION: By thoroughly screening pens and cages and by thor-oughly cleaning one's own bands and feet, it is possible to raise pups inkennels and to keep them free from the disease. However it is difficult torealize that what we can't see may be present.

Most parents arenot greatly disturbed when their children contract one of the so-calledchildren's diseases. They feel that it is best that the children be immu-nized early rather than be subject to these diseases later, when theymay be more difficult to deal with. You don't need to be unhappy when your kennel dogs have coccidiosis and recover. They will, in all probability,have it anyway, so perhaps we should not complain of the loose stoolsindicative of the disease. The danger is that the puppies might havemore than coccidiosis. When several diseases strike at once, puppiesmay not recover. If they have to have it, it is better for them to havepassed the young-puppy stage, for when they are a little older they willrecover from coccidiosis quite easily.

From the life history of the infecting organism, it becomes obvious to us that for a puppy or a dog to have the lightest case it is essentialthat it get as few reinfestations, one heaped on the other, as possible.The first is had enough, but if every day it is exposed to new eggs inlarge numbers it has far less chance of recovery.

The wire-bottom pen is the best possible insurance against heavyreinfestation. If it is screened on the outside down to the ground, fliescannot continue to carry eggs from feces to food dishes or lips.

TREATMENT: Almost all cases of coccidiosis that are treated are al-ready on the way to recovery, since the whole duration of the disease isonly about three weeks. Let's assume your puppy shows definite signs ofsickness. Its eyes maturate; it has a fever of io3° F; its stools are watery.You may reasonably think it has coccidiosis. Your veterinarian makes afecal examination and finds thousands of coccidia eggs. By that timethe pup is at the height of the disease. If you give it brick dust, cob-webs, sulfa drugs, vinegar, and molasses, or any other remedy, thepuppy will probably recover but not because of the treatment. Thepuppy is getting well anyway. As one scientist has said, "Coccidiosis isthe disease about which inure foolish cures have been reported thanany other disease of dog." Every so often a study reports a newcure, but usually the investigation has been made without untreatedcontrols for comparison. However, some promising treatments are nowunder scientific investigation and your veterinarian will tell you aboutthem if they prove satisfactory.

Feeding wholesome food with rich milk and fat constituting up to 25percent of the diet is a good treatment. Here again a diet of one thirdeach of cooked hamburger, boiled rice, and stewed tomatoes is helpfulsupportive treatment. Antibiotics is recommended, not to treat this proto-zoan, but to treat or prevent secondary invaders which may set uphousekeeping in the damaged intestinal lining. The addition of a heap-ing teaspoonful of bone ash mixed with the food, for a puppy the sizeof a five-week-old Cocker Spaniel is helpful. A tablespoonful a day isthe dose for a large breed puppy. Remember that bone ash is notbonemeal or steamed bone. It is an entirely different product obtain-able through your veterinarian or druggist.

Immaculate cleanliness is as important as anything. If the pup usespaper for defecating purposes, destroy the stool before it can walk in it.If you prevent reinfection, the chance of recovery is better than nopercent.

There is a scientific question of the possibility of one type of coccidiabeing the same protozoa as toxoplasma.