Day 2 - First Vet Visit

Written by Erin

On Tuesday morning I took the puppy to South Athens Animal Clinic where we found out how bad of a condition he was really in. The first thing the technicians did was pull 2 BB pellets out of his skin. Yes, some cruel person shot this poor baby. One was right between his eyes and the other was on his left side. The weirdo in me saved the BB's as souvenirs. This added level of animal cruelty magnified everyone's desire to help this little guy. At first we thought it was just another case of a stray puppy beat up by nature, but now it was much much more. The entire staff at the clinic came to the aid of the puppy at some time or another during his visit. This crew of people with big hearts is exactly what Cooper needed. Dr. Tom Nemetz was the doctor on the case and he was the biggest help of all. We can't thank him enough for all the work, money, and love he put into this puppy.

note the BB pellet between the eyes :(

This little puppy has many other troubles besides the BB's. He is very young - we guess about 2 months old - and it is painfully obvious that he has never had a home. He has been out in the wild fending for himself, and it's a miracle he survived. Upon arrival at the vet he was hypothermic (low body temperature), dehydrated, and underweight. Even though he is skinny enough to see bones, his abdomen is bloated due to all the worms inside. He weighs about 4 lbs but the vet guesses that almost half of this weight is worm weight, not puppy weight. He has widespread hair loss with considerable amounts of stinky skin flakes. He is loaded with all the parasites you'd expect on a stray dog, plus some extra goodies. Below is a comprehensive list of all the parasites we found. It may get too technical for the average reader, but all the fellow vet nerds like me should enjoy it. The coolest one is at the bottom!

• Fleas and Ticks. Nothing too special - these are found on any dog that goes outside without a preventative. We didn't do a final count, but this guy was completely covered in these ectoparasites. Check out the monster orange tick near his thigh in the picture below.

Scabies mite, courtesy of Wikipedia.

• Sarcoptic mange.  This condition is caused by a mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, that lives in the skin. You may have heard of it referred to as "Scabies." It is what causes the hair loss and crusting, and it set the stage for secondary bacterial infections. I got to look at the skin scrape under the microscope, and these mites were all over the place! They were still swimming around too! These mites are usually hard to find on a skin scrape but not this time. Animals with sarcoptic mange are usually VERY itchy as you would imagine. Cooper is probably very uncomfortable, but unfortunately he hasn't had enough energy to even scratch. These mites are the main reason why we need to wear gloves when handling this little pup. Sarcoptic mites are zoonotic, meaning they can be transmitted to humans. Although there is a separate type that prefer to live on humans, the dog version can also infect humans. With the huge amount this puppy has crawling on him we aren't taking any risks!

puppy roundworm egg

• Puppy roundworms. No surprise here. You should expect to see Toxocara canis in every puppy, stray or not. This is a worm that lives in the intestines and eats all the food. It is diagnosed by finding the worm eggs in a fecal sample. Roundworms are zoonotic and the eggs are difficult to kill, so it is important to clean up after any infected animals to prevent transmission. In humans the larvae can migrate to the eye!

hookworm egg

• Hookworms. Another very common intestinal parasite is Ancylostoma caninum. They live in the intestines as well and suck the host's blood. They are diagnosed the same way as roundworms. Cooper has a pretty serious infection. There wasn't a single field of view on the fecal float that didn't have a hookworm egg.

coccidia




• Coccidia.  This is a protozoa that is also relatively common. It is also diagnosed in a fecal sample, but you will see the organism itself rather than eggs. They are appreciably smaller than worm eggs. Again, Cooper has an abnormally high load of this parasite. Dr. Nemetz said it had been a long time since he'd seen a coccidia infection this bad.

raccoon roundworm, courtesy of CDC

• Raccoon roundworms. Dogs are known to be susceptible to Baylisascaris procyonis but it is rare for them to actually get infected. They get it from eating raccoon poop. We learned about it in school, so I knew exactly what the vet staff was talking about when they told me Cooper had it. Nobody at the clinic, including the doctors, had ever seen an actual case of this parasite. The eggs look pretty similar to dog roundworm eggs except they have a squiggly edge, and Cooper's were red in color. Extra stool samples were taken for Athens Vet Tech and the UGA CVM to use for teaching slides. Why did we learn about it at school if it is so rare? It is due to the public health concern. Like puppy roundworms, it is zoonotic and very hard to kill. The eggs cannot be killed with bleach. Instead of migrating to the eye, though, the larvae migrate to the brain and spinal cord! There have only been a handful of identified human cases, but it is definitely something to protect ourselves against. We have been advised to torch everything the puppy poops on. This is obviously not feasible, but the point is to get rid of the eggs so no other people or animals are exposed. Cooper is not allowed in the backyard where our dog Atlas wanders. We take him in the side yard a few times a day. He hasn't pooped outside yet - only on the towels in his crate - so we haven't had to start a biocontainment zone out there yet. He is probably too scared to do his business in front of us. As soon as we find any poop in the crate we immediately throw away the entire towel and any other surfaces that may have touched the poop. The larvae also can migrate in dogs too, particularly puppies. If we notice any neurological signs in Cooper (or ourselves!) we will know the most likely diagnosis.

You may be wondering if this animal will ever be cured. Luckily, all of these parasites are easily treated. Cooper is on a comprehensive deworming regimen that should take care of all the intestinal parasites. We are hoping we don't find wormies in his poop, but it is a possibility! We have started topical treatment for the scabies, but it may take a while to see results. He was also given topical treatment for the fleas and ticks along with antibiotics to help clear up his nasty skin infections. Finally, he is now on a regular soft puppy diet as opposed to raccoon poop. It will be a long road to recovery.