Fecal Float Pictures

pigglett79

pigglett79

Avid Member
Hello,

Tonight I conducted a fecal float on our boy Monty as the vet is treating him for Giardia and I was highly suspicious of the result, but also figured if I could find giardia that would be cool. Did not find giardia, but found these...what do you see? I know what I see........and it was not found in the lab report.

pinworm.jpg


Coccidia.jpg


pinworm2.jpg
 
I call you calling out the vet with proof in the pics and asking for your money back...I'd let him or her know there incompetence could risk the loss of an animals life. Stop assuming and do the test's that they are charging people for.
 
ataraxia said:
I call you calling out the vet with proof in the pics and asking for your money back...I'd let him or her know there incompetence could risk the loss of an animals life. Stop assuming and do the test's that they are charging people for.
Click to expand...

We have an appointment tomorrow. I will be showing her these pictures and asking for an explanation. He has received 3 doses of meds for giardia, which I cannot find, and no treatment for pin worms or coccidia, which I did find. I find her lab highly suspicious. I cant say I am happy with the situation.

This sample was after 2 doses of meds for the giardia, so possible that it was cured, but my suspicion is that he never had it in the first place.
 
pigglett79 said:
We have an appointment tomorrow. I will be showing her these pictures and asking for an explanation. He has received 3 doses of meds for giardia, which I cannot find, and no treatment for pin worms or coccidia, which I did find. I find her lab highly suspicious. I cant say I am happy with the situation.

This sample was after 2 doses of meds for the giardia, so possible that it was cured, but my suspicion is that he never had it in the first place.
Click to expand...

get your money back, and cancel that vet for the future, I always have suspicions of crappy vets, money in with no conclusive results and a dead animal happens all to often, call that mo fo out
 
ataraxia said:
Are his symptoms/issues still present that were a concern at the initial vet visit?
Click to expand...

He hasn't had any symptoms other than gout type symptoms which was my original reason for the visit. He hangs his legs and blood work shows high uric acid so he is going for x rays.

Never has had any parasite symptoms. No diarrhea or lack of appetite etc. He did have an eye issue that seems to have resolved w eye drop meds. We adopted him 3 months ago and are trying to give him the best care possible.
 
Calm down guys...if the sample was sent to a lab then it was run by people who look at dog and cat samples almost exclusively and coccidia in reptiles is often confused for giardia. I run my fecals in the hospital to avoid these types of mixups but my boss prefers that I don't since it takes up more of my time than shipping it off. If they are not showing clinical symptoms and there are low numbers it's not necessarily a critical thing to treat. And pinworms are usually not treated unless found in very high numbers as they very rarely cause clinical disease and in some tortoise species are being discovered as potentially beneficial to digestion.

Nice pictures btw. :)
 
ferretinmyshoes said:
Calm down guys...if the sample was sent to a lab then it was run by people who look at dog and cat samples almost exclusively and coccidia in reptiles is often confused for giardia. I run my fecals in the hospital to avoid these types of mixups but my boss prefers that I don't since it takes up more of my time than shipping it off. If they are not showing clinical symptoms and there are low numbers it's not necessarily a critical thing to treat. And pinworms are usually not treated unless found in very high numbers as they very rarely cause clinical disease and in some tortoise species are being discovered as potentially beneficial to digestion.

Nice pictures btw. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Dayna. Yeah he does seem fine and I didn't see enough to merit treatment. I suppose it's possible that she didn't report them as they are low in nunber and no need for treatment. I won't jump the gun on judgement.
 
Last edited:
When they are low in number you won't see them in every fecal sample. Similarly, if worms (like pinworms) are not actually shedding their eggs when the sample is obtained you won't see any evidence of them, and thus get a false negative. I have a client who has brought me several fecal samples for his wild caught chameleons and every fecal has come up negative - I've looked and sent them to the lab too. But low and behold when we decided to empirically treat a few of the sick ones they pooped out intestinal parasites the next day. Fecals are the way to go but they're not fool proof. Blame the bugs. ;)
 
pigglett79 said:
Thanks Dayna. Yeah he does seem fine and I didn't see enough to merit treatment. I suppose it's possible that she didn't report them as they are low in nunber and no need for treatment. I won't jump the gun on judgement.
Click to expand...

Both of my reptile vets treat with any signs at all of parasites. Also coccidia is highly contagious so be very careful or you can spread it to all of your guys.
 
As a vet tech.. and TONS of experience in parasitology :) I find the subject fascinating.. BTW..

False negatives in a fecal is common.. For all worms, Coccidia, and yes even giardia.. There are LIMITS to what parasites you are going to see on different methods of Fecals.. Parasites don't shed ova, eggs all the time too.. all equals often multiple samples run to ID.. so yes it happens.. in dogs, cats as they are far more resilient and there is more research and safety info.. often they are just wormed.. Have a dog use a monthly Heartworm med? almost all also contain a additional wormer to cover GI parasites.. just in case (some dog/Cat) parasites can infect people so there is a health risk.. its only in our domestic dogs, cats and us humans where anything other than a negative no parasites ever is the norm.. most other animals finding specific types is yeh.. normal don't treat unless there is symptoms of disease going on or extreme stress where the parasite can overtake the immune system..


