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

Lower Saxony approximately 3500 veterinarians were asked to fill in a questionnaire focused on the prevalence of parasitic infections in cat tle, sheep, pigs, and horses, the preferred control measures and the a ntiparasitic drugs in use. Although the disappointing low number of on ly 48 veterinarians that participated in this survey prevented any rep resentative conclusions the following trends were remarkable: gastroin testinal strongyles were the most prevalent parasites in cattle (34.8 %), sheep (28.9 %), and horses (42.3 %). In pigs, ascarids were most o ften diagnosed (41.9 %) followed by the strongyles (27.9 %). Horse str ongyles were stated as parasites causing problems by 40.0 % of the vet erinarians. Prophylactic measures are performed by most practitioners alone or in addition to therapy in the case of lungworms or gastrointe stinal strongyles. Therapeutic application of anthelmintics is broadly in use against cestodes in horses (65.0 %) and liver flukes (cattle: 41.7 %, sheep: 33.3 %, horse: 57.1 %). Benzimidazoles represent the do minating group of anthelmintics in sheep (78.3 %), horses (42.1 %), an d pigs (42.0 %). In cattle, ivermectin (27.7 %) and benzimidazoles (26 .5 %) are regularly used. The role of pyrantel is largely restricted t o the control of helminths in horses (24.2 %) whereas levamisole is st ated as a frequently applied drug in cattle (20.5 %), pigs (12.0 %), a nd sheep (2.7 %). The diagnosis of parasites relies generally on copro scopical examination (93.7 %) which is mostly performed by the practit ioners themselves (51.1 %). In general, the traditional diagnostic too ls are regarded as adequate. Approximately 50 % of the practitioners d eclare their interest in a support of veterinary herd management by pa rasitological institutes.