Wormers.....?

Rodania · Wormers.....?

Just had a worm count done and apparently the results are 500 of one type and almost 500 of another type... couldn't make out the 'types' it was an answering machine message and I haven't called them back yet... the recomendation is that he is wormed...

I've not dealt with this before... in a worm count is 500 high or low? The vet seemed to be implying it wasn't a major problem and worming was recomended but not 'urgent'....

So... I have a leaning towards all things as natural as possible, and I have read somewhere about chemical wormers being detrimental to consistantly good feet... but I can't remember where I read it and I can;t remember what the natural wormer was...

I could/might look at finding a Homoeoapthic remedy for him, I have never had to chemically worm my Saint Bernard... and this is an option I'm looking into,... but if someone could advise me on the 'natural wormer' I've read somewhere I'd be really grateful.... Smile

Thanks,
Fee x

Terry

Fee,
500 isn't too high, but 1000 is getting high. I totally agree that natural products are better, however, they do need to be effective, if your horse has a count of 1000 then my view would be a chemical wormer is required to erradicate that infestation to aviod the risk of colic, you would then look at alternatives as a management system.
You also need to remember that young horses are always more suseptable to worms than more mature worms, each of the natural products have different effects on different horses as well.

Terry

Nic

becnreps

My friends horse had a worm count of 600 and this was said to be high.
Wouldnt it be worth the "risk" of him being footy for a few days so that you could worm him with a chemical wormer to eradicate these worms completely?
Then when his worm count is low or nothing either do a natural womer or leave him.
I am on the intelligent worming programme (www.intelligentworming.co.uk) and its great - my horse has had about 3 worm counts and all of them are clear so far so our programme for this year only contains 2 chemical wormers - which is a lot better than the yard programme that I was on that involved chemical wormers every 13 or so weeks!
What the aim is of the intelligent worming is to go down to just one chemical wormer per year and then do worm counts year round to make sure he hasnt picked any up.

hobnob

Hi guys,

I am an SQP so may be able to help. I would go down the chemical route with a 1000epg result. The important thing is to determin what parasites he has. Also be aware that this test will not normally show tapeworms and wont include redworms that are at the encycted stage and hiding away in the gut wall.

As I said all wormers are different so you need to see what hes got to be able to know which one to use. Once you have blasted them and checked with another FEC you can use a herbal wormer most of the time - this is what I use and have alwats had clear counts.

Hope this helps and let me know what the lab say .

brucea

And I'll pitch in to add a bit of misery from the North

I reported elsewhere on the forum a discussion I had with a lab super who does the worm counts and her comment was that they are highly inconsistent and you can't treat them as a single point in time truth because the eggs are not uniformy produced through the faeces, and not evenly throughout the day, and it's basically luck whether you get any showing up in that lump you picked. She said to pick tiny lumps from all over the poo and squish them up together! We had 300 at that time and she said that might be a minimum or a maximum - no way of geting a clear picture unless we did samples regularly and looked at as many as 10! It's science...of a sort.

We've been through all the pros and cons of chemicals and naturals - and now (shock Embarassed

) I just use the chemicals when I get a high worm count - but make sure thay have plenty of nutritional support either side. Use Gastriguard too as a precaution. We used to have colic with wormers, every time, but now I have the diet fixed it has not recurred - so the underlying sensitivity was obviously an issue. I was concerned about the effect on the two lami's feet, but they didn't throw a huge laminitis attack and were actually OK.

So my own personal completely unscientific experience is that if a horse is really struggling with metabolic or dietary sensitivity issues then the worming can be one challenge too many - the "straw that breaks..." - it was with Link until I got his diet sorted.

I'm deeply sceptical about the herbal worming offering, having had high worm counts after using it, and have seen some native horses on one farm where the course was followed for 10 days and the owner blamed the herbal wormer for a fairly nasty reaction where horses got very depressed and lost big patches of hair and had skin issues.

It's not a simple subject, and every horse will react differently.

Sez

This is a good subject. I have just wormed them both with Pramox but I am also in a quandry.

We have poor pasture management at our livery yard and I have been guilty of following a 'sporadic' chemical worming regime Embarassed

.

But I am determined to rectify this and have made a list of next year's wormers to buy in bulk so I am fully organised.

I have used Verm X this year also. But I have never got around to doing any worm counts.
Neither of my horses have any type of reaction to chemical wormers.

I am not sure what to do. Worm count and chemical wormer if needed? Or just chemically worm as per plan?

Sez

And what is a SQP?

becnreps

cptrayes

One for Bruce! Buy generic Eqvalan Duo, called Razor, from Australia - £5 a shot including the carriage, in double size syringes so you can do a horse over 600 kilos with one syringe. Contains ivermectin and praziquantel.

http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/p...=16956&cat=108&bestseller

Very Happy

hobnob

To answer the question, and SQP means that I can legally prescribe horse and companion animal wormers. At lot of money was spent on a 3 day course and 6 hour exam to allow me to do what I have been doing for years !!! Red tape 'an all that stuff !! Very Happy