Do you need to use more than one type of wormer?

[Murphs]

Ebony is about to be wormed and we are using strongid-P which should be administered every 6 to 8 weeks. I see in one of the horse mags that there's a wormer called pancur equine which only needs to be administered twice a year. Being new to having to worm a horse myself, just wondered what others do/use.

[Sarah]

There are so many ways to worm a horse!

There are 4 main types of chemical used in wormers and i can never remember the names of them so I will use brand names (though there are other brands which have the same chemical).

Every year you need to do the following brands in these months

MArch/April - 5 day Panacur Equine guard for small redworm
June - double dose Strongid P for tapeworm
September - double dose Strongid P for tapeworm
october/november - 5 day panacur equine guard
Decemeber - Equvalan for bots

also, during the summer (may to september) you need to worm with one type of wormer every 6-10 weeks (depending on the wormer. You rotate which wormer you use every year to stop the worms getting immune to it - eg Year 1 - equvalan, year 2 - equest, year 3 - strongid P (single dose), year 4 - panacur, then back to year one wormer.

That is the traditional wormign method which works well - but only if all horses in the same field are on the same scheme and wormed at the same time.

The modern way to do it is to stick to the essential wormers - the ones recommended for various months then during the summer only worm with your selected wormer when the wrom count in the horse's droppings shows there is a problem. htis measn you do not worm unnecessarily and waste money and let the worms get resitant to the wormer. Obviously this method will only work if you have some say in the worming schedules and the other horse owners agree with it.

Always worm a new horse before it is turned out with your, even if the owners insist it has just been wormed or has just had a worm count done.

bye!

[Wally]

I'd just like to add that worm egg counts cannot be totally relied upon as they don't take into consideration any immature worms that may be infesting the horse but not yet of egg laying age. It's much safer to give them a good dose of an Ivermectin based wormer to be on the safe side.

[Shelly_D]

What about that zmectrin stuff? That is what I have used the past 2 times. Doesn't it kill everything? I heard it was the best on the market.

[Tammy]

Hi Shelley

I use zemectrin every 8 weeks but substitute riotectrin in January or February just on the theory that a little variety is a good thing.

[sallym]

Murphs

Professional opinion seems to change all the time if you believe everything you read in the horsey press! Could you ask your vet?

Best regards

[sallym]

Meant to add that your advice is pretty much what I do! Thank you.

Apologies and best regards

Sally

[Murphs]

Ionly have 2 horses and they are kept on my ownland so i can control when and how they are wormed.At least now i know what to do- there is a lot of information around which generally just confuses me! Thanks again

[Mossy]

I have been worming as per schedule and ringing the changes. However I got the vet out to Moss as he just was not "doing", nothing specific just not right. Blood results show he is carying a worm load. I can only assume the local worms have developed a resistance to the active ingedient of Fur...? which is what I last used. Whether the wet warm winter has has anything to do with an increased worm problem I do not know but since they like wet warm conditions I suspect so.

[Sue Carnell]

Can I just say that a correct and effective worming schedule is absolutely essential! In some areas the worms are becoming resistant to one type of wormer (panacur is one brand of these fenbendizamole wormers) Other wormers don't kill all types of parasite. ie: Strongid P (pyrantel) is used in double dose for tapeworms, but doesn't kill bots. Eqvalan (ivormectin) and Equest (moxidectin) both kill bots, but not tapeworms. This is off the top of my head, so I may have mispelled some of the generic names.

If you aren't sure what to do, ask your vet. Everyone should choose a main wormer for the year and then use the others as recommended (usually twice a year, double the dose of Strongid for tapeworm, once Eqvalan for bots) Swapping them about willy-nilly contributes towards resistances. Different countries and areas have different problems. All horses on the same yard should be on exactly the same programme. In the Uk for example, we don't have daily wormers (Strongid-C), but it is available in the US. Even with this, Eqvalan, Equest (Quest in the US) may be needed to control bots, which aren't worms, but fly larvae.

My friend loaned her 5 year old mare to a reputable yard for breeding. The mare is my horse's mum. Unfortunately, the yard didn't worm properly and two weeks after her foal was born, Dance died from a massive worm burden. The worms had burrowed through her organs, causing damage to her intenstines and repeat colics, until eventually they damaged her stomach lining so severely, the stomach contents and acid leaked into her abdomen and she was humanely destroyed in severe pain, having lost just about every inch of fat and muscle from her body. It was horrific and my friend was devasted, she'd only loaned the horse to give herself breathing space after she was made redundant from her job. :( Until Spring the mare had shown no signs of a problem, but the worms hibernate and then emerge in massive numbers when the weather changes. A horse can die from tapeworm and never even lose condition.

Sorry to be so strong, but please don't be complacent, make sure your worming programme and pasture management is effective and keep your horses safe.

Sue Carnell
sue@eclipse.co.uk

[Allie]

you should ideally rotate between different chemicals to prevent worm resistance, but if everyone in the same barn does not worm at the same time with the same checmical, it won't do any good. I don't bother with rotating for that reason. I know there are a lot of horse at the ranch were I board whose owners don't even worm them, let alone rotate chemicals, so I just make sure I keep mine up to date. I do switch back and forth between Quest and Zimectrin because I like the fact that Quest is a 3 month instead of 2 month wormer, but I use the Zimectrin because it kills bots (which we have a lot of in the fall).

Allie