Examination Of Dog Faeces, Not Purging Wanted

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30393, 18 March 1964, Page 14

Examination Of Dog Faeces, Not Purging Wanted

Examination of the normal faeces of dogs four times a year would give the public far greater protection against hydatids than would purging once a year, said Mr H. D. Skinner, of Christchurch, yesterday. Mr Skinner maintains there is no need to purge dogs to check hydatids, but that suffering on the part of the animals could be avoided if the normal faeces were inspected. He has suggested that the National Hydatids Council investigate whether this can be done.

A spokesman for the National Hydatids Council has claimed the proposal would be impracticable, saying the hydatid tapeworms infesting dogs produce eggs which cannot be identified easily and are not passed continually in the faeces. Mr Skinner has said he has been informed a committee has been set up to inquire into his suggestions. However, he said last evening, it was noteworthy the anonymous spokesman anticipated the committee’s verdict. “If this matter is to be given an honest investigation let it be done by some veterinarians not employed by the National Hydatids Council, and who would therefore not be embarrassed by a favourite verdict,” Mr Skinner said.

“The National Hydatids Council will not only be embarrassed by being proved wrong, but also because they have no explanation as to why this was not thoroughly investigated before the hydatids campaign started. Suffering “The council does not want to admit it was wrong, of course, but any suffering the admission causes will be minute compared with the unnecessary suffering the council is causing thousands of dogs. “When I asked the Minister of Agriculture and the Direc-tor-General of Agriculture to substantiate their statements that purging was the only way of checking for hydatids they failed to do so. Now this ‘spokesman* blandly repeats these unsubstantiated statements.

“As for the spokesman’s attempts to baffle the public with science, my answers will be in simple language. He says that hydatid eggs are similar to the eggs of another tapeworm. True, but perhaps he would like to explain to the public why he neglected to mention that the mature segments of the worms, which are also passed in the faeces and more easily seen because of their size, are quite distinct from the mature segments of other species: “The whole question of positive identification of species of tapeworms does not enter into this question of examining normal faeces, because the subsequent examination of the purgings of the dogs that showed infection would finally identify the species.

“The real question to be examined is his statement that infected dogs ‘. . . occasionally pass egg-free faeces.’ “In the life-history of some species of tapeworms a dog may be infected by a single specimen of the worm (sometimes of horrifying size) and that worm may miss a day or two of passing segments. Infestation “But the hydatids cysts which start the hydatids infestation in a dog do not leave the dog with one tiny worm. They leave it infected with hundreds of thousands of tiny worms. Now this spokesman would have the public believe that these little hydatid worms form such a highly-organised community that at a given signal they all cease , production simultaneously and the dog then passes out every egg and gravid segment that has been produced. “These highly-skilled worms will then refrain from further production until a certain human being in the outside world, known as a hydatids officer, has picked up a subsequent sample of the dog’s faeces, which they have kept free of their eggs and gravid segments.

“Then away they go again in high gear, secure in the knowledge that they have hood-winked the gullible

homo sapiens and that they will not be purged. “It will be interesting to hear the spokesman’s explanation of just how all these little worms know in advance when the hydatids officer is coming. And then he will ask us to believe that these little worms can hit the right time for this concerted action smack on the button four times a year. Not Supported

“Veterinary text-books do not support the spokesman in this matter, and as the National Hydatids Council has now admitted it has never

looked into this question it has no experimental exidence of its own to support this spokesman’s statement.” Mr Skinner said that at present many dogs were not purged for reasons of age or health, but all puppies and dogs could be checked by testing normal faeces. He said that apart from the purging of dogs that had no tape-worms the hydatids council was doing a “very fine job” and “.. . the tougher they get on all other aspects of hydatids control the more they will deserve the cooperation and praise of the public.”