Dog has cocci

[Bluemoon420]

Yeah, I remember our vet saying chickens can't give your dog cocci. Our birds free range, and it was a concern of mine when we brought our puppy home. We'd walk her around the property outside the fenced area on leash so she got used to seeing the other animals around. She never caught anything from our birds, or any other animal for that matter.

Bluemoon

 

[Kenyon's Poultry]

cocci in dogs is specie not pasific it can go from rabbits to dogs but i dont think chickens can even get it.
cocci usually comes from a unclean area. cold and damp . then again it does have to be injested???

 

[AHappychick]

well I had a cat that had cocci and that was well before I had chooks, but I do think it might be able to pass between the 2 as my chicks that live in the basement with the cat In the brooders) always seem to get it. I am convinced it is from the cat but who knows for sure. I think cocci is very hard on mamals so its a good thing you caught it early

 

[dbunni]

FYI ... cocci exists in many animal species... Rabbit, chicken, and yes dog. They are not interchangeable. They are symbiotic with the animal (as are many organisms). When the animal is stressed, in unclean conditions, or a myriad of other issues, it can crop up. And yes, the VT needs to go back to school. That is one of the first organisms we look at. It is so common in a fecal, that we only worry when it is overpowering in numbers. Guess he/she was asleep that day! Treat and don't worry.

 

[cmjust0]

So, lemme see if I've got this straight...

You take your dog in a run-of-the-mill annual visit for shots and a checkup, and they find 'cocci' in the stool. They immediately blame the chickens, without regard to the fact that chicken coccidia can't be transferred to anything but chickens. Then, without any mention of the dog actually being symptomatic for coccidiosis, nor any mention of parasite per gram count, they automatically give you medication to treat clinical coccidiosis.

Sorry, but....I think it's time for a new vet.

I had something like this almost happen to me once, but it was "coccidiosis" and "hookworms" a tech had supposedly found in goat stool. I had a couple of goats down with bad scours, and I really just wanted the vet to run cultures for the bacterial pathogen I knew to be the problem, plus get me a stronger antibiotic. I knew it was bacterial. The vet tech comes back and tells me they found "coccidiosis" and "hookworms" in the stool..

First of all, you can't find "coccidiosis" in stool... You can find coccidia, but the 'osis' part describes clinical disease. She's not a vet; she can't make a diagnosis.

Second, you generally don't find actual worms in stool either, unless they're parts of tapeworms or something like that.. You find eggs.

When the vet came out, the tech was still standing there. I immediately questioned both her findings, politely of course.. He asked how old the goats were, and I said they were 18mo and otherwise *very* healthy.. He asked if they were on medicated grain, and I said "very little." He said "It only takes a little" and ruled out coccidiosis on the spot. The vet tech sorta started looking uncomfortable right about then.

I mentioned the "hookworms," heading toward a question of worms vs. eggs and how we knew they were hookworms specifically, but he stopped me and said "Strongyloide eggs of some type. To know for sure what type would take a parasitologist." He went on to point out....hey, they're goats on pasture...you'd expect to see at least some evidence of worms in even the healthiest goats on pasture. It's literally the nature of the beast.

At that point, I described to him how quickly the symptoms came on, the nature of the scour, etc...and he said "I think you're probably right...it definitely sounds bacterial, so we'll go ahead and get you some stronger antibiotics."

The tech was obviously a little embarrassed, but hey...maybe she'll just do her own job next time instead of coming out into the lobby to play Vet for animals with which she has very little experience, ya know?

FWIW, I lost one of those two.. The other made a full and quick recovery. What's frustrating is that had I listened to the tech and treated for coccidiosis and worms, both would have died. As would the other four who came down with the same thing later.

Since I questioned things, though...they all made it.

 

[Skyesrocket]

I wonder if the vet misspoke and meant giardia?

 

[Shared Acres]

Quote:
I think possumqueen is correct-I don't think your dog got cocci from your birds.
My dog had it when she was very young and my vet told me she was born with it and had contracted it from her mother.

We don't live in a town where many people have chickens, so I don't think she was born with it. And I nor my mother have heard of it in of our other animals. But I'm no expert on it. And the vet doesn't see chickens, so she apparantally isn't either!

I'll look up the medicine they gave. They found it in her stool sample, I think, I don't think they took blood as part of it.

With the adult birds though, if I'm not mistaken they shouldn't get it, as they were on medicated feed as chicks.

Thanks for giving me info on it, now I'll worry less! As she was trying to tell me to keep the dog away from the birds--yeah right, that dog follows me wherever I go.

BTW< I haven't seen her eat ANY chicken poo (cat poo on the other hand is another story) but she does roll in the sand where they play.