Fecal Exam?

Neither one of my cats has ever had a fecal exam, as far as I know. They are both indoor-only.

Mattie was looked at by a vet at the shelter and nothing on her paperwork says that she had it done. I've never de-wormed her. Mattie was anywhere from 9 months to 2 years old when I adopted her.

I adopted Chloe when she was a kitten (12 weeks old). Her foster mom had de-wormed her and then my vet did it when I took her for her first visit. I was just looking at their paperwork (because it's almost time for Mattie's annual exam) and noticed that it had a reminder for a fecal float for Chloe that was never done and nobody said anything about it to me. I adopted Chloe in November 2007 and that's when the fecal float was supposed to be done apparently. She was spayed in January 2008, would they have taken a sample?

I'm not too worried about them having worms (have never noticed any in the litter box) but I don't know what all they look for in a fecal float.

I don''t think my ats have had one either nor do i know the purpose except to look for parasites. Your post though has given me the opportunity to post the scoop on poop!
This link shows what things like different colors and consistencies mean.
scroll down
http://groups.msn.com/FDLibrary/offt...&ID_Message=28

I don't know about other vets but I kind of suspect that the fecal exam my vet does is pretty simple. Like it does not look for too many things. Next time I will ask do they look for anything more than 'moving' things or eggs/nasties. Like do they for example check if there is blood in the stool or analyze it for consistency etc.

You can tell soo much by a fecal sample! I used to do them all the time when I worked at the shelter as a vet tech.

They'll put a little lube on a fecal loop and then gently get the smaple from the animal. At that point they'll take part of the sample and put it on a slide with some solution on it and then examine it for any type of parasites or abnormalities. It is always good to have one done anytime they have a check up

My kitties had that done at their first exam. They didn't like having something poked into their rectum, but neither would I.