This page quotes a published document. Everything below in quotation marks is copied word for word from https://capcvet.org/guidelines/spirometra-spp/, published by CAPC and retrieved on 2026-09-16. The quotations are excerpts; the document itself is linked and is the authority. Nothing has been reworded.
This page quotes the Companion Animal Parasite Council guideline for Spirometra spp., section by section: the opening sentences of 7 sections, copied without change and linked to the guideline, which was retrieved on 2026-09-16. The guideline itself is the authority and carries the full text.
The guideline
Companion Animal Parasite Council, Spirometra spp., at https://capcvet.org/guidelines/spirometra-spp/. Retrieved 2026-09-16. Each heading below is the guideline’s own, and the quotation under it is how that section begins. The full section, and the species tabs where the guideline gives them, are on the linked page.
Species
Spirometra mansonoides Spirometra proliferum Spirometra erinaceieuropaei Other Spirometra spp.
Disease
Unlike cyclophyllidean cestodes, adults of which are widely regarded as almost nonpathogenic to the dog or cat definitive host, infection with adult Spirometra spp. can be associated with gastrointestinal disease in dogs and cats. Clinical signs reported include diarrhea, weight loss, and vomiting which usually resolve following appropriate anthelmintic therapy.
Prevalence
Spirometra spp. is more common in dogs and cats in the southeastern and Gulf Coast states but infections also have been reported in Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. In one survey, free roaming cats in New York and New Jersey had a Spirometra spp. infection prevalence of 3% and 1%, respectively.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of infection with adult Spirometra spp. in the small intestine is made by recognizing the characteristic operculate eggs on fecal flotation or sedimentation. Chains of segments may also be identified in vomit or feces of an infected dog or cat.
Treatment
No products have been approved for treatment of Spirometra spp. infections in dogs and cats. Praziquantel has been used successfully; however, a higher-than-labeled dose (25 mg/kg orally) and extended duration of treatment (2 consecutive days) is usually required to eliminate the infection.
Control and Prevention
Preventing predation and scavenging activity by keeping cats indoors and dogs confined to a leash or in a fenced yard will limit the opportunity for dogs and cats to acquire infection with Spirometra spp. Dogs and cats should not be fed raw or undercooked vertebrate tissue.
Public Health Considerations
Dogs and cats infected with Spirometra spp. do not create an immediate zoonotic risk because the stage (coracidium) that hatches from the eggs shed in pet feces are infectious only to the copepod first intermediate host. People who inadvertently ingest Spirometra spp.-infected copepods in water or plerocercoid larvae (spargana) in the tissue of an infected second intermediate or paratenic host can develop a larval infection in their tissues.
Continue reading public health considerations on capcvet.org
Sources
- capc-spirometra-sppCAPC · retrieved 2026-09-16
“Unlike cyclophyllidean cestodes, adults of which are widely regarded as almost nonpathogenic to the dog or cat definitive host, infection with adult Spirometra spp. can” (Disease)
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