Diatomaceous Earth

[Welly]

Hi,

Been chatting to some friends who are supporters of using Diatomaceous Earth (DE) for just about everything. Chickens, dogs, cats and themselves, all in the appropriate amounts, and there seems to be some evidence that it is also effective against worms in horses.

My question is has anyone used DE to noticeable effect in their horses, either as a wormer or just as a general palliative. To be honest I'm a bit sceptical as some people describe it as a wonder powder and as the saying goes ' if it sounds to good to be true ......'

So has anyone tried it?

Ta

 

[Pauli]

I did some research on DE and how effective it is against worms. DE does not kill worms like a normal wormer does. It is supposed to change the gut environment so that worms do not want to stay there. But there is no research there yet proving it and more important there is no research saying what the dosage would need to be like.
If DE was to be used it would need to be fed daily otherwise there would be no effect at all. But again, research tried to establish a daily dosage and there has not one been found yet to cause an effect.
Also there has not been any research yet showing the long term effect in the horse. DE changes the gut environment but how that effects the horse in the long run is very unknown....
I personally would not feed anything which has been thoroughly researched.
And if you were to use DE anyway, dont forget that it does not kill worms. That means you would need to use a chemical wormer to worm the horse and then feed DE afterwards to change the gut environment so that worms stay away. But at the moment DE does not replace any chemical wormers!!!