VIRGINIA 
OPOSSUM
WORMS AND THEIR TREATMENT :
For a complete article on useing Levamisole for worming opossums, please click on the following link:
Current De-Worming Recommendations. National Opossum Society.
.......
HOOKWORM EGGS, HOOKWORMS:
An opossum becomes infected by direct contact with contaminated soil,
generally through walking in it, or by swallowing it.
Hookworms have a complex life cycle that begins and ends in the small intestine.
Hookworm eggs require warm, moist, shaded soil to hatch into larvae. These barely
visible larvae penetrate the skin (often through bare feet), are carried to
the lungs, go through the respiratory tract to the mouth, are swallowed, and
eventually reach the small intestine. This journey takes about a week. In the
small intestine, the larvae develop into half-inch-long worms, attach
themselves to the intestinal wall, and suck blood. The adult worms produce
thousands of eggs. These eggs are passed in the feces (stool). If the eggs
contaminate soil and conditions are right, they will hatch, molt, and develop
into infective larvae again after 5 to 10 days.
ROUNDWORMS:
Visible in feces, often seen in clusters, resembling spaghetti.
Roundworms, or nematodes, are a group of invertebrates
(animals having no backbone) with long, round bodies.
They range in size from those plainly visible to the naked eye
to those several hundredths-of-an-inch long and visible only under a microscope.
Most roundworm eggs or larvae are found in the soil
and can be picked up on the paws and transferred to the mouth or can enter through the skin.
TAPEWORMS:
Tapeworm is acquired by swallowing a flea infected with a tapeworm larvae.
An opossum may swallow a flea while self-grooming. Once the flea is digested,
the larval tapeworm is free to develop into an adult tapeworm.
The adult tapeworm is made up of many small segments, called proglottids (pro-GLOT-ids),
each about the size of a grain of rice; adult tapeworms may measure 4-28 inches in length.
As the tapeworm matures inside the intestines, these segments (proglottids) break off and pass into the stool.
You will often see visible evidence of tapeworm infestation around the anus, or in the stools,
appearing as small white rice-like objects.
.....
TICKS:
Ticks, hard ticks especially, are tricky to remove. All ticks bury their heads under
the host's skin, but hard ticks secrete a "cement" that firmly locks them
into the host. With care and patience, you can remove the tick yourself, or you
may opt to have your veterinarian do it. To remove the tick, use thin-tipped
long tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the animal's skin as possible.
Very slowly and gently, with continuous pressure, pull the tick out from under the
skin. This is a delicate operation-if you pull too fast or are jerky, you may
leave the tick's head (or part of its head) under your pet's skin.
Once you've removed the tick, drop it into a small jar of alcohol. This will kill the
tick and preserve it for further examination, if that proves to be
necessary. Carefully swab the area of your pet's skin around the bite with
alcohol to kill any bacteria that may be left behind. Finally, jot down the date
and time you found and removed the tick, where your animal may have picked up
the tick, and where on your animal the tick was attached.
IF YOU LEAVE SOME BEHIND:
If you do break off part of the tick's head, you will see small dark spots under
your pet's skin where the tick was. You can try to tease the remaining pieces out
if your pet is especially mellow, but it's best to leave them alone. The area
will form a small pimple and then fall off. If your pet is very uncomfortable,
though, take him to the veterinarian to have the area attended to.
Keep in mind that many of the pathogens that can infect your pet can infect you,
too. You should wear gloves when you remove the tick -- especially if you
need to handle the tick. After you've performed the removal, always wash your hands thoroughly.
ANOTHER APPROACH TO REMOVING TICKS:
Submitted By: Brenda Ice
A School Nurse has written the info below good enough to share,
and it really works!!
I had a pediatrician tell me what she believes is the best way to remove a tick.
This is great , because it works in those places where it's some times
difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head full
of dark hair, etc.
Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked
cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds (15-20), the tick will come out
on it's own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away. This
technique has worked every time I've used it (and that was frequently), and it's
much less traumatic for the patient and easier for me.
Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can't see that this would be damaging in
any way. I even had my doctor's wife
call me for advice because she had one
stuck to her back and she couldn't reach it with tweezers. She used this method and
immediately called me back to say, "It worked!"
OLD WIVES TALE:
One word of advice-never, never use the old folk remedy of applying heat (such as a
match head or a cigarette) to a tick to get it to release. Researchers have found
that ticks so treated will frequently "spit up" before they release,
thereby transferring any pathogens they may be carrying into the host. The whole
purpose of removing the tick is to prevent this from happening, so don't use
heat under any circumstances. It's better to leave the tick where it is for a
short while until you can remove the tick properly.
Close up of a flea.
Fleas make an animal miserable, can cause infection at the bites
sites, anemia, and tapeworms! I have had great success with treating
opossums with Advantage, (formulated for kittens) for flea infestation. DO NOT use
on tiny baby opossums!
**** Batheing your opossum with liquid Dawn dish soap will kill both fleas and their eggs!****
PANACUR:
QUESTION:If your useing Panacur Suspension, with a 1 1cc syringe, what would the dose be per
pound of possum?
ANSWER: If you are using the 100mg/ml strength, the dose would be 50mg/kg for
Mammals (carnivores):
or 0.2 per # (pound).
When dealing with tiny ones it would be
0.0005 per gram of weight.
EXAMPLE: 0.0005 x100grams = 0.05
For those not familar with a 1cc syringe,
think of that syring as equal to 1 dollar.
Each line is equal to one penny.
so you would be giving the 100 gram possum 5 cents.
The first mark is zero...do not worry about what is in the tip
of the syringe,
it is waste and therefore not counted.
A one pound opossum would be getting 20 cents or 0.2
Information By: Pat/SC
Copyright © 2005 - Laura Ledet - All Rights Reserved
NATURAL REMEDIES
