Occurrence of endoparasites in domestic owned cats in Dhaka city

Abstract

Domestic cats can harbour a large range endoparasites, many of which have zoonotic potential. Because domestic owned cats (pet) have a very close contact with their owners, cats infested with such parasites can be a threat to human health. The objective of the present study is to investigate the occurrence of endoparasites in domestic owned cats and awareness of zoonotic diseases among the cat owners in Dhaka Metropolitan City. Coprological examination was carried out on 30 domestic owned cats and 26 cat owners. The cats aged between 1 month to 13 years. In the domestic owned cats, effects of age, sex, season, type of household, frequency of giving anti-helminthic medicine and outdoor access were observed. The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites was 43.33% in the cats. A total of seven species of gastrointestinal parasites were identified from domestic owned cats, which were- Isospora felis (3.33%), Toxoplasma gondii (6.67%), Dipylidium caninum (13.33%), Toxocara cati (20%), Toxascaris leonina (3.33%), Ancylostoma tubaeforme (3.33%) and Ancylostoma spp. (6.67%). Kittens had the highest prevalence (45.45%) followed by adult (44.44%) and young cats (40%). Female cats (58.82%) had higher prevalence than males (23.08%) and it was statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05).