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Posted by Charla Dawson Jun 10, 2006 |
Your veterinarian has asked you to bring in a stool sample from your pet. You think to yourself, "what a strange request, does he/she really want me to travel to the vet's office with a baggy of poop?"
Yes, your veterinarian wants a stool sample so it can be checked for parasites or worms. The test is called a fecal float and only requires about a teaspoon of feces. The feces is floated in a solution called fecalsol (a sugar solution) for 10 - 20 minutes, the feces solution is then put on a microscope slide and checked under the microscope for eggs that are shed by intestinal parasites. If eggs our found then your pet can be de-wormed accordingly.
If your pet is kept on monthly heartworm prevention then they protected every month from most worms. This test is always a good idea for puppies and kittens but should be done yearly on all dogs and cats as part of a physical exam. Some parasites can be passed to humans, by protecting our pets from parasites we also our protecting our human children as well.