Deworming a Horse That Hasn't Been Dewormed

JoyoftheHorse · Deworming a Horse That Hasn't Been Dewormed

We just bought a 15 year old arabian gelding 1.5 weeks ago. He is about 200 lbs underweight, needs his teeth floated badly, and the owner has no idea if he ever had any vaccinations. She did say that "the barn" dewormed him on a 6 week basis, but couldn't tell us what type of dewormer. We don't think she is telling the truth, so he might never have been dewormed since she had him.

We are feeding him free-choice grass hay, oats, and Equipride. We will be getting his teeth floated ASAP.

However, we are unsure of how to go about deworming. I was wondering what type of a deworming schedule would be recommended - what type of wormer, etc. I have read so many different things on the internet about how to gradually kill off the worms, that I can't decide what to listen to.

I hate using chemical dewormers, and I only vaccinate every other year for things that can be fatal. For deworming, I have taken the middle of the road approach, and alternate between chemical & natural deworming.

I would love advice from anyone here who is experienced in nutrition/worming.

Thanks,
Brittany

PasoBaby_CarolU

Whatever you do, do NOT use a broad spectrum wormer, like Ivermectin Gold or Quest at first. They kill off everything and you can get an impaction colic with so many worms at once.

When I rescue a horse like this I do Ivermectin, then two weeks later Ivermectin again. Then a Pancur Power Pack two weeks after that. Finally I do an Invermectin Gold or Quest to get tape worms.

Keep the horse on Probios, or a complete feed with Probios in it, throughout the process.

Leah

I have heard of others starting with Strongid or even Panacur or Safeguard (single dose not power pack)

I also do not use Zimectrin Gold. Polo had a severe reaction (as have many other horses).

cory

Why not take a fecal sample to the vet and find out if he has worms, what kind and then deworm accordingly. I think it's kinder to the horse's system (and to your pocketbook) to deworm specifically as needed rather than routinely put unneeded chemicals in their body. New studies are showing many horses absolutely do not need dewormed every 2 months, and that over use of dewormers may cause resistance to parasites.

whisperingwindfarms

Please take a fecal sample to determine what to use. Also, please consider giving him a good prebiotic or probiotic for 7 days around the dewormer, i.e. 3 days before, the day of and then 3 days afterward. This will help his gut recover more quickly. If he's in the shape you say, a good pre-or pro-biotic will help in more ways than one. Mine get a dose daily no matter what.

I have had to use a chemical dewormer once in the last 3 years - my vet recommended the Panacur Power Pack. I gave one dose and then checked fecals again 2 weeks later. Completely clean. Remember that fecals are just snapshots in time. Studies have been done pulling fecals on horses - once in the morning and then again the same evening with vastly different results.

Good luck!

Erin

PasoBaby_CarolU

Here is an article from The Horse on deworming and fecal egg samples.

http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=13694

It is long, but worth reading. Notably, tapeworm eggs don't show up, and fecal samples don't show eggs that are in encysted, which is why you do a Power Pack for 5 consecutive days is to get kill them totally.

Also note that not all Fecal Egg count tests are created equally. To target specific parasites you have to do more then count, the eggs have to be identified too.

JoyoftheHorse

Thanks for all the great advice!

We feed Equipride, which includes Probiotics, so that's covered. All our horses get it daily.

I had previously thought about a fecal test, and now I think that's what we'll do. I wasn't sure if it was really worth it, since I knew that it didn't show tapeworms and had the possibility to be somewhat unreliable. However, I think that it's worth the try, and then we can see what our vet recommends for wormer once reading the test.

Thanks for the article Carol, I haven't read it yet, but I'll have the time a little later today.

Erin: How often do you do fecal tests? And like Carol said, certain eggs don't show up in fecal tests - so how do you know if you need to deworm for tapeworms?

whisperingwindfarms

cory

From TheHorse.com

Detecting Tapeworms, Reducing Resistance through 'Diagnostic Deworming'
by: Stacey Oke, DVM, MSc
July 12 2009, Article # 14515

Diagnostic deworming of horses with anti-tapeworm drugs could play an important role in reducing resistance to antiparasitic drugs, report veterinarians from Japan and North America.

Tapeworm infections are an important issue in equine health. Infections are difficult to detect because the available tests are unable to reliably detect or quantify parasite burdens.

"While infections are often subclinical, some evidence exists that tapeworms can concentrate at the ileocecal junction and contribute to volvulus (twisting) or rupture of the cecum," explained Hajime Nagahata, DVM, PhD, from the school of veterinary medicine at Rakuno Gakeun University. "Knowing the tapeworm status of horses is important."

Prior research revealed that large numbers of tapeworm eggs were identified in fecal samples obtained from horses after deworming with pyrantel pamoate; therefore, Nagahata and colleagues treated 12 Thoroughbreds (seven mares and five foals) with bithionol (5-10 mg/kg), an anti-tapeworm drug available in Japan, and collected feces on days 0, 1, and 10 of the study.

"Fecal tapeworm eggs were increased in all 12 of the treated horses, including three horses that were negative for tapeworm eggs prior to bithionol administration," relayed Nagahata. "The optimum time for detecting eggs to tapeworms was one day post-treatment."

The study authors recommend that this diagnostic deworming technique should be applied to a fraction of every herd, and, in the face of high infection rates, the entire herd should be dewormed.

According to Andrew Peregrine, BVMS, PhD, DVM (Hons) Glasgow, Dipl. EVPC, MRCVS, from the Department of Pathobiology at the Ontario Veterinary College in Canada, "Since we are trying to reduce the amount of dewormers given to horses to decrease the rate of selection for anthelmintic resistance, testing a cohort of horses (approximately 10 per herd) after worming with pyrantel pamoate, for example, does make sense. I haven't heard of anyone doing this yet, but would not be surprised if I soon do."

The study, "Evaluation of marked rise in fecal egg output after bithionol administration to horses and its application as a diagnostic marker for equine Anoplocephala perfoliata infection," was published in the May 2009 edition of the Journal of Veterinary Medical Science.

HorseHealer · Natural dewormers safe for the horse

I prefer to muscle test the horse for parasitic infection-or you can do a fecal-take some fresh poop in a baggie to local vet and they will tell you if the horse has worms and which kind. You can do small amounts of chemical wormer like 200lbs a day to be safe.
I prefer to feed Diatamaceous earth in the feed weekly-human grade-not the gardening variety-as it helps keep the horse worm free-naturally.
All chemical wormers are a type of poison and will stress the horses liver so please do not use before hauling-vaccinating-competing or any other type of stress to the horses' system. Dynamite nutritional products have something called ''excel'' 1 tsp a day in feed helps keep horse parasite free-then can just use a chemical wormer 1 x a year.

PasoBaby_CarolU · Re: Natural dewormers safe for the horse

HorseHealer · chemical wormers

On a chemical wormer syringe there are settings you dial down for the weight of the horse 200lbs up to 12oolbs of horse-if you prefer to be on safer side you use smaller doses-too many dead worms all at one time can give you an impaction so remember IF YOU HAVE TO use a chemical wormer feed a wet mash after to push dead parasites thru.

PasoBaby_CarolU

Thank you for clarifying. I thought that's what you meant, but wanted to be sure.

Don't you worry by doing this that you are not killing ALL the worms, but instead building up a chemical resistance to the wormer in the worms themselves?

Deworming a Horse That Hasn't Been Dewormed

Natural dewormers safe for the horse

Re: Natural dewormers safe for the horse

chemical wormers