Bunny pseudoparasite found in dog stool

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ruka

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This past Tuesday, my dog Biscuit had blood inhis stools. I thought he had another case of colitis (inflammation ofthe colon), but there was more blood in it than last time. Thishappened on Tuesday and Wednesday. After, that he was finebutI still scheduled an appointment for him, Friday being theearliest.

So his temperature was fine, everything looked fine, except for hisstool sample. The doctor found mites (the kind that are commonly foundin dry dog/cat food. I checked his dog food and there are no mites andit doesn't smell rancid. I placed his food in the freezer so it killsanything that's in there.) Another thing the doctor found was a type ofpseudoparasite (I can't remember the name) that is commonly found inrabbits. He said throughout his practice, he has never seen or heard ofa dog with this kind of parasite. The doctor thinks Biscuit might havegotten into some bunny poop in order to get this. He says it shouldn'taffect Biscuit. Since Wednesday, Biscuit has been fine, but is on aspecial canned food to help cleanse his intestines.

I was wondering in anyone else had this problem before, or with anyother pets. I searched for "rabbit pseudoparasites" on Google, buthaven't found anything. Thanks a bunch!
 
Hi Ruka :

How strange , I have neverheard of a Pseudo parasite before butlooked up the meaning and it cameback this .

pseudo : ( adj ) Not Genuine : not authentic or sincere, in spite of appearances.

so I am trying to figure outjust what your vet meant? Did he give You aspecific name for the parasite? or any idea other than comingfrom rabbit poop ?
 
You'd need to call the vet and get the name ofthe parasite. Pinworms and coccidiosis (perhaps the vet said"protozoan"parasite??)are very common in rabbits.

Pam
 
The doctor told me the name of thepseudoparasite, but I don't remember the name. He said it's a parasitefound in rabbit intestines, but it doesn't do anything, hence the namepseudo meaning fake. The parasite doesn't harm of rabbits. He saidthey're just there. I'll give him a call tomorrow to find out the nameof it. The clinic is closed on Sundays. I'll let you guys know ASAP.Thanks.
 
He was probably referring to intestinalcoccidiosis, commonly found in the intestines of rabbits and generallyonly a health threat when the rabbit's immune system is weakened.

However, coccidiosis is not a "pseudo" (fake) parasite. Itlives off and destroys tissues of the host, although in small numbers,the damage may not be noticed.



Pam
 
I thought pinworms were more or less harmless inlow levels. That's if I'm remembering a past postcorrectly. Hmm. Could he be referring to that?

I don't get the "pseudo" though. I've heard of parasitoid insects but not pseudoparasitic intestinal creatures.
 
Well, I tried to check with Biscuit's vet, buthe's on vacation! :XI talked to Dr. Iwashita's partner, Dr.Zane and he says he has no idea what it is. (The last time he observeda rabbit was in vet school. The clinic doesn't practice rabbits.) Buthe read the report and it says a pseudoparasite (no name given) and/oryeast-like thing was found. Gosh, if only I knew the name! So, now I'mnot sure if the pseudoparasite is a type of yeast or just some otherkind of yeast was found. Gosh, animals are so confusing! (And so arevets!)
 
"Many rabbits diagnosed withcoccidiosis don't have coccidia at all! A common mistake made byveterinarians not familiar with rabbits is to confuse Cyniclomycesguttulatulus, a rabbit-specific Ascosporogenous yeast in theSaccharomyces family and part of the normal cecal flora of rabbits,with coccidia on fecal examinations."

Source:http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/health/vet-talk/coccidia.html



Misdiagnosis by vets is not uncommon. Avet in our area diagnosed a bacterial infection as myxo (there hasnever been a case of myxo in our part of the US). Alsodiagnosed pinworm eggs as "some type of exotic parasite that he's neverseen before".

Of course, medicine is not an exact science andthere is still so much information that we do not know. Vets,like doctors, do the best they can with the information currentlyavailable to them.
 
pamnock wrote:
"Many rabbits diagnosed with coccidiosisdon't have coccidia at all! A common mistake made by veterinarians notfamiliar with rabbits is to confuse Cyniclomyces guttulatulus, arabbit-specific Ascosporogenous yeast in the Saccharomyces family andpart of the normal cecal flora of rabbits, with coccidia on fecalexaminations."

Source:http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/health/vet-talk/coccidia.html



Misdiagnosis by vets is not uncommon. Avet in our area diagnosed a bacterial infection as myxo (there hasnever been a case of myxo in our part of the US). Alsodiagnosed pinworm eggs as "some type of exotic parasite that he's neverseen before".

Of course, medicine is not an exact science andthere is still so much information that we do not know. Vets,like doctors, do the best they can with the information currentlyavailable to them.
"Ascosporogenous"!!!! That's the name he said. Iknew it started with an "a". Thank you so much Pam. I'm sure more thanhalf of the forum would be lost without you. Youare:great:
 
From reading the information provided on Google,dogs can get coccidia and also be a carrier of it. But it is mostlikely that Biscuit doesn't have that disease because he only hadbloody soft stools for two days. He also didn't vomit or showed anysigns of dehydration.So it might be the grain mites that werealso found in his stool sample, although I didn't find any mites in hisfood. I'll update you guys if anything happens. Once again, thanks tothose who have helped me out, especially Pam. I can finally sleep andstop freaking out about it!

And about the ascoporogenous yeast, I haven't found any info about it relating to dogs.
 
So, your dog has rabbit yeast in hisintestines? And it has mites? Is he being treatedfor both or just the mites? The dog food is to flush the yestout of his system, right? Sorry, I'm confused,Ruka. Too early in the morning.:p
 
Jenniblu wrote:
So, your dog has rabbit yeast in his intestines?And it has mites? Is he being treated for both or just themites? The dog food is to flush the yest out of his system,right? Sorry, I'm confused, Ruka. Too early in themorning.:p
Biscuit (my dog) is just fine and dandy. He had a mysterious case ofbloody, soft stools for only two days. Since then he has been fine.Even though it stopped, I still had the stool tested. The vet said hefound grain mites and the ascosporogenousyeast.

Grain mites are commonly found in dry dog/cat food. They usually don'tcause too much harm to the animal. They just kind of irritate theintestines, but don't do any damage. You can prevent from getting themby cleaning out the container for the food before each refill. If youhave them, you can freeze the food for several hours to kill them.

The doctor also found the ascosporogenous yeast in his stool too, whichcan be mistaken for coccidia too, as Pam noted. Biscuit got his fromonly one way: eating bunny poop. :?

The vet said Biscuit doesn't need to take any medications, but to justkind of "flush" out his system with a special canned food called"Hill's (Science Diet) I/D".

But final conclusion, I am certain Biscuit got sick from the bunny poop(yeast). From now on, I will pay closer attention to the girls whenthey're out and about.

Sorry for the confusion! But this might be beneficial if someone else has a similar problem with their dog.
 
ruka wrote:

Sorry for the confusion! But this might be beneficial if someone else has a similar problem with their dog.


Most certainly helpful! Especially because dogs love to eatbunny poop so much :X Now we know we should discourage thatbehavior.

Pam
 

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