Stool sample - how much is needed?

i called the clinic and asked how much stool needed to be collected to do the test and she said "about a dixie cups worth."

that got me to thinking - "my kittens are lucky if they poop a dixie cups worth in 3 days!

i said that it would be alot less. possibly a tablespoon to 3 tablespoons max. at least i was able to get a fresh sample from each of the 3 kittens today. its not that easy a task with the toilet training. she said to just bring in what i have. luckily i took samples from yesturday as well just in case today i couldnt get them.

anyways, my question is "how much is usually needed for a sample?"

thanks

From what my vet has said, they don't need that much. I think a tablespoon or two should be sufficient. It's more important that the sample is as fresh as possible; some of the parasites die quickly, and then won't show up in less-fresh samples.

My vet just sticks a little stick thing up there behinds and gets a sample that way. She has never asked me to bring in a sample.

Originally Posted by 4crazycats

My vet just sticks a little stick thing up there behinds and gets a sample that way. She has never asked me to bring in a sample.

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That's called "looping" and while it does provide a sample, it's often not very much at all. If I can't bring in a sample, my vet will loop, but then asks me to drop off a bigger sample later.

thanks curly and crazy,

i was thinking they only need a tablespoon or so. they are looking under a microscope anyways.

also,

1 more question please:

my doctor gave me deworming medicine about 3 weeks ago. i think he was thinking i was gonna come in 2 weeks ago possbily. the thing is - doesnt deworming kill only adults and so he gave me that medicine to kill the adults so they would be in the sample a week later. now its 3 weeks later?

i'm so confused. and yet he was there the whole time so he SHOULD know what he's doing, i hope.

then again cant they diagnose worms by the eggs alone in the stool? hope so.

wow, there's alot to this.

why can't things just be simple

You only need to take ~ a tablespoon amount in.

Usually we will run another fecal exam 3-4 weeks after the first dose of dewormer was given.

I work for a vet and set up fecals for the techs and doctor. Thats rght, not much is needed and it should be as fresh as possible to detect heatworms, ringworms etc. only a sample the size of a marble is used, even if you bring in the entire poo. obviously if the vet wants another peek, we should have two marble sized samples but thats enough.
It happens especially with dogs that people will bring me the whole thing -yuck!-

however, with cats -in my workplace- if there are multiple cats that use the same litterboxes, you can bring one sample in, and that will test for all of them, seeing that they are all over eachother, and parsites from one cat will quickly move to the other via cat boxes.

if one has it then all have it!

Just an FYI, ringworm is not a worm, it's a fungus, and heartworm is a blood parasite and cannot be detected in the stool. Don't worry though, it's always a learning experience in this field.

For cats, the best medicine is to check each animal's stool seperately, but in cases in which that is extremely hard, then a "community sample" is better than nothing.

Yeah, people that have large dogs definitely don't skimp on the amount that they bring in! I have also had people bring in the whole bag after they scoop the litterbox and I have to "find" a piece of stool through all of the urine clumps.

BTW, I wish I had an assistant to set up fecals for me, your techs are spoiled. How long have you worked as an assistant? Are you going to eventually go to school to become a tech or even a vet? It's definitely a wonderful and rewarding field to be in.

Originally Posted by xXPunkKittenXx

if one has it then all have it!

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i still chose to do samples for all three kittens, just to be sure.

Originally Posted by les

Yeah, people that have large dogs definitely don't skimp on the amount that they bring in! I have also had people bring in the whole bag after they scoop the litterbox and I have to "find" a piece of stool through all of the urine clumps.

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yuck . thats all i can think of to say to that.


how long is a sample good for? they say it may take a few days to get to the lab. and they said it would be okay though. hope so.

thanks

If a stool sample can't be checked within a few hours, it needs to be refrigerated. I would say no more than 24 hours. When I send samples out to a reference lab it gets there overnight and we have the results back in the a.m.

At my vet's office they give out a special container thingie for fecal samples. You stab the poo with this device attached to the lid and screw it onto the container. Anyone know what I'm talking about? It's pretty nifty and circumvents me trying to come up with something suitable to transport it in at the last minute!

Originally Posted by krissie

At my vet's office they give out a special container thingie for fecal samples. You stab the poo with this device attached to the lid and screw it onto the container. Anyone know what I'm talking about? It's pretty nifty and circumvents me trying to come up with something suitable to transport it in at the last minute!

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THE FECALYZER!!! It makes it easier for the client and myself (who has to mix and read the fecals). You would be absolutely amazed at how many people don't use it right. Even after I give them a little demo and the paper instructions.

I've had it turned in with the poop in the top of the center piece, and I've had people put the feces in the outer container and ask if I need the middle piece. It's absolutely amazing.

I find a yogurt container works well when transporting stool samples to the vet.

Les0304:
That thing requires written instructions?? How can you mess that up? It seemed pretty obvious to me after the receptionist explained it once. Oh well.

And that is some kinda name for a really simple contraption. "Fecalyzer" makes it sound like it does all the analysis for you, or has some kind of special destructo-stink powers, or something.

i still havent got all the test back from the testing facility (vita-tech). i brought the 3 kittens samples in on saturday. got one of the results (which was negative) on monday and havent got the results of the other two cats yet and its thursday now.

i called the vet and explained this to her. she said she'll call vita-tech as soon as they can. i then told her that they said the same thing yesturday! she just told me that it was really busy in the morning and they didnt get a chance to do it.

this is a little frustrating. i called another vet and they deal with vita-tech too. though they might be a little more 'on the ball' with returning calls and communication. but who knows.

a 3 day spread inbetween cats. you'd think they might test them within at least a day apart. i'm suspecting its my vet thats made the mistake, not vita-tech. but i'm not sure. they could at least call back. a call only take about 2 minutes.

meanwhile i wait in anxiety for my results.