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Coccidiosis in Puppies

All recommendations stated here are what we do to care for our own personal dogs, but we cannot be held liable for any practices you choose to use on your dog. I recommend you speak with your vet before administering any medication.

I am now convinced that if you raise litters of puppies, you will have cocci at some point. It does not have to do with lack of cleanliness like older literature states. It is just a fact of breeding. Coccidia is something that is in the intestines of every puppy. When everything is in balance, it is as it should be but when the coccidia goes above a a certain range, the puppies can get an intestinal infection called Coccidiosis. It is a fairly common infection. if it is verified, your vet will probably prescribe Albon (Comes in liquid or pill). This treatment costs about $12 and can take up to 2 weeks.   Coccidiosis is frequently referred to as an opportunist – a disease that will develop when other stress factors are present. For example, the highest incidence of coccidiosis is in the first 21 days after a dog has changed owners and moved to a new residence. If a normal animal carries oocysts, it is relatively easy for rapid development when the conditions are right – adverse weather, shipping, dog food changes, new owners, new residence, and other stresses are important.
 
If you read on the Internet, you will find it is common. We keep our yards and kennels very clean. It is not true that this infection is caused soley by unsanitary conditions. The younger the pup is when it goes home, the more likely it is to succumb to coccidiosis due to the increase in stress level. By 12 weeks of age, a pup is immune to this infection. Coccidia is a microscopic parasite that lives in the lining of the intestinal tract. It can be passed from one dog to another through fecal contamination.
How do puppies get intestinal parasites? Dormant larvae can live in the muscles of adult dogs and can be activated by hormones during pregnancy. They are then transmitted from the mom to her pups before birth or during nursing. Puppies also contract intestinal parasites when they ingest larvae in an environment where any of the following are found: flies, roaches, fleas, rodents, wild birds, etc... Thus, a young pup can take one trip outside to go potty, lick up some wild bird poop and get coccidosis from even that encounter.
What do we do about Coccidiosis?? My number one choice is Ponazuril which is also known as Marquis. Marquis was originally developed to treat EPM in horses. This is an equine protozoan disease, just as cocci is a canine protozoan disease. Breeders use to use Albon to treat their pups, but this is a 2 week treatment; whereas Ponazuril ( = Marquis) is only a 3 day treatment. You can only get this medicine via prescription and you may have to educate your vet on its use in dogs. It is reasonably priced, the puppies love the taste and it is effective. The other positive aspect of Ponazuril is that it can be used as a preventative treatment for cocci; whereas Albon is used after the cocci exists in your pups. As puppies get past 10 to 12 weeks of age, they develop a natural immunity to coccidia and do not show illness if exposed as a young puppy. A fully mature immune system (adult dogs) typically is able to deal with coccidia before it becomes a clinical issue. Coccidia has a 28 day life span as a parasite. It is important to have the Cocci under control in order for your vaccinations to be effective. Other breeders recommend giving the Marquis on Day 4, then 2,4,6,8 and 10 weeks of age by mouth. I have been skipping the day 4 dosage. Roadrunner pharmacy will compound the Marquis and give administration dosages.
Albon is a coccidiostat, while Ponazuril, Baycox, Marquis are coccidiocides. ‘Stats’ arrest, ‘cides’ kill. Coccidiastats and coccidiocides are both effective. Treating with the ‘cide’ is newer and many veterinarians are either not familiar with the cides or do not want to be the first to use an off label protocol. 
The older protocols using coccidiostats arrest the reproductivity of coccidia, allowing the immune system to ‘catch up’ and eradicate it by flushing it from the body. The newer protocols that involve using ‘cides’, work by killing off the coccidia, thereby doing the work for the immune system, and doing it more quickly.
Your vet will need to call in the prescription. I use Road Runner Pharmacy at 877-518-4589. It comes in beef, chicken or bacon flavor at no charge.
This is the method that we use....A second way of treating is using a protozoan medicine for piglets called Baycox. You do not need a prescription and can get it at this site. The literature claims that one dose will kill the cocci for pups and treat your adults 2x per year. From my readings, we will give  .2 ml for every 1 pound of dog of 5% Baycox. If any of the puppies have diarrhea, then we dose mom and puppies for 2  days and then repeat again in 14 days, for 2 - 3 days.

