Abstract:
Domestic cats can act as reservoir for many intestinal parasites. Furthermore, these animals play an important role in parasite transmission to human and other animals by contamination of the environment with faecal parasite stages. The purpose of this study was to investigate the endoparasite community of domestic cats from two urban areas in Southern Romania. For this, a total number of 120 cats were included in the study. From them, fecal samples were collected and examined, first grossly, then using a sodium chloride flotation technique followed by microscopy for identification of parasitic elements (eggs, oocysts). For a subset of 69 samples a Baermann method was performed for detection of lungworm nematodes. The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites was 26.7% (32/120; 95%CI:0.19–0.35) and 2.9% (2/69; 95%CI:0.003–0.10) for lungworm, respectively, in the examined samples. Five endoparasite species, including helminthes (nematodes, cestodes) and protozoa were detected. The most prevalent species were Toxocara cati (12.5%) and Isospora felis (12.5%), followed by Aelurostrongylus abstrusus (2.9%), Ancylostoma tubaeforme (1.7%), and Dipylidium caninum (0.8%). For two samples (1.7%), mixed infection (T. cati + Ae. abstrusus and T. cati + A. tubaeforme) was diagnosed. In conclusion, the results are particularly of veterinary importance as these parasites commonly affect the animal health, suggesting the need for parasitological control. In addition, due to the zoonotic potential of some of these parasites, potential risks for the human health have to be considered.
