Parasitic helminthofauna in Wandering Cats of Lages, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Cats are hosts of several helminths that, in addition to pathogenesis for animals, may pose risks to public health since some of these helminths have zoonotic potential. From May 2012 to December 2014, 97 stray cats, kept at the Zoonosis Control Center (CCZ) in the city of Lages, state of Santa Catarina, died. At necropsy, lung, stomach, gallbladder, liver, small and large intestines were separated and fixed in 10% formaldehyde and sent for histopathological diagnosis (HE). Fecal samples were analyzed by sedimentation and simple flotation methods. Helminths collected during necropsy were identified and nemathelminthes separated by sex. The amplitude of infection, prevalence, abundance and average intensity were calculated. The presence of helminths was diagnosed in 73 (75.26%) of necropsied cats, and only in the small intestine were parasites found. Toxocara cati, Toxascaris leonina, Ancylostoma tubaeforme, Dipylidium caninum, Spirometra mansonoides and Taenia taeniformis were identified. The most prevalent nematode was Toxocara cati (49.48%), whereas D. caninum was the most identified cestode in 38.14% of cats with parasitic amplitude between one to 156 specimens per animal. In fecal samples, eggs of Toxocara spp. were diagnosed in 30.93% (30/97) and 25.77% (25/97) by sedimentation and flotation methods respectively; D. caninum ovigerous capsules were diagnosed in 5.40% (2/37) by the sedimentation method. The other parasites had a lower occurrence. The results of this study reinforce the importance of stray cats in the epidemiology of gastrointestinal and zoonotic parasites and demonstrate that coproparasitological techniques do not always identify all the parasites that these animals host.