http://www.vetproductsdirect.com.au/usacad/items.asp?Cc=Diarrhoea&iTpStatus=0&Tp=&Bc=
http://www.interpet.biz/Baycox.html
 No prescription is needed. DO NOT use the 2.5% solution sold as a pigeon remedy, as it can be caustic


All recommendations stated here are what we do to care for our own personal dogs, but we cannot be held liable for any practices you choose to use on your dog. I recommend you speak with your vet before administering any medication.
DO NOT GIVE CORID. CORID IS TOXIC AT WRONG DOSAGE.
Coccidiosis is different than the parasites treated by a normal puppy wormer. We do worm our pups with the method described here: http://iamranch.com/pupsworm.htm
Here is what I found on a website that I have often referred to about breeding dogs....
 
http://www.beaglesunlimited.com/beaglehealth_coccidiosis.htm
 
Clinical signs of coccidiosis usually are present or shortly following stress such as weather changes; weaning; overcrowding; long automobile or plane rides; relocation to a new home and new owners; and/or unsanitary conditions. Symptoms or signs of coccidiosis will depend on the state of the disease at the time of observation. In general, coccidiosis affects the intestinal tract and symptoms are associated with it. In mild cases, only a watery diarrhea may be present, and if blood is present in the feces, it is only in small amounts. Severely affected animals may have a thin, watery feces with considerable amounts of intestinal mucosa and blood. Straining usually is evident, rapid dehydration, weight loss and anorexia (off feed) also may be clinically visible. One of the most prevalent canine coccidia is S. tenella and during autopsies of dead animals appears as microscopic muscle cysts in the host animal. Oocysts in the feces of dogs are also microscopic in size and can only be positively identified through lab tests or direct observation under a microscope.
 Here is an article that is written by an online vet. 
Answer:
Coccidia are a group of protozoan parasites that are extremely common and which infect a wide number of animal species, including dogs, cats, horses, cattle, goats, sheep and chickens --- and many other species of animals, as well. The groups of coccidians that infect pets include Eimeria, Isospora, Hammondia, Toxoplasma and Neospora. Of these, the two that are usually referred to as "coccidia" infections are Eimeria and Isospora infections and the rest are generally identified by name, as they are more complex parasites and cause specific disease problems. Eimeria species are more commonly involved in infections in cattle, sheep, horses, etc. and Isospora species are most commonly involved in infection in dogs and cats. So for the purpose of the rest of this note, the enteric (gastrointestinal) forms of Isospora are what will be covered.
The first thing that has to be considered is that coccidosis is very common. It is likely that 30 to 50% of puppies have coccidia in their stools at some time during their first few months of life. These may be coccidia from another species that the puppy or kitten has in the digestive tract due to ingestion of stool, such as rabbit feces, squirrel feces or cat feces (in the case of puppies). If this is the case it is unlikely that the puppy or kitten will actually have any clinical disease as a result of ingesting the coccidia. In other cases, a puppy or kitten becomes infected with coccidiosis, produces lots of oocysts of coccidia but never has clinical signs of disease such as diarrhea, loss of appetite, vomiting or failure to thrive. These pets may never show any clinical signs and without signs it is questionable whether they should be treated or not, although I think that almost all veterinary practitioners go ahead and treat for the infection. Isospora species can also be transmitted through ingestion of intermediate hosts, such as infected mice.
Isospora species that affect dogs include Isospora canis, I. ohioensis, I. neorivolta and I. burrowsi. The species that affect cats include Isospora felis and Isospora rivolta. These coccidia tend to be pretty species specific, so infection of a puppy or kitten is not thought to be a risk to humans and puppies are not a risk to cats or infected kittens a risk to dogs. It is very likely that if one puppy in a litter has coccidiosis that all puppies are affected. It is extremely difficult to prevent coccidia infections, especially in group situations, so puppies coming from a breeder with coccidia is not an indication of poor sanitation or poor health care practices. It is simply a very common problem.
Coccidia spread when oocysts are shed in the stool of infected pets and then the oocysts are consumed later by another susceptible dog or cat. Since incredible numbers of oocysts are shed from infected pets, the environmental contamination with coccidia oocysts is severe. Puppies and kittens often show signs of illness, usually watery diarrhea, before there are oocysts in their stools, so it sometimes takes several fecal samples to know if a puppy or kitten is infected. In addition, lots of dogs, cats, puppies and kittens are infected and are shedding oocysts despite having no clinical signs of infection.
Coccidia are easy to find using standard fecal floatation methods for fecal exams and are often present in sufficient numbers to show up if a small amount of stool is smeared on a glass slide, mixed with a small amount of saline and examined.
When Isospora species cause disease the most common form is watery diarrhea that is very profuse. Many kittens and puppies seem to just leak watery stools as if they have no control at all over their bowel movements, while others have a more "normal" diarrhea. Without treatment, the diarrhea might last for several weeks. With treatment the diarrhea might last several weeks, too --- but it does seem to cut down some on the duration of the diarrhea to treat affected puppies and kittens. The most commonly used medications are sulfonamide antiseptics, such as sulfadimethoxine (Albon Rx, Bactrovet Rx) given at 55mg/kg of body weight initially and then 27.5mg/kg per day for 4 to 7 days. The medication should be given until two days after symptoms of illness have disappeared. Lots of vets substitute trimethoprim/sulfa combination medications (Ditrim Rx, Tribrissen Rx, Bactrim RX) for this sulfadimethoxine, using a dosage of 15mg/lb of the combined product and this seems to work, too. While it is probably impossible to kill all the coccidia in a puppy with clinical disease using medications, it may help reduce the numbers of organisms that littermates and housemates are subjected to and to shorten the duration of clinical signs.
In some cases it does seem like there is resistance to the sulfanomides. I am not sure if this is actually the case, since it is difficult to tell if the medication is working in the first place. However, if this is suspected, alternative medications include ampolium (Corid Rx) and furozolidin (Furoxone Rx).
General cleanliness does not ensure that infections will not occur, but removal of contaminated stool reduces the potential for infection. The oocysts are supposed to be pretty resistant to most disinfectants and things like steam cleaning or flame guns may be necessary to actually kill the oocysts, which is impractical for most situations. Keeping access to mice down (especially for cats) is also a good idea.
So the direct answers to your questions are that most of the time all littermates are infected. It is not likely that other species will be affected. The organism is spread in the stool, so keeping non-infected pets away from the stool of infected pets is helpful but if they share a common environment it is highly likely that infection will occur. The infection may or may not cause clinical disease and treatment is generally considered to be necessary only for pets showing clinical signs.
I hope this information is helpful.
Mike Richards, DVM 8/20/2001


