Ecology

Canis

Environmental health

Toxocariasis

Toxocara canis

Biology

Zoology

Helminths

Toxocara cati

Medicine

Trends in Parasitology

Zoonotic toxocariasis is increasingly prominent as knowledge of its insidious impact on human health accumulates. Toxocara canis dominates research attention, with Toxocara cati relegated to the periphery. We argue that there are few grounds to support this bias, and that differences in life history and epidemiology between T. canis and T. cati could have implications for disease impacts and control. Research on T. cati should be cognisant of its unique characteristics and not extrapolate uncritically from knowledge about T.

Toxocara: time to let cati ‘out of the bag’