This page quotes a published document. Everything below in quotation marks is copied word for word from https://capcvet.org/guidelines/diphyllobothrium-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 Diphyllobothrium spp., section by section: the opening sentences of 6 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, Diphyllobothrium spp., at https://capcvet.org/guidelines/tapeworm-diphyllobothrium-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.
Disease
Unlike cyclophyllidean tapeworms, adults of which are widely regarded as almost nonpathogenic to the dog or cat definitive host, infection with Diphyllobothrium spp. has been 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
Infection of dogs and cats with Diphyllobothrium spp. is not as common as infection with cyclophyllidean cestodes, and studies reporting prevalence estimates have not been published. Nevertheless, these tapeworms may be frequently seen and thus regionally important in some areas of the United States.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of infection with Diphyllobothrium spp. is made by recognizing the characteristic operculum, light brown, undifferentiated eggs (58-76µm by 40-51µm) on sedimentation. Eggs may be detected by flotation but sedimentation is a more reliable technique.
Treatment
No products have been approved for treatment of Diphyllobothrium spp. infections in dogs and cats. Praziquantel has been used successfully to treat pseudophyllidean tapeworms in dogs and cats; however, a higher-than-labeled dose (25 mg/kg orally) and extended duration of treatment (2 consecutive days) may be 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 these cestodes. Dogs and cats should not be fed raw or undercooked fish or other vertebrate tissue.
Public Health Considerations
Diphyllobothrium spp. infection is the cause of diphyllobothriasis in humans, the most important fish-borne zoonoses caused by a cestode parasite, with an estimated 20 million people infected worldwide. Dogs and cats infected with Diphyllobothrium spp. do not create an immediate zoonotic risk because the stage (coracidium) that hatches from the eggs shed in pet feces is infectious only to the copepod first intermediate host.
Continue reading public health considerations on capcvet.org
Sources
- capc-tapeworm-diphyllobothrium-sppCAPC · retrieved 2026-09-16
“Unlike cyclophyllidean tapeworms, adults of which are widely regarded as almost nonpathogenic to the dog or cat definitive host, infection with Diphyllobothrium spp. has been” (Disease)
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