Direct smear actually is better for things like giardia or protozoan parasites as they are VERY tiny.. so finding them is looking for movement, then focusing down on them.. Giardia specifically is darn hard to pick up on in house style fecal float..
I don't see it in your pictures, but having run THOUSANDS of fecals 99% of the time I have caught giardia by seeing the tell tail circular, squiggly movement then focused down, or done a smear and even a stain on a direct smear and ID giardia.. on a stained smear I had to use oil immersion to see it clearly..

If he is being treated for giardia.. the meds paralyze the parasite.. so may not see it right now.

Coccidia.. It looks the same in all species heck so does the Pinworm.. and Giardia.. neat right?? I can run a fecal on any animal and see and note parasites, just may need to look up and ID them.. Pinworms in dogs is very rare, so that "shape" egg is unfamiliar.. but Giardia, Coccidia, Roundworm, Liver fluke, Lung worms.. All fit into the same "shape" think of how you can recognize a cat, or dog, or heck a chameleon.. Just not know what specific species it is?? same with those pesky little parasites..

so there really should not be any confusion between giardia and coccidia, also Giardia IS much smaller.. So I doubt they confused it..

Coccidia is a stress parasite.. often shows up at times of stress.. Why you can have say even a dog, go to the vet have a exam Neg fecal, go to a new home a day or two later, and diarrhea.. opps now has coccidia.. It was there all the time, and will ALWAYS be there one never gets rid of coccidia, however at times of stress they shed it, and treatment is to knock down the parasite enough for the immune system to keep it in check.. at least in dogs unless you are seeing TONS, have other symptoms.. often a positive coccidia result does not equal treatment..

I would ask however, to see the lab results.. see if it was noted.. that is something the vet should have said and why.. and express that you would like copies of the results and be given all the info and why.. If it was run in house ask did they see pinworms and coccidia? and if yes.. ask why no treatment.. sometimes vets forget.. what is standard knowledge, not a significant finding a owner may not know, or heck want to know anyhow.. in many species some parasites are common.. and what is considered a Not significant finding, don't treat unless specific medical reason...

Just curious however, what is he being treated with? it is possible it is broad spectrum enough to cover other stuff "just in case" in addition to the giardia..
Now I Don't specifically know what meds they use in a Cham.. However some wormers get several types of worms, and can treat Giardia - panacure (fenbendazole) is one.. Coccidia at least in Dogs/cats Birds etc.. you use a antibiotic in the sulfer class.. So possible may be treating for all or many just by drug selection...

:)
 
Giardia FYI.. tiny and hard to spot :) measurements are in Microns.. First picture Giardia, Second Coccidia :) Enjoy!!
 

Attachments

  • DSC00242.jpg
    DSC00242.jpg
    96.7 KB · Views: 796
  • IMGP0147_Medium.jpg
    IMGP0147_Medium.jpg
    32.1 KB · Views: 309
I literally just made a thread asking about what I should look for when looking at my chams poop.

I have professional lab equipment for my use at school (I study turfgrass science) and despite being a student at the university the OVC Avain and Exotic centre on campus still wants to charge me the broke student $140 to look at my chams poop. Really soured right now lol
 
Thanks everyone for all of the great information. I am going to do some more floats this weekend and will post what I find. And if you saw Monty's X ray photos in my other thread you can see he is ready to provide me with another fecal smple to use ;)

These things are very interesting.

For those that asked, Monty was treated with metronidazole for the giardia.

My bearded dragon has pinworms and coccidia, and we are going to treat the coccidia as he is not eating and losing weight.
 
This is why I want a microscope ;)

Is it possible to learn what the parasites look like and do your own fecal? I am young, but honestly, I would probably spend HOURS just looking at cham poop if I knew how to do these.

Please tell me I can get one of these microscopes myself someday? lol

EDIT: ONLY 10X? I could easily save for a microscope with 400x... spend all day looking at hair, cheek cells, and cham crap... lol

need to get methylene blue too :)

edit 2: this is giardia? we have this? ew...

protozoa4.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

janjan20
Help with ID/Fecal Float
Replies
11
Views
545
janjan20
janjan20
elizaann2
Internal Infection
2
Replies
28
Views
1K
elizaann2
elizaann2
Beppo
Poop
Replies
10
Views
789
elizaann2
elizaann2
Yordan611
Urgent help needed with Lamp
2
Replies
30
Views
1K
elizaann2
elizaann2
Yljohnson
RIP Kiri 🥺💔
Replies
8
Views
373
Sonny13
Sonny13
Back
Top Bottom