Hannah Zulueta Ruling Out Parasites
Before diarrhea, allergies, or reflux get a bigger diagnosis, this gets ruled out first.
Sanitation and food processing have cut down foodborne illness, but parasitic infection is still very much present in the modern food chain, in the yard, and on every walk. This is the test that comes before the elaborate ones.
Occam’s Razor
When two explanations compete, the simpler one is usually correct. Your veterinarian has an active license and the training to rule out the simple answer first. They should always be the first stop for medical advice, not a recipe, not a supplement, not me. I am honored to help with the bowl. That does not replace the exam.
Two tests before the elaborate ones
Preventative medicine has made it easy to mail in stool and fur samples without a vet involved at all. Clients often arrive with microbiome panels, allergy tests, and hair and tissue mineral analysis already in hand. All of these have a place. None of them are where you start.
Dogs live differently than we do. A nose in every bush, a lamppost another dog marked, stool belonging to cats, rabbits, squirrels, ducks, or other dogs on the same walk. That behavior is a direct exposure route to parasites, before food is even part of the picture.
What a fecal PCR test actually does
A Fecal PCR Panel uses Polymerase Chain Reaction to amplify genetic material from a stool sample, which makes it sensitive enough to catch small amounts of pathogen DNA or RNA that older tests miss.
- Analyzes the stool sample directly
- Targets bacteria, viruses, and parasites by their genetic material
- Highly sensitive, catching small pathogen loads other methods miss
- Tests for a broad range of pathogens in a single panel
It diagnoses the cause of diarrhea, detects specific infections like Giardia or Cryptosporidium, and monitors whether a treatment is actually working. Whenever a dog comes to me with diarrhea, allergies, or acid reflux, the vet visit to rule out parasites happens first, before anything on the bowl changes.
Signs that warrant a vet visit
These signs can point to pinworms, roundworms, tapeworms, or protozoa from cats, and occasionally to something rarer like babesia or mites. Nothing replaces a hands-on exam by your vet, and no natural food or herb eradicates parasites on its own. More than once, what looked like pancreatitis turned out to be a bacterial infection caused by worms, found only once someone looked closer.
Four ways in
Zoonotic parasites move through more than one door. Knowing which one applies to your dog’s routine narrows down what you are actually managing.
Toxoplasma infects more than two billion people worldwide, and infects our animals the same way, going dormant in the brain and the eye before moving into the intestinal lining.
What a kill step does and does not cover
Some raw dog food companies run a kill step to eliminate bacteria before the food ships. Not all of them do, and that is a decision worth making deliberately rather than assuming. Grocery-store meat can carry low levels of E. coli or salmonella too, tolerated in the human supply chain only because the assumption is that it gets cooked before eating.
Feeding cooked instead of raw lowers exposure to both bacteria and parasites if that is a concern for your dog. The nutritional difference between a well-formulated cooked diet and a well-formulated raw one is minimal. A diet built to meet AAFCO’s standards using formulation software works either way.
If raw stays on the menu, handling it safely is not optional. Toxoplasma alone infects more than two billion people worldwide, hiding dormant in the brain and eye of intermediate hosts before moving into the intestinal lining, in both humans and the animals who carry it.
Food helps carry the load. It does not replace medical care.
The environment is a source too. Hookworms in soil can stay dormant for years, surfacing as a problem only once the immune system is compromised or the load becomes more than the body can carry, dog or human.
Testing keeps evolving
Internal parasite testing for companion animals is not static. Routine exams are a precautionary measure worth keeping on the calendar, and a vet visit to rule out the simple answer belongs in every dog’s wellness plan, not just the ones already showing symptoms.
Resources
- Gabriël S, Dorny P, Saelens G, Dermauw V. Foodborne Parasites and Their Complex Life Cycles Challenging Food Safety in Different Food Chains. Foods. 2023; 12(1):142.
- Davies RH, Lawes JR, Wales AD. Raw diets for dogs and cats: a review, with particular reference to microbiological hazards. J Small Anim Pract. 2019 Jun;60(6):329-339.
- Murnik LC, Daugschies A, Delling C. Gastrointestinal parasites in young dogs and risk factors associated with infection. Parasitol Res. 2023 Feb;122(2):585-596.
- Suchodolski JS. Intestinal Microbiota of Dogs and Cats: a Bigger World than We Thought. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice, Volume 41, Issue 2.
- Evason MD, Weese JS, Polansky B, Leutenegger CM. Emergence of canine hookworm treatment resistance. Am J Vet Res. 2023 Jul 18;84(9).
- Zhang Y, Lai BS, Juhas M, Zhang Y. Toxoplasma gondii secretory proteins and their role in invasion and pathogenesis. Microbiol Res. 2019 Oct;227.
- Minciullo PL, Cascio A, Gangemi S. Association between urticaria and nematode infections. Allergy Asthma Proc. 2018 Mar 1;39(2):86-95.
- Miller AD. Pathology of larvae and adults in dogs and cats. Adv Parasitol. 2020;109:537-544.
- Traversa D, Frangipane di Regalbono A, Di Cesare A, La Torre F, Drake J, Pietrobelli M. Environmental contamination by canine geohelminths. Parasit Vectors. 2014 Feb 13;7:67.
Rule out the simple answer first. Then let food do what food can actually do.
Once parasites are ruled out and the plan turns to diet, that is where the recipes and the pattern work come in.
Book a consultation
Hannah Zulueta obtained her Certificate in Canine Nutrition from CASI Institute. She is also studying for her Doctorate in Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Herbalism from the esteemed Pacific College of Health and Medicine. If you’re as keenly interested in health for yourself, visit her website for human health: Satori Acupuncture and Herbs.
She resides in San Diego with her three dogs, Maggie, Orbit, and Mr. Higgins.
She is available for one on one consultations. She develops evidence-based recipes that meet both NRC and AAFCO nutritional standards while integrating the therapeutic food principles of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine into her formulations.
Additionally, you can find her sharing free content on Instagram.
