Estudio preliminar sobre los distintos estadios de Toxocara cati en gatos

toxocara cati larvae are able to migrate through the tissues of the cat, remaining infective. the objective of this study was to determine the presence of different stages oft. cati in naturally infected cats. twelve cats found dead in the street were necropsied and samples of faeces were collected for coproparasitological analysis. samples of muscle, the lungs, kidneys, liver, mammary gland and brain were removed. they were processed by the rapid artificial digestion technique to detect t. cati larvae. coproparasitological analysis was positive for t. cati by 25%, to toxascaris leonina at 16, 66% and 8.33% to both species. the 50% of animals presented adult parasites oft. cati, of which 20% were positive to t. leonina. statistically significant differences were found between the presence of adult parasites and cat's age. no statistically significant differences were observed in regard to sex. no larvae oft. cati were recovered from tissues. the differences in the results obtained between the coproparasitological technique and the necropsy could be due to the presence of immature stages of the parasites or to intermittent elimination of eggs in faeces. the absence of larvae in tissues raises several questions related to the migratory behaviour of t. cati larvae. increasing the number of felines studied will contribute to ensure the validity of the results and will provide a better understanding about the behavior oft. cati larvae during the migratory phase in the cat.