DOING FECALS USING McMASTERS SLIDE & MICROSCOPE IS ESSENTIAL AND EASY

Internal parasites are the biggest health management problem facing goat raisers. Stomach worms and coccidia kill more goats than all other illnesses combined. Stomach worms compromise a goat's immune system, making it susceptible to diseases like pneumonia and listeriosis.

Everything Begins with Haemonchus contortus: The internal parasite that causes most health problems in goats in the USA is Haemonchus contortus (barberpole stomach worm), which sucks blood, causing anemia and death. Anemia is the loss of red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen to all internal organs (heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, brain) and muscles. A severely anemic goat's internal organs and muscles are starved of oxygen. I have seen goats so anemic that their legs muscles no longer work so they can't stand. Schedule routine monthly microscopic examinations of goat pills (feces) for worms (and coccidia). Do not wait for a problem; prevent it.

FECAL COUNTS USING McMASTERS SLIDES are the only way to know if your dewormer is working. Count the eggs per gram. About 250 eggs per gram in many cases means deworming is needed, but some goats are debilitated by an even lower fecal egg count. Choose a dewormer (not a white-colored dewormer, i.e. NOT Valbazen, Safeguard, or Panacur), give orally at a goat-appropriate dosage, and do fecals again in 7 days. If the KILL did not reach 95%, the dewormer did not work. All you did was kill susceptible worms and keep resistant worms. Start over with a different class of dewormer. This is the ONLY way to know if the dewormer worked.

Doing fecals is easy. All you need are a few supplies and some goat pills, soft stool, or even diarrhea. An inexpensive yet suitable microscope is the MSK-01L by C&A Scientific (10X-40X-400X) with a movable stage. The movable stage allows the user to move the slide from side to side when looking through the monocular (single) eyepiece The MSK-01L microscope, either corded or battery operated, is available on the Internet on Amazon.com and other sites. Don't buy a high-powered microscope; it will allow you to see trash and will confuse you.

Additional supplies needed are:

1) 50 ml ((cc) test tubes with caps

2) 125-150 ml (cc) cup

3) McMaster green-gridded slides Chalex Corp. www.vetslides.com. Amazon.com carries a generic version of these slides that are blue-gridded.

4) Fecal floatation solution (sodium nitrate solution can be obtained online or from a vet)

Note: You can make fecal floatation solution from sugar and water, but it is a messy operation and doesn't keep well. Buy the proper product. Don't make working with feces a more unpleasant task than it has to be.

5) Stirrer (tongue blade or popsicle stick)

6) Eye dropper

7) Block of styrofoam hollowed out to hold the test tubes upright

8) Chart depicting worm eggs and cocci oocysts. A dog internal parasite chart showing strongyles and cocci oocysts will work.

Catch the goat whose feces you want to check and collect fresh pills. Use a fecal loop to gather feces from inside the goat or go inside with a disposable-gloved hand, grab several pills, exit the body, then turn the glove inside out to hold the feces. This gloved method is definitely necessary when diarrhea exists. Do not use dried-out pills when doing fecal examinations. Empty prescription bottles are good for collection and labeling.

Put four or five fresh goat pills or the equivalent amount of loose feces into the cup. Mash the pills with the tongue depressor or popsicle stick. Pour 15 ml (cc) fecal floatation solution into the cup, then mash/mix the solution as much as possible. Transfer the solution to the 50 ml (cc) test tube and add fecal floatation solution to the 30 ml (cc) line. Put the cap on the test tube, making sure it fits tightly, then shake the tube for 30 seconds to further break up the pills. Put the tube in the styrofoam test-tube holder for two minutes to let the bubbles dissipate.

Run water through the McMaster slide to wet the inside chamber, then dry both top and bottom of slide. Gently rock the test tube back and forth several times to make sure its contents are thoroughly mixed. Open the test tube and remove some solution with the eye dropper. Dispense the solution into one side of the McMaster chamber, making sure the solution covers the entire area under the green grids.

Place the slide onto the microscope's stage and using the 100X (10X eye piece and 10X objective), find one corner of the green grid and scan up and down the six lanes, counting all the worm eggs you see. Use the worm egg/coccidia oocyst chart for identification. Multiply the number of worm eggs you see by 100 to get the Fecal Egg Count (FEC), i.e. eggs per gram of feces. Also note whether you see few or many cocci oocysts. The darkened "zeroes" with a small white pinhole center are water bubbles.

Dispose of the contents of the test tube and wash for re-use. Rinse the McMaster slide in water for use with the next fecal sample.

Almost every goat has a few worms and some coccidia to stimulate its immune system response. An FEC (Fecal Egg Count) below 250 isn't usually an issue, so deworming may not be needed. If a FEC of more than 250 exists, or if many cocci oocysts are in your fecal sample, take appropriate corrective measures by medicating the goat properly. Note: Coccidia is a protozoan, not a worm, therefore dewormers do not affect it. Sulfa-based products like Albon must be used to kill cocci. Sulfa products are now available only through vets.

This simple and easy-to-do procedure will tell you what you need to know in order to control the worm and cocci loads in your goat herd. Establish a schedule of regular (monthly) random fecal checks to keep a handle on the fecal loads that your goats are carrying and treat as indicated by these tests.

Suzanne W. Gasparotto, Onion Creek Ranch, Texas 1.7.23

The photos below are courtesy of Dr. D. Bowman, NYSCVM, Ithaca NY.
Thank you , Dr. Bowman!

Strongyles enlarged and in a group

The author, Suzanne Gasparotto, hereby grants to local goat publications and club newsletters, permission to reprint articles published on the Onion Creek Ranch website under these conditions: THE ARTICLE MUST BE REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY AND THE AUTHOR'S NAME, ADDRESS, AND CONTACT INFORMATION MUST BE INCLUDED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE REPRINT. We would appreciate notification from any clubs or publications when the articles are used. (A copy of the newsletter or publication would also be a welcome addition to our growing library of goat related information!)

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