​Ancylostoma tubaeforme or cat hookworm. Infection with this parasite occurs when cats ingest infected eggs from the environment, through skin penetration by infected larvae, or by ingestion of a paratenic host. Unlike dogs, transmammary transmission does not occur and infection in cats is not as pathogenic as in dogs either. Adults live in the small intestine where they ingest blood from their host. Clinical signs include weight loss and regenerative anemia.

Isospora amphiboluri
A common coccidian found in captive bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) commercially bred. It infects enterocytes of the small and large intestine. In experimental infections, gross changes in the feces have not been observed, however young lizards can be severely affected with up to 15% mortality. The prepatent period is between 2 to 3 weeks, which is essential to consider when introducing new animals into a colony. 

Image 2.

​The oocysts are 22.7 to 25.4 µM in diameter with a bilayer wall (Image 2).  The micropyle is absent and the sporulated oocysts contain two sporocysts measuring 11 to 17 µM. The sporocysts are single layered with a smooth wall. 

Diagnosis:
Hymenolepis nana, a parasite of rodents and humans. Egg size ranges from 30 to 50 µm. The inner membrane has two poles, from which 4-8 polar filaments spread out between the two membranes. The oncosphere has six hooks.
 
The infective larval stage called Cysticercoid, develops in fleas and flour beetles.  Besides these intermediate hosts, H. nana can complete its life cycle within the intestinal tract of a rodent or human, where the eggs hatch and form a cysticercoid in the intestinal mucosa. These cysticercoids later reenter the lumen to complete their development.  
 
The importance of this parasite is the zoonotic potential. 

​Sarcoptes scabiei, also called scabies mite in dogs. Sarcoptes are found in domestic animals and humans. They are transmitted by direct contact with an infested animal or contaminated fomites.  Female mites burrow into the epidermis and deposit eggs. (Numerous Toxocara canis also observed on image.)
Sarcoptes cause pruritus, alopecia and thickening of the skin. Although initially found on areas with thick skin or hairless, they can affect large areas of the skin. 
Skin scrapings are the diagnostic method, however mites can be difficult to recover. In some cases, mites are passed in the feces of the host after they ingest them while trying to relieve the intense pruritus.
Female mites measure an average of 400 µM while males are smaller around 250 µM. They both have suckers on the unsegmented stalks on first and second pairs (image 4, small arrows) and males also have suckers on the fourth pair. The third and fourth pair of legs are short and rarely project past the margin of the body. 

Physalpotera spp.
 
Physalpotera spp. are Spirurid parasites of the stomach of dogs, cats and other wild mammals. Clinical signs are rare and may include vomiting and anorexia. The recommended detection method is fecal sedimentation (photo 3, below), however on occasion they can be detected with fecal centrifugation.
 
Life cycle: The eggs are ingested by beetles, cockroaches or crickets where they develop into the infective stage.  The definitive host in this case a cat, becomes infected when ingests the intermediate host or paratenic hosts such as reptiles.

Photo 3: Physaloptera spp. recovered by sedimentation.

Dictyocaulus spp.

Adults: Up to 3 inches long, white in color. Found in the bronchial tree, where they cause chronic bronchitis and localized occlusion of the bronchial tree. Adults of Dictyocaulus viviparus are the only parasites that reach maturity in the lungs of cattle. 
 
Eggs: Contain a vermiform embryo that usually hatches before is eliminated in the feces (Images 5–7). While in the environment these larvae derive their energy from stored food materials ‘food granules’. Development to the infective stage requires about five weeks, and prepatent period is approximately one month.