ABSTRACT
Small-sized feline coccidian acquired by eating oocyst or infected meat of bird or mammal. PPP= 3 to 18 days; longer when infection via eating of oocyst. Dx: Oocysts (11 to 13 µm long) in feces, clear, unsporulated spheroid. Habitat: Small intestinal mucosa. Similar Species: Cannot distinguish oocyst from that of Hammondia hammondi. Range: World. Clinical Signs: Intestinal infection usually asymptomatic. Cats can develop severe generalized disease and ocular lesions; such disease not necessarily related to shedding of oocysts in feces. Potential Zoonosis: Oocysts not infectious when passed in feces, but sporulate rapidly (24 hours) under appropriate conditions. Thus, cats shedding oocysts morphologically consistent with Toxoplasma gondii should either be housed in clinic to protect client or started on treatment to try and reduce shedding. Tx: Once oocysts appear in feces, most of the damage from development in the mucosa has already occurred. Sulfonamides are the drugs of choice:
