Faecal Egg counting kit

Faecal Egg Counting Kit

Worm and coccidiosis infections are a potential problem for all animals, birds and reptiles (and on occasion humans too!). For farm stock – sheep, pigs, cattle and horses, worms in stock can produce literally millions of eggs in droppings that can infest pastures and set up a cycle of re-infection. For more exotic animals this can be a major problem – alpacas are a good example. But more closer to home, the under threat garden hedgehog and the homing racing pigeon can succumb to these types of infection. The thing to bear in mind is that worm treatments can have quite a challenging effect particularly on smaller animals and birds where the effect can almost be as bad as the infection itself.

The ‘golden rule’ must be to treat what they actually have rather than what they might have! It is not really the answer to treat them ‘just in case’, particularly with wormers.

The only way that you can be sure that your animal, bird or reptile has worm or coccidiosis is to find the eggs in their droppings – a messy job but it has to be done! This is not as complex as you might first think. You need 5 things.

1. A microscope
2. A testing kit
3. Simple and easy to understand instructions for both
4. Pictures of what you are looking for
5. Online support if all else fails

The first 4 of these come with what we physically supply and the 5th is always there – just email us.

1.The Microscope

You will need a microscope that magnifies to at least x400, and we have a whole series of these ranging from reasonable price to expensive. For this job there is no need to buy an expensive microscope and we recommend two options that are described below. Your choice depends on whether you would like one eyetube (monocular) or two (binocular). Of course we would be delighted if you wanted to spend more – but you really don’t need to to see those worm and coccidiosis eggs  

VetequipVSP21

The VSP21 monocular microscope with quality glass optics, mains illumination and the ability to magnify between x40 and x800. Basically you plug it in and look down it! In addition the microscope has many features usually found on professional laboratory instruments such as mechanical stage, substage condenser with iris diaphragm and safety stop. For those without previous experience of microscopes – all this means that it is easy to use and you get a really good image. Let’s be honest – there are cheaper plastic toy microscopes out there being offered for the same purpose, but you won’t see clearly enough to decide what it is your looking at. It is worth mentioning here that it is possible to attach either a digital camera or a video camera to this microscope – ask us for details.

VetequipVSP35

This is our suggestion if you would prefer a binocular microscope. Everything described above for the SP21 applies, but in addition there is a binocular head and four objectives giving a magnification range of x40 to x1000.

2. Complete Parasite Identification Kit

Our kit contains everything that is needed to identify worm and coccidiosis without the need for any previous experience. The instructions assume you have never used a microscope before and you can telephone during office hours for practical advice, if you need it. It is based on the Mini-FLOTAC system which really is so simple to use

3. Simple and Easy to Understand Instructions

The microscope (of your choice), and the kit both include detailed instructions on how to use them both, backed up by our online support.

4. Pictures of what you are looking for

These are all included with the ‘kit’

Click to review training video

See our laboratory range

Vetequip VSP35 Binocular @280 euro plus vat

Vetequip VSP21 Microscope @195 euro plus vat