Introduction

In this study, prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in owned dogs in Zabol city, Iran was assessed between April 2012 and April 2013.

Methods

Infection was diagnosed by stool exam. Stool samples were obtained from 100 owned dogs of different age and gender groups, and were analyzed using 4 methods of floatation in saturated sugar solution, formalin-ether precipitation, Ziehl-Neelsen staining, and trichrome staining.

Results

Generally, prevalence of infections with intestinal parasites was found to be 30%. The highest prevalence of infection related to species of Taenia spp. eggs (in 16 cases). In this study, parasites Cryptosporidium spp. (in 4 cases), Toxocara canis (in 6 cases), and Giardia infection were also diagnosed. In all the cases investigated in this study, hookworms and ameba were not detected. Significant correlations were observed between intestinal parasitic infection with gender and age (p < 0.05). Also, prevalence of infection significantly differed in diarrhea and non-diarrhea groups (p < 0.05). According to the chi-square test results, a significant difference was observed between dogs that received medication and dogs that did not in terms of infection ratio (p < 0.05). The difference was also significant between dogs fed on cooked food and dogs that received raw food (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

According to the results obtained, owned dogs can be considered an important source of zoonotic diseases. The above figures indicate importance of parasites in medicine and veterinary. Identifying parasites in these animals will help improve controlling zoonotic diseases. Thus, owned dogs should be attended to and stray dogs should be killed.