how could people do this to a horse !!!

[Norah]

I am very upset , so what I may say could sound harsh... but i am going to say it anyway. I purchased a very nice show horse... wonderful pedigree , but she was emaciated , sad , thinn and gangely ...I bought her anyway , as she has a sparkel in her eye. She came from the USA , and looked a mess when she got here. Quarrentine "claims" they didnt have enough time to "fatten her up " before shipping her here. From April till Dec, she stayed at a stable until she could be sold.... I kept an eye on her , and finally purchased her to see if i could help her , she had gained a little weight but not much . The vet was here last week to do a full blood pannel , I have the results on a very nice "Michigans " horse ...THE WORM COUNT IS SO HIGH IN HER STOMACH AND INTESTINE THAT HER WHITE BLOOD COUNT IS EXTREAMLY ELEVATED" WHY IN GODS NAME WOULD PEOPLE BUY A NICE SHOW HORSE AND never BOTHER TO WORM IT ?????

the vet must come out and worm her with a special paste and take a count in 14 days ...I am worried that she will colic from this ...any advice would ease my mind ...this is how a horse will look if you dont worm it ...please please spent the 10 bucks to worm your horse

 

[MindyLee]

So sorry that you are going through this. I hope she pulls through and turns into a beautiful and healthy swan for you!

I to cant understand why some folks do this! And on top of it, claim they are breedres of quality and love their horses and then you buy something like this! I too had purchased a mare in poor condition. The paperwork was all over the map and had been in 3 diff owners hands but still in the breeders name. She too was heavely worm infested, lost most of her hair, teeth really bad, hoofs a mess, horibable foaling record of all dead foals, and the owner would'nt budge from her price of $1500 and claimed she loved her. Well everyone said i was ripped off but I bought her anyway. I almost lost her to the worms and poor health but eventally got her back on track. Here it is 8 yrs later and I wouldnt have changed a thing. She has had 2 colts for me and is currently prego with her 3rd foal and she is one of the most breath taking horses I own. Im so glad I got ripped of that day cause shes #1 here at my farm!

 

[Farina]

I am truely sorry to hear this. I hope your mare will do fine and become the great mare she is inside.

I am including you both in my prayers that she will be healthy eventually.

 

[Norah]

On the bright side at least we know how to fix her problem , and we know nothing else is wrong with her . This is why I am against people that own more then 30 horses (stallions) and say that they have little to no funds ; ) these are the people that skimp on the wormers , and dentist .

Farina , I hope you are not counting my mare as your AMHA horse , as she is over 34 inches by the way : ( please dont breed her as such

 

[mydaddysjag]

I too have gotten very wormy horses in the past. My vets protocol on a heavy worm load is to deworm with safeguard (also goes by the brand name panacur, it is the same thing) with a half dose, for example if the horse is 300lbs, it is given enough wormer for 150lbs. We then wait 10 days, and give a full dose of safeguard again. After that we wait 30 days and use strongid, at a full dose for the horses weight, and wait another 30 days until we give a full dose of ivermectin. I know some people get more aggressive than this with their deworming, and jump right into the 5 day power pack purge deworming, but if you have a horse that has worms that bad, you DONT want rapid loss of worms.

 

[Norah]

Thank you my daddysjag.... I will definatly bring this up witzh the vet . Its a very safe and reasonable idea. Here wormers are 60.00 per tube ...hence my comment about people with over 30 horses living in Europe and making little pocket change , this is 1,800 .00 every 2 to 3 months on wormers ... hooves ? good lord , no wonder some of us end up picking up the pieces for others : (. I know how much things cost with just 4 horses , and I make a very nice salery that I fork over in hay , grain , feed , ferriers , dentists , bloodwork, shots ,shavings unlike my bank account the list is never ending . no doubt this little problem will set me back a grand or so .... I do appreciate the advice , and will talk over the risks of doing a major "roto rooter " with my vet... he knows Id rather spend 2 times more and be safe ... Thanks again for the smart advise

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

I agree that it is terrible how many people dont take care of their horses properly! I got two horses once and both were covered in lice, wormy, and THIN! I was given excuses as to why they were thin but all it took was fixing the horses diets to get weight back on them and now have the one on a diet because he was starting to get too fat! One was a bred mare that didnt look bred and started losing her hair shortly after arriving. After lots of love and care though both horses are back in condition and are a couple of my favorite horses! Good luck with your horse and she should start looking much better now that she has a better home!

 

[Bess Kelly]

$60 a tube ???

HOLY COW! Jeffers has Equimax $9.95 a tube, buy 6 & get 1 free! Straight ivermectrin for $2.29 a tube if you buy 12 & get one free, also.

I just bought $110 of wormers.... 37 minis.

Just no reason for a USA horse to not be treated, well, no COST reason.

Best of luck with your girl. The worms can be killed but, you will need to be concerned with damage to her intestines and the future uptake of nutrients due to that. She'll probably do well with some extra supplements for the next yr or so...maybe forever.

With your care, she'll be glowing by summer! Thanks for helping her.

The $60 still haunts ME...for one tube, geesh.

 

[Carolyn R]

Makes me sick. I too have been on the recieving end of this sad situation. Going back 6-7 years ago I purchased a beautiful Haflinger. I asked the attending vet to do a fecal exam. I was told everything was good with her. Well in 6 months I spent $2000+ on my local vet and another $5000+ with the animal hospital. The first time she coliced and impacted, all the vets were stumped and chalked it up to not being hydrated enough and seasonal changes setting it all in motion. The next time she coliced and impacted they suspected worms. After an almost full 7 days I told the animal hospital I had to make the hard choice of putting her down or placing her in knowledgable hands. I was very clear that I would only give her to a knowledgable home, I would pay the bills until the next morning after which she would be euthanized or signed over to someone and they would have to accept resonsability of her at that point. The vets sister took her, the mare passed the impaction at an unheard of 11 days. It was worms and on behalf of the vets office the new owner did some digging. She found out the previous owner NEVER wormed her and the attending vet at the time of the initial exam never did a fecal check (not my vet, but a vet the seller had come out). This girl was not your typical wormy case, lank, but a lovely coat, heathy eyes, no nasal discharge, not coughing or wheezing....

What I have learned...

Worms can take a full month to start shedding out of the intestinal walls after the horse has been wormed. The shedding/decomposing worms can cause the horse to be mildly colicy and progressing to a full impaction because they do not want to eat or drink, resistant worms will lay somewhat dormant and bloom when the horse is getting good nutition hence the worms get healthier, it is not uncommon for a horse to run a low grade fever when this happens which really confuses some vets making them think it is a viral issue and not worms, wet mashes and oil are your friends, incorperating some oil in her diet will not only keep her lubed up, it will add calories to her meals, typical over the counter wormer is not enough, it is best to manage the situation with a vet's help, hope for the best but prepare for the worst, it can get very costly very quick. I wish you the best of luck and hope and pray she makes a full recovery, sadly some organs do not recover 100% after parasite damage.

 

[rimmerpaints]

Thats horrible. Not to get you down but I got a mare several yrs ago that was the same way and she ended up getting down and died two weeks later. It was so sad and scary. I spent almost 800 dollars to try to save her and no hope. Dont let me get you down hopefully these two werent as bad as this mare I bought which i may add was a beautiful well trained barrel horse and never understood why someone didn t take better care of her. I dont get people at all.

 

[Eagle]

Here wormers are 60.00 per tube .

Here in Italy they are REALLY expensive too but I buy mine on line in the u.k and they ship them to Italy for a couple of Euro. Here is the link:

http://www.vetpharmacy.co.uk/equine-wormers-pc-29.html