What is and how do you get coccidiosis? Well, you say to your vet, "Hey, they can't have coccidiosis, they are kept TOO clean!!! Well, we have all been in that boat before, and believe me nothing is more upsetting when you pride yourself in keeping the pups clean and they get this diagnosis. It is because of the nature of the "bug" in question. Coccidiosis is a one-celled parasite that invades certain cells of the body, mostly found in farm animals, but also found in dogs in the small intestine.
Actually, coccidiosis is called a protozoan and has two family names or Eimeria and Isospora. This one-celled organism will invade the lining of the small intestine, grow, and rupture, and repeat this process until it creates an infectious-type process, causing vomiting, loose stools and loss of weight. This is usually a 5 to 9-day process.
So, you take a sample in to your vet, and he can't find anything. This can be hard to diagnose, so you can either bring in another sample in 3 to 4 days, or just treat empirically. So many times, it is hard to find these one-celled organisms under the microscope, even after they have caused the above symptoms.
So, don't fret if your vet says your litter has coccidiosis, just treat it, and keep them as clean as possible. The good thing about it is that in dogs, it usually affects the young more often than older dogs, and normally not fatal.