Giardia Impostors
 
There are many ferrets, and dogs and cats too, who are being wrongly
diagnosed as having giardia.  Giardia is a protozoan (one-celled) parasite
which is contracted from ingesting infected water.  It is very small and can
be seen microscopically in a fresh stool sample.  The yeast which is added
to many pet foods as a nutrient looks very similar to the Giardia cyst
(egg).  Anyone who is performing fecal tests, especially on ferrets, should
grind up a little Totally Ferret or any other food with yeast on the lable,
mix it with water, and look at it under the microscope.  What you will see
are the yeast that are often being misdiagnosed as Giardia.  Some of the
differences to look for are the yeast vary slightly in size.  Giardia cysts
are all exactly the same size.  If you have real Giardia you should be able
to see the adult form of the protozoa called the trophozoite.  You will
never see that with the yeast.  Ferrets pass many more of these yeast in
their stools because their food passes quickly through the intestine
withought all being digested.  In dogs, cats, and ferrets who have diarrhea
the stool transit time is even shorter so we see even more yeast.  The
veterinarians who are searching for the cause of the diarrhea see the yeast
and mistake them for Giardia.  I have sent ferret stool to more than one
veterinary lab and had them call the yeast Giardia.  It took me 19 years as
a veterinary technician and 3 years as a ferret owner to finally figure out,
by sending a ferret stool to the Oregon State University Veterinary
Diagnostic Lab, what these organisms were and where they came from.  So,
next time your veterinarian diagnoses Giardia, be sure they look at your
ferrets food under the microscope to be sure they aren't calling the yeast
Giardia.
 
        Nancy Winter
        Veterinary Technician
        & Mother of 8 Ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 2370]