Protozoans of Importance to Pet Owners

Parasitic Protista of Veterinary Importance

Unicellular organisms may not seem so dangerous at first glance, but protozoans can prove to be harmful parasites. Knowing how to avoid these tiny creatures will help to keep your pet safe. Recognizing symptoms of infection will help your pet get effective treatment sooner.

Protozoans are tiny single celled organisms from the kingdom protista. Most protozoans are just harmless free-living organisms. However, there are also several parasitic varieties. Parasitic protozoans can be divided into three subphyla: sarcomastigophora, ciliophora, and apicomplexa.

Sarcomastigophora

Subphylum sarcomastigophora includes the flagellated protozoans and the amoeboid protozoans. In case it has been awhile since your last biology course, flagella are long whiplike structures used for locomotion. Flagellates have at least one flagellum. Amoeboid protozoans move by pseudopodia, or false feet. Knowing a bit about how these parasites function will help you to understand how they'll effect your pets.

Flagellates swim easily in their hosts bodily fluids, including the blood, lymphatic fluid, and even cerebrospinal fluid. These parasites have dormant resistant cyst stages and also motile stages. The flagellates can further be divided into hemoflagellates and mucosoflagellates. The hemoflagellates generally live in the blood stream and the mucosoflagellates live in the mucus lining of the digestive tract, urinary tract, or genital tract.