What has been suspected to be true about dog parks and parasite risks has been quantified. This study assessed the prevalence of these infections in dogs visiting off‑leash dog parks. It is the first large-scale effort to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasites in dogs visiting dog parks throughout the USA.
Source: BMC, June 1, 2020. Link. Intestinal parasites, the most common of which were Giardia, Ancylostoma caninum and Trichuris vulpis, were found in 20% of dogs and 85% of dog parks across the USA.
INSIGHTS: Promoting parasite testing and prevention is important to maintain the health of pets and their owners. Factoids from the study include:
- In 2019, the 100 largest U.S. cities had 810 dedicated dog parks.
- Testing of samples collected from 288 parks in 30 of these cities allowed researchers to document parasites in over 20 percent of dogs and 85 percent of parks.
- The prevalence of parasite infection in dogs in the present study is higher than that seen in pet dogs with fecal samples submitted from veterinary practices to national diagnostic laboratories (12.5%).
- This infection prevalence is lower than that reported from stray dogs upon arrival at municipal shelters (36%).