Helminths of stray cats in Behera Governorate with special reference to their zoonotic importance

ABSTRACT

Autopsies of 67 stray cats collected from different localities of Behaira Governorate, Egypt, revealed the presence of endoparasites among all of them [100%]. The cestode parasites were represented by Dipylidium caninum [71.7%], Taenia taeniaeformis [35.8%]. The nematodes were Toxocara cati [29.8%], Trichinella spiralis [8.9%] and Ancylostoma caninum [4.5%], while the recorded trematodes were Heterophyes heterophyes [56.7%], Prohemistomum vivax [19.4%] and Phagicola longicollis [4.5%]. Some cats harbored a single parasite, while others had more than one. Most of these parasites were potentially transmissible to man as a result which indicated that cats could considered from the zoonotic side to be one of the most common reservoirs of many serious parasitic diseases