Hello Board!
I have a chinchilla, approximately 10 years old, named Trixie. She has lived in an enclosure we built in our living for her entire life. The enclosure does a good job of keeping flying poops contained, however, some do escape (as we all know) and those that do often get found and eaten by the dog. They are firm and dry. This never seemed a problem for our past adult Siberian Husky, but admittedly we did not have her checked for parasites often since her digestion and bowel movements were always normal and healthy.
Our Siberian passed on last year due to age, and we have a new Border Collie puppy in the house. She turned up last week at a routine vet appointment with Giardia, Eimeria, and Round Worms. Again, no outward signs of sickness, healthy digestion, weight gain, normal stools, had been wormed twice by her breeder. In trying to track down the source of the parasites, we are now looking at the chinchilla, since Eimeria for one is not a canine parasite.
Could she be carrying these parasites without any obvious outward signs for all this time? She has never left the house since we brought her home, has had no contact with other animals except our own. There have been no new additions lately besides the puppy.
I was reading some literature recently about a study in Belgium that suggested 60% of their test group was positive for giardia while seeming to be outwardly healthy, suggesting they may carry a low level of the parasite without much affect and further suggesting worming may be unneeded.
I don't know what to think. We just went through a 5 day course for the collie puppy and our two remaining adult Siberians on Panacur. We are due back to the vet tomorrow. Should I bring a chinchilla stool sample for testing, and if it comes back positive for giardia, should we start medicating even though she appears healthy in every aspect?
I have a chinchilla, approximately 10 years old, named Trixie. She has lived in an enclosure we built in our living for her entire life. The enclosure does a good job of keeping flying poops contained, however, some do escape (as we all know) and those that do often get found and eaten by the dog. They are firm and dry. This never seemed a problem for our past adult Siberian Husky, but admittedly we did not have her checked for parasites often since her digestion and bowel movements were always normal and healthy.
Our Siberian passed on last year due to age, and we have a new Border Collie puppy in the house. She turned up last week at a routine vet appointment with Giardia, Eimeria, and Round Worms. Again, no outward signs of sickness, healthy digestion, weight gain, normal stools, had been wormed twice by her breeder. In trying to track down the source of the parasites, we are now looking at the chinchilla, since Eimeria for one is not a canine parasite.
Could she be carrying these parasites without any obvious outward signs for all this time? She has never left the house since we brought her home, has had no contact with other animals except our own. There have been no new additions lately besides the puppy.
I was reading some literature recently about a study in Belgium that suggested 60% of their test group was positive for giardia while seeming to be outwardly healthy, suggesting they may carry a low level of the parasite without much affect and further suggesting worming may be unneeded.
I don't know what to think. We just went through a 5 day course for the collie puppy and our two remaining adult Siberians on Panacur. We are due back to the vet tomorrow. Should I bring a chinchilla stool sample for testing, and if it comes back positive for giardia, should we start medicating even though she appears healthy in every aspect?
They're fantastic dogs, I love mine to bits even though she drives me crazy half the time!
