SURVEY ON THE OCCURRENCE OF PARASITIC INF ECTIONS IN LARGE ANIMALS AND THE RESPECTIVE CONTROL MEASURES USED BY VETERINARIANS IN LOWER SAXONY

A questionnaire was sent to all veterinarians in Lower Saxony (approxi mately 3500). The regular occurence of parasitic infections in small a nimals, problems with particular parasites, the routine application of diagnostic and therapeutic measures, and the significance of Echinoco ccus multilocularis were asked for. Due to the disappointing low numbe r of filled-in questionnairies sent back by the practitioners (n = 68) a statistical analysis of the data was not applicable. Nevertheless, certain trends could be recognized. Cestodes and ascarids are stated a s regularly occuring parasites of dogs (92,1 % and 94,1 %) and cats (9 4,1 % and 95,6 %) by most veterinarians. Cestodes are most frequently regarded as parasites causing problems in dogs (16,2 %) and cats (17,5 %). Pyrantel and praziquantel are the anthelminthics preferred by the majority of the practitioners for the treatment of parasitic infectio ns in dogs (86,7 % and 63,2 %) and cats (47,1 % and 75,0 %). Coproscop ical methods are performed by most veterinarians (92,6 %) and they are generally regarded as adequate diagnostic tools (86,8 %). To date, Ec hinococcus multilocularis is not noticed as a major problem in Lower S axony by the practitioners, although sporadically veterinarians are as ked for advice.