De-worming

[Michelle@wescofarms]

Reading Kathleen's post about losing her foal made me think. I would hate to lose a foal to worms, it's bad enough losing them when something goes wrong, I'd hate it be when I assume I'm doing everything right.

I have a friend that is a geeky scientist that use to do fecal checks on her horses, she found out she only needed to de-worm 1 to 2x a year because they were on pasture and there was a low load of worms with only two horses on 20 acres.

Whereas, we have 60+ minis, and they're out on pasture (60 acres +/-), but eat in relatively the same place when they're fed, so I assume everyone has worms and de-worm regularly. I was told by vets and other breeders early on that so many people underestimate their horses weight (especially minis), so we don't always de-worm at the proper weight.

We de-worm all foals monthly for the first year beginning at 1 to 2 months with Panacur/Safe Guard (Fenbendazole) switching to Ivermectin at six months. Foals are de-wormed at 50 lbs progressing to 100 as they get older and at 150lbs by the time they're generally a full year old. I use a 3cc syringe and draw it into that for the smaller doses as it's easier to get in the foals mouths and control too.

We de-worm larger or mature horses at 350-500lbs depending on size and rotate every 8-10 weeks ivermectin, fenbendanzole, strongid and anthelcide with the majority being ivermectin. I have been adding the Ivermectin Gold (for tape worms) once a year.

Horses that I suspect are wormy or new ones, I de-worm differently, plus we keep an eye on them to make sure there isn't a colic from dumping a heavy worm load.

These were the classes of de-wormer that I was taught to use and de-worm by family, so not within just the Benzimidazole family. (Also we prefer the liquid when possible - less mess/waste as they can't spit it out!)

Ivermectin

Pyrante Pamoate

- Rotectin 2

- - Strongid

BENZIMIDAZOLES

Fenbendazole

- Panacur

- Safe Guard

Oxibendanzole

- Anthelcide EQ

Oxifendazole

- Benzelmin

How is everyone else de-worming?

 

[Minimor]

We deworm foals when they are 6-8 weeks old--they get dosed for 50 lbs the first time. After that they are dosed monthly for 100 lbs. until they are about 4 months old, then we up the dosage to 200 lbs. From then on they get done every 8 weeks until they are a year old. We use ivermectin--up until now I've always bought the paste. Last summer a vet told us we should be using Strongid-P on the foals, as ivermectin doesn't get roundworms. So, we dosed all the babies with Strongid-P & as far as I could see we did not get worms. I dewormed again about 3 weeks later with ivermectin, and that time got a good kill of ascarids. So, for us the ivermectin is still effective on the the babies, & that is what we will continue to use. Our mature horses get dosed for 300, 350 or 400 lbs., depending on size.

New Years weekend we dewormed everyone, and for the first time I bought the Ivomec liquid. Initially I wasn't real impressed with filling syringes & giving it to them--the Morgans are more accepting of the paste than the liquid--but once I got going with it I decided it wasn't so bad. I don't know if we had an extra heavy worm infestation this time, or if the liquid is more effective than the paste, but I was surprised at how many worms we got this time around. I'll generally see a few if I look close; this time the manure was loaded with small strongyles & a few large strongyles.

The liquid was much cheaper than the paste, and since it was so effective this time around we will continue to use it--I'll be interested to see what kind of a kill we get next time around.

 

[Jill]

I deworm every other month (middle of odd number months) with Ivermectin, but do younger horses monthly vs. every other month.

I buy the Ivermectin from Jeffers and it's like $3.70 / tube for the new Bimectin apple flavored stuff, which is what I have like 30 tubes of now... Only problem is, the horses are used to the regular Ivermectin and do not yet realize this stuff is supposed to taste good.

Bimectin, apple flavored ivermectin

Also, 2x a year, I now do the Ivermectin Gold.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Foals are wormed at ten days with Fenbendazole. Again at two months with Ivermectin and then the Fenbendazole five day at weaning. After that they go on the same worming regime as the rest of the herd, as my foals are always over wintered on "clean" pasture.

April and November I do Fenbendazole five day. This is the ONLY worming regime that kills encysted small strongyles which are the worms that cause colic in Adult horses.

