How did my dog get coccidia? Your dog most likely became infected with coccidia from swallowing oocysts (immature coccidia) that are found in dog feces and soil contaminated with feces. Infected dogs pass oocysts in the feces, which are very resistant to a wide variety of environmental conditions and can survive for some time on the ground.
How do you get rid of coccidia in dogs? The only Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for coccidia is sulfadimethoxine, which must be prescribed by a veterinarian. There are other drugs that are used with some success in the treatment of coccidia, such as ponazuril, which has shown to be effective from the most current published research.
What does coccidia poop look like in dogs? They look like transparent eggs with very thin walls. Coccidia can be tricky to diagnose because a dog can be infected and not show any signs at all. Alternatively, coccidia can cause watery, bloody diarrhea and weakness in dogs, and can be life-threatening to very young or very small dogs.
How contagious is coccidia between dogs? Is coccidia contagious to humans or other pets? Coccidia is contagious between dogs. Fortunately, the protozoa are host-specific, so while cats can become infected with certain subspecies of Isospora, your dog cannot pass the disease to cats in the household. Similarly, the disease is not contagious for humans.