Isolation and Diagnosis of Intestinal Helminthes from Stray Cats in Kirkuk City

Abstract

In the present study 25 stray cats were collected and dissected in order to identify and diagnose the intestinal parasitic helminthes. The results of the study demonstrated the infection of all stray cats with one or more parasitic helmithes. The identified helminthes belonged to: three species of trematodes which were Echinochasmus sp. (4%), Heterophyes sp. (4%) and Prohemistomum  sp. (4%), four species of cestodes which were Diplopylidium sp. (24%), Dipylidium caninum 48%, Joyeuxiella pasqualei sp. (16%) and Taenia taeniaformis (12%), and  three species of nematodes which were  Physaloptera preputalis (4%), Toxocara cati (8%) and Toxoascaris leonina (8%). Three species of trematodes (Echinochasmus, Heterophyes, Prohemistomum) were isolated for the first time from stray cats in Iraq.

Keywords

• intestinal helminthes
• stray cats
• trematodes
• nematodes
• cestodes