In November, if I deTapeworm, this is when I do it.

IN between I worm using Ivermectin, which gets all other worms except encysteds and Tapes.

I have found little evidence to show there is any benefit from rotating wormers, especially if Fenbendazole is used routinely as an "ordinary" wormer as it is not very efficacious in it's normal dosage against anything except the nasty big white things you get in foals (hence the foals being wormed first with Fenbendazole)

Everyone has their own worming routine and a lot seem happy with it, but I would urge you all, if you make one change to your routine this year, let it be to have a faecal count done. You do not have to have every horse done, a fresh, mixed sample from each field is all that is necessary as, if there is a problem in one field, all the horses in that field will need to be treated.

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

Hi Jane!

You mention Fenbendazole and I've been up looking at the different option for this. I've always bought Safe-Guard or Panacur as a paste before and wasn't aware these other products were out there.

Have you ever used/tried them? I was surprised at the actual amount of Fenbendazole as there is broad range. I looked these up on Jeffersequine.com

(Panacur is prescribed/Safe-Guard is OTC)

Safe-Guard® Paste 10% Fenbendazole dosage is 5 gm for 220 lbs (2.3 mg per lbs)

Safe Guard® Equine Dewormer Granules 22.2% Fenbenazole (daily)

Safe-Guard® Equi-Bits™0.5% Fenbendazole on feed 6-8 wks

Safe-Guard® Cattle Drench Fenbendazole 10% solution

 

[shane]

:saludando: hi jane also, what would you do if like myself you were to buy a filly of 2yrs,and arnet sure whether or not she has been wormed properly,i have wormed her twice using ivermectin,but should i use fenbendazole five day,first of all to make sure shes getting a good start,thanks in advance

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Fenbendazole is the name of the chemical used in the product- Safeguard etc are Fenbendazole 10% (for horses and Cattle and sheep)

Liquid or paste it makes no difference, it is the same product, basically.

I use the liquid Fenbendazole since it is so much cheaper.

I am currently looking to do the same with Ivermectin, which is again the name of the chemical use din the product, with Ivermectin it is normally at 1.87% for horses and I would not use a product with less. (some of the dual Tape + normal dewormers have less than 1.87% Ivermectin)

Shane - I would do the Panacur(Fenbendazole) five day, on your filly, if you PM me with her weight I will work out how much she should have a day.

 

[Becky]

Michelle,

I deworm very similiar to you. I generally use Panacur/Safeguard on my foals starting at one month of age. I don't feel Ivermectin is very effective at eliminating round worms in foals, however, tapeworms can be a problem in foals, so I do deworm at approx 4 months of age with an ivermectin/praziquantel dewormer. I do rotate product groups as you do. I much prefer liquid Safeguard/Panacur as to paste as I feel I can dose the liquid more accurately and less chance of the horses spitting it out.

I only found out the severity of tapeworms a year and a half ago after a friend lost a stallion to them and had a filly undergo colic surgery for the same problem. So now deworming with a product that contains praziquantel is a must!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Yes, I agree Praziquantel for Tapes in November, just after the Fenbendazole five day.

I have not detaped foals though- obviously you have found the Praziquantel OK for foals??

 

[Bealsbarnyard]

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since I lost my filly; I have always used paste de-wormers. I know there is a certain amount of medication in a tube and the rest is just basically a filler to make it easier to give. A foal is given such a small amount and the tube is usually dosed to give a full size horse what is the possibility that the medication is not evenly distributed in the tube and you are not actually giving the proper amount of medication? Maybe more filler than medicine at times, is this possible? I’m just trying to make sense of what happened. I will be switching to liquid in the future, it sounds like it will be more accurate.

 

[Becky]

I have not detaped foals though- obviously you have found the Praziquantel OK for foals??

Yes, since the colic case filly was only 6 months old and it was an intusseption (sp?) colic directly related to tapeworms, I started worming my foals for tapes. At about 4 months. No problems with any of them from the wormer.

 

[Hosscrazy]

I deworm every 8 weeks and also rotate my products. I premeasure the paste for 250 lbs. and put it into a smaller separate syringe, which I then give to each horse. It's an extra step, but that way I know I can't overdose.

Liz R.