 

Sulfadimethoxine	50-60 mg/kg daily for 5-20 days (D.C)
Sulfaguanidine	150 or 200 mg/kg daily for 6 days (D,C); 100-200 mg/kg every 8 hours for 5 days (D,C)
Furazolidone	8-20 mg/kg once or twice daily for 5 days (D,C)
Trimethoprim/Sulfonamide	Dose/length depends of sulfa; 30-60 mg/kg trimethoprim daily for 6 days in animals ≥ 4 kg; or 15-30 mg/kg trimethoprim for 6 days in animals ≤ 4 kg
Sulfadimethoxine/Ormetoprim	55 mg/kg of sulfadimethoxine and 11 mg/kg of ormetaprim for 7-23 days (D)
Quinacrine	10 mg/kg daily for 5 days (C)
Amprolium	300 to 400 mg (total) for 5 days (D); 110-200 mg (total) daily for 7-12 days (D); 60-100 mg/kg (total) daily for 7 days (C); 1.5 tbsp (23 cc)/gal (sole water source) not to exceed 10 days (D)
Amprolium/Sulfadimethoxine	150 mg/kg of amprolium and 25 mg/kg of sulfadimethoxine for 14 days (D)
Toltrazuril	10-30 mg/kg daily for 1-3 days (D)
Diclazuril	25 mg/kg daily for 1 day (C)
Ponazuril	20 mg/kg daily for 1-3 days (D,C)