No abstract

The prevalence (%) of helminth parasites in 327 mainly adult feral cats from 3 habitat groupings in Victoria and New South Wales was determined. The cestodes Taenia taeniaeformis (33%) and Spirometra erinacei (33%) were common; Dipylidium caninum was rate (2%). The nematodes Toxocara cati (28%), Cyathospirura dasyuridis and Cylicospirura felineus combined (27%) and Aelurostrongylus abstrusus (14%) were common but their prevalence differed markedly between habitats. Ollulanus tricuspis (5%), Gnathostoma spinigerum (less than 1%) and an Acanthocephala, Onicola sp (19%), also occurred. Arthropod parasites were collected from 204 of these cats, Ctenocephalides felis (16%) and Echidnophaga spp. (28%) were common. Spilopsyllus cuniculi (3%) and Ctenocephalides canis and Nosopsyllus fasciatus (less than 1% each) were rare. Other rare ectoparasites were the louse, Felicola subrostrata (4%), the mites, Otodectes cynotis, Cheyletiella sp and a trombiculid (less than 1% each); and the tick lxodes tasmani (less than 1%). There was no correlation between degree of parasitism and general condition of the cats.

No abstract

No abstract

Autopsy of dogs 56 days after infection with either T. pisiformis, T. ovis or T. hydatigena showed that these worms could be found attached at any point along the length of the small intestine, but were most commonly in the anterior half. The mean relaxed lengths of T. pisiformis, T. ovis and T. hydatigena were 107 cm, 156 cm and 177 cm respectively. Attached gravid proglottides contained a mean of 41 000 eggs each in T. pisiformis, 31 000 eggs in T. hydatigena and 95000 eggs in T. ovis, whereas proglottides free in the gut contained means of only 1370, 500 and 1400 eggs respectively; therefore, the majority of eggs were released into the gut before segments passed out into the faeces. It was shown that eggs of all 3 species of worms hatched and activated in the small intestine of the dog, especially in the anterior half. Eggs of T. pisiformis which had been passaged through the intestine of the dog and stored in the faeces for 5 days were poorly infective for rabbits compared with eggs only stored in faeces. It was concluded, therefore, that during taeniid infections of dogs the point of apolysis in the gut plays a significant role in determining environmental contamination with eggs. Puppies which had been fed 10000 T. ovis eggs daily for 6 weeks prior to infection with T. ovis cysticerci showed no difference in susceptibility to the infection when compared with untreated puppies.