My dogs are due for their yearly physical. I guess I never noticed before, but this year, the note from the vet said to bring a fresh ‘stool sample’. I know what that is of course, however, the question is – how fresh does it need to be? I can’t gaurantee that my dog is going to be in the mood to drop a load that very morning (tomorrow) when I’m headed to the vet.
I just let them out to go a few minutes ago, and one of them dropped solids. Marvelous. I picked it up with a gallon sized ziplock bag, then triple bagged that and stashed it in the fridge. If she’s got an intestinal parasite issue, will this kill the evidence?
I’m know this question sounds like a joke. It’s not. I’m crazy about my dogs, I take good care of them, but this isn’t exactly something that people compare notes on at work.
Any guidance would be appreciated.
thanks
Kevin
Yahoo won’t let me pick an answer yet, but they are all good ones. I appreciate it, since I need the info by the morning. I don’t have any idea why they suddenly want a sample because it’s always been the probe and smear in the past. Getting it wasn’t a barrel of monkeys, but it was no biggie either, and I didn’t want to put it in the fridge, but as I mentioned, it’s tripled bagged. Quadruple really, but I didn’t want to touch the first one enough to get it shut. I might be sorry but I guess it came down to trying to get it right for the vet. The health of my dogs trumps my squeamishness.
Asked by:Kevin
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It will be fine.If their are worm eggs or blood in the stool,they will still show up even if the stool had been frozen.
Erm… Maybe you could keep that one in the fridge and then use it as a back up if they don’t drop a solid on the morning of the vets. Even the night before would be better, But use non-fresh ones as backups.
Jxx
don’t forget to keep the samples seperate. you want one for each dog. and yes the frig. ones are fine.
not gross question a good one.
Hi Kevin, Even if refrigerating kills the parasites then it wont matter, they will still be there just dead. I would collect a fresher one if you get the chance and dispose of the first. Sounds like your doing it right.
Hello Kevin, You must have a very strange vet because there is a test they can do while you are in for a visit that can tell you if they have parasites. You are very brave though picking it up like you did but I don’t think putting it in the frig was a good idea. Not in the same place as I put my food but that’s just me. The vet should be able to tell from that stool. Good luck.
My vet has a special little wand that he sticks in the animal’s rectum to take a stool sample. I don’t see any real reason that you would need to take in an entire dropping, as it will just stink up their office. Even if they have diarrhea or parasite or anything else, all they really need is a tiny bit to smear on a slide and look at under the microscope.
I think its totally fine what you did, if you dog does go in the AM just bring that one, let the vet know what you did. You should be fine….good luck
I think that’s fine.. try to collect a fresh sample in the morning if the dogs do happen to do their dirty deed before the vet appt. Otherwise you have a back-up sample.
Dont forget to keep the samples separated and labelled so you know which one belongs to whom!
Yes the vet can collect a sample there in the office.. yet why put your dog thru that if he’s already produced a sample for you? In some vet offices, its also an extra fee to have the vet collect a specimen sample!
Here’s the poopy lowdown, from the person that does the tests.
The sample should be less than 12 hours old. During that amount of time, and present eggs can change shape and are harder to correctly identify. The sample should be refridgerated until you’re ready to go, since you think you won’t be able to get a fresher sample.
Yes, there is a tool to take a fecal sample directly from the dog’s rectum. However, it’s really uncomfortable (if your dog has issues with going to the vet in the first place, this would be like extra punishment, really not nice) and it doesn’t always work. Can’t always get sample, and it’s never a big enough sample. We test a sample about the size of your thumbnail. It gets mixed with a special testing fluid and then in a machine that makes all the eggs float up to the top of the test tube. Then we take the fluid off the top and put it on a slide. With a smaller sample, there may be few or no eggs to see even if the dog has a large parasitic load.
Basically, fresh sample, from home (or even if the dog has to **** once you get to the vets, let them drop a dooker on the vet’s lawn and bring that in to get tested), gives the most accurate results.
Stool samples can be stored at 4C for 12 hours. They are going to do a **** smear and look at it under the microscope for eggs, segments, etc… After you scoop the poop, double and triple bag it so you do not contaminate your food. I hope that nothing is wrong with your dog and the smear comes out negative. Good luck.
It will last in fridge for 4 hours, no longer!
Dogs almost always go potty about 15 minutes or so after eating so try feeding with this in mind and plan accordingly. And about the baggies, LOL – it is worth the expense to go to your local Dollar Store and pick up small disposable storage containers for as often as you need to do this. If they are clear – wrap them with some type of dark tape (like duct tape or masking tape). I UNDERSTAND!
Another option is Panacur-c (mild and effective wormer) which rids of about all the parasites over a three day period and many people use it twice a year no matter how the vet smear comes out because they don’t always reveal – most vet will honestly tell you this. Other’s use it once a year. Others – only use upon evidence (that be me included). I use it seldom and only with some sign of infestation unless it is puppy – I always worm with panacur as all pups have them :0)
I clean up our yard everytime the dogs (3) go potty. For this reason, we seldom if ever deal with this issue. If a dog is around other dogs often they have a higher chance of coming down with parasites (hope it’s ok to use term “parasites” – I have a hard time with the term “worms” – augh!).
Thank for loving your dogs :0)