Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Nematodes of Dogs and Associated Hematological Changes in Gombe State, Nigeria

Gastrointestinal (GI) nematodes are a common parasitic problem in dogs, causing significant health issues. These parasites live in the digestive tract and can lead to a variety of symptoms, depending on the type and severity of infection. A cross sectional study was conducted from August 2023 to December 2023 to determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes of dogs and their effect on haematological parameters in Gombe State, Nigeria. A total of 200 faecal samples from dogs were collected using systematic random sampling technique from six (two from each Senatorial zone) randomly selected Local Government Areas (LGAs) out of the eleven LGAs in the State. Formalin-ether centrifugation-floatation technique was used to detect nematode parasites using microscopy. Haematological evaluations were performed according to standard procedures. The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes of dogs in the study area was 36.5%. The parasites identified were Ancylostoma caninum, Toxocara canis and Trichuris vulpis with 58.9%, 28.7% and 12.3% prevalences respectively. The haematological parameters revealed reduction of the Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) of both the infected and non-infected dogs below the reference values while only the infected group has Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration (MCHC) below the reference values. There were eosinophilia, monocytosis and leukocytosis in the infected group whereas neutrophilia occurred in both the infected and non-infected groups. All other haematological values are within the reference ranges. This study establishes the prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes of dogs and associated risk factors in Gombe State, Nigeria.