Yes, take a stool sample, fresh if possible. If not, refrigerate the most recent sample.
Cami's visit was a great experience for us. I felt like our vet was very thorough. He wanted to know all the specifics about her enclosure: size, glass/screen, ventilation, branches/vines/plants, substrate if any; specifics about what we fed her: how much & how often; our misting schedule; how she was drinking; our supplements and frequency provided, etc. He was very informative (he reinforced most everything I had learned on these fantastic forums). He listened to her heart & lungs, weighed her, tested her stool = 4 parasites, taught us how to administer her daily medication to get rid of her parasites. He gave her 3 different medications to be given over 2 weeks. I took her stool in to be tested after the 2 weeks & she had 1 parasite left (coccidia - he said difficult to treat sometimes). He continued her on 1 of the meds for another 2 weeks. Rechecked her stool after that course & she was parasite free! WOO HOO! He recommends stool checks every 6 months. He said sometimes feeders can introduce them (& we'd have no way of knowing whether feeders are carriers).
The med administration part was heartbreaking! I am a critical care pediatric nurse & can hold kids down all day long to get meds in them, but when it came to Cami, it was not so easy. She would get so ticked & would work so hard to try to get out of her hold & whip her tail around. My son & I found a 2 person system that worked really well to give her meds. He would hold her, his 2 hands encircled her body & front legs, so only her head was poking out the hole made by his thumbs/fingers, her back legs extended. If she ever got any leverage with her legs, we would lose the struggle. She is a strong little girl & the 1st time I tried to do it myself (hold her & administer meds), I walked away with battle wounds, a bunch of scratches from her trying to get out of my not so great hold.
Good luck to you & your little one! Hope all goes well! Let us know about your vet visit.
