Poo Questions?

[GrifTheGreat]

I got the results back from the fecal exam this past Tuesday (8/28) and it wasn't good news.

Unfortunately Grif, you were spot on - Orion has parasites.

I haven't had the chance to speak to the vet directly as we have been playing phone tag the entire week, but he left me a voice mail saying they found two different types of intestinal parasites.

I'm calling his office first thing in the morning to set up an appointment. It figures since this has been found my work kicked into major overtime so finding the time to take him in will be a challenge. I'm sure I'll catch (you know what) for taking off early to take a frog to the doc lol.

I have a ton of questions for the vet, but I would like to also express some of those questions here, if that's ok.

First, I'm almost pretty sure that he probably contracted the parasites after I brought him home. I say that because his first two stools were solid (the first two weeks I had him), while all the ones after that have been much softer.

I'm assuming he contracted the parasites via food, so something I've fed him must have been contaminated. The problem is I don't know the source as I've purchased feeders (crickets, night crawlers, and occasional hornworms) from various pet stores in my area. Because of this I can't really pinpoint where the "bad" feeders came from.

So, once he's treated and hopefully parasite-free, how do I prevent this from happening again? I could get him all well just for him to get parasites again from contaminated feeders. I would not want to continually need to keep putting him through a treatment process every 3 - 6 months because he continually becomes infected, ya know?

He's still acting normally - appetite is good, activity is good, and no signs of any sickness. I have been watching his weight closely and it seems fine. Hopefully he will be okay for a couple more days until I can get him in to the vet.

Grif, I really appreciate the heads up on the possibility of parasites, which lead me to have the fecal exam performed. Without your advice I would have never thought of parasites as the problem.

You're very welcome and knowing these symptoms will help catch any future infections if they occur.

More than likely he contracted the Parasites from the crickets, but he may have had them all along and just now has begun to show the symptoms as the infection grows. Crickets are dirty feeders no matter how clean their culture is kept. about 1 out of 10 will contain some sort of parasite, but perhaps fewer. Pinworms being one of the most common they carry.

If he has protozoa than that came from dirty water. Water should be changed no less that every 2 days whether the frog uses it or not. Stagnant water breeds bacteria and protozoa as well as Amoeba.

Hopefully you'll get it cleared up quickly.

[TeeRiddle]

You're very welcome and knowing these symptoms will help catch any future infections if they occur.

More than likely he contracted the Parasites from the crickets, but he may have had them all along and just now has begun to show the symptoms as the infection grows. Crickets are dirty feeders no matter how clean their culture is kept. about 1 out of 10 will contain some sort of parasite, but perhaps fewer. Pinworms being one of the most common they carry.

If he has protozoa than that came from dirty water. Water should be changed no less that every 2 days whether the frog uses it or not. Stagnant water breeds bacteria and protozoa as well as Amoeba.

Hopefully you'll get it cleared up quickly.

Thanks, Grif. I hope to get it cleared up quickly, too.

I don't know yet what parasites Orion has. The vet just said two different kinds of intestinal parasites and that he would email me the results. I never received them and called to verify they have the correct email address, but still haven't received it.

He doesn't eat crickets any more because since getting a taste for night crawlers and hornworms he really doesn't care much for them. I did feed him crickets at first because that's what the pet store fed him, so I continued the practice the first couple weeks I had him.

I change his water about three times a week if he doesn't soil it. If he does soil the water I change it as soon as I find it. I think I'll start changing the water every day from here on out whether it needs it or not.

[GrifTheGreat]

Thanks, Grif. I hope to get it cleared up quickly, too.

I don't know yet what parasites Orion has. The vet just said two different kinds of intestinal parasites and that he would email me the results. I never received them and called to verify they have the correct email address, but still haven't received it.

He doesn't eat crickets any more because since getting a taste for night crawlers and hornworms he really doesn't care much for them. I did feed him crickets at first because that's what the pet store fed him, so I continued the practice the first couple weeks I had him.

I change his water about three times a week if he doesn't soil it. If he does soil the water I change it as soon as I find it. I think I'll start changing the water every day from here on out whether it needs it or not.

That's a good idea.

[TeeRiddle]

OK, finally received the fecal exam results via email today. Here's what it read:


STRONGYLOIDES LARVAE PRESENT MODERATE (11-30)
HOOKWORM OVA PRESENT MODERATE (11-30)
MITE EGGS PRESENT FEW (3-10): UNABLE TO DETERMINE SPECIES DUE TO DEGENERATION.

VERIFIED BY SECOND TECH.Semi-quantitative results are reported to estimate the number ofparasites seen during this exam. They do not reflect a quantitativeparasite count.
In cases of acute or chronic diarrhea in addition to a fecalfloatation for ova and parasites consider testing for viral, bacterialand protozoal infectious agents using RealPCR (canine diarrhea panel:test code 2625; feline diarrhea panel: test code 2627).


Sorry it's so big. That's how it pasted in.

Set up an appointment for Friday. Hope the vet is able to take care of this!

[GrifTheGreat]

Hook worms are very bad and you'll have to get rid of everything and set up a hospital setup. Contact MrZoggs on here. He is treating frogs for hookworms and can tell you exactly what you'll need to do tank wise. I've never dealt with them, but they're a nasty parasite and hard to get rid of.

You'll have to disinfect the enclosure daily with a 10% bleach solution.

The Vet should be able to tell you eat to do though.

[TeeRiddle]

Well, just got back from the vet visit with Orion. The doc didn't seem too worried about the hookworms and treated him with 10 mg of Panacur with a re-treatment in 2 weeks. He said this should take care of both the hookworms and the strongyloides, but if it isn't enough to eradicate then Ivermactin may be needed.

He suggested I use reptile food from Mazuri instead of night crawlers and crickets. I guess it's something like pacman food from Samurai? I don't know. He also suggested to stop feeding him night crawlers from a bait place (I buy nightcrawlers from either Wal-Mart or Petco, but they are both from a bait supply place). He said bait suppliers can be high in parasitic feeders. Eliminating bait will be a huge challenge since just about any nightcrawler you find for sale will be for bait.

Otherwise Orion is in great shape. He even weighed an even 100 grams.

Hopefully the Panacur will do the trick!

[GrifTheGreat]

Sounds good, but I don't think the parasites came from the night crawlers. Crickets yes, but not so much the night crawlers. They can carry parasites like any other living creature, but you usually don't infect your frog by feeding them chemical and dye free worms. Anything is possible.