Equest Pramox for a veteran

W

wiglet

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 February 2002
Messages
1,070
Location
England
Visit site
Just seen the worming plan for our yard this year and it involves a dose of Pramox for tapeworm in the spring.

I have an elderly TB who's a poor doer. I wouldn't class her as very underweight but, there's not much condition on her - you can see her ribs a little and she has no topline as she is now retired. She was very poorly a few years ago with an infection but is now in good health.

I've heard lots about Pramox being a really strong wormer. Would you worm her with it? If not, is there a viable alternative that I could suggest to my YO that I could use safely?
 
I used that on my 23yo boy

Read after that it is very strong and can cause them colic

I was obsessed with watching him over a 48 hour period, but as it was he was fine :). However will probably not use again just in case
 
I have an elderly horse who had his first colic surgery 6 years ago and since then, just to be on the safe side, i have wormed him with Equest first, then Equitape a week later, whenever he's been due a Pramox. He had a second surgery 3 months ago and I will continue to do the same with the wormers as it seems to be okay for him. Also he cannot have wormers from one of the other main manufacturers as he had an anaphylactic reaction to the carrier paste (not the chemicals) when it was in his mouth. The company concerned said it was most unusual, but did pay all the vet bills!
 
She has had colic previously - many years ago though and not caused by worming. It is a worry though. Maybe the way to go is Equest and Equitape rather than Pramox - will have to run it by YO.
 
I have used Pramox on everything from yearlings to the oldies, in their late 20s and the oldest was 30, without any side effects what so ever. The only ones I haven't given it to are the in foal mares and the foals, maybe I've just been lucky but none of mine have had a reaction to any wormer used (average of 35/40 on site at a time), and all are Tbs.
 
I had an 18 month old colic after using paramox. She was always fine with anything else and had always been wormed and worm counted. Vet did say it was quite strong.
 
I prefer not to use it with my golden oldie - she has cushings and a dodgy liver and pramox is essentially a double dose wormer. I worm count to see if she actually needs the strongyles bit and if she doesn't need it she doesn't get it. Last time she did need it so I did ivermectin then equitape a week later which the vet and westgate labs both agreed was the best course of action for her. All the others that worm counted positive got pramox, those that just needed tapeworm got equitape.

This winter they will all get panacur guard together (next week probably). In the spring we don't do tapeworm so they will have a worm count and in the summer it will be a worm count again.

I'm lucky at my yard because I do the worming programme and order the wormers to help YO out so I can base it around a worm count programme which I think is most sensible anyway. I did look at a yard a while ago (big DIY yard) which told me that everyone had to worm with equest and pramox when they were told to and the yard provided the wormers at cost and you would be checked. If I had seriously wanted to move there I would have got a letter from my vet or something as I would really not be happy about double dosing my horse on wormer and if they wouldn't accept it I wouldn't have gone there.
 
wiglet said:
I've heard lots about Pramox being a really strong wormer. Would you worm her with it? If not, is there a viable alternative that I could suggest to my YO that I could use safely?
Click to expand...

You could use Equest the week before the rest use the Pramox and Equitape the week after. That way your horse will have been wormed with the same chemicals as Pramox, but not in 1 hit - Can't see any YO objecting to that.
 
We used this on the last yard worm in dec it really knocked darcy for six. She's only 7 and very fit don't think we will be using it again. I'd use something else.
 
I think you are wise. Equest + Equitape have exactly the same active ingredient as Pramox, so altho it is slightly more cost I cant see any responsible YO objecting. Might need to work with them on timing tho.

I would not give Pramox (nothing wrong with it as a product probably but it is a biiiiiig clean out in one go which can be too much) to a veteran or any horse with health compromises (poor condition, suspected high burden of worms, colic issues etc). Much safer in that circumstance to worm for the worms separately.

Also dont worm within a few days of vaccs - my horse became very ill and recurring episodes for 3-4 years.

.....and worm on a working day near the beginning of the week! (learned this one from experience) - that way if things go whatsit up with the horse you wont be paying bank holiday and weekend rates for the vet call out.
 
I personally wouldn't risk it!
We wormed our (perfectly healthy) horses with it last year - two of them came down with severe colic and were really very ill afterwards, to the point where we thought we were going to lose one if not both of them. Our other horse didn't colic but went off all food for a whole week and had to have several vet visits to tube him. Won't touch the stuff again! They've never had a reaction to any other wormer before. I think it's just a very, very strong wormer, and while it's good at its job it's just too intense for some horses x
 
wiglet said:
Just seen the worming plan for our yard this year and it involves a dose of Pramox for tapeworm in the spring.

I have an elderly TB who's a poor doer. I wouldn't class her as very underweight but, there's not much condition on her - you can see her ribs a little and she has no topline as she is now retired. She was very poorly a few years ago with an infection but is now in good health.

I've heard lots about Pramox being a really strong wormer. Would you worm her with it? If not, is there a viable alternative that I could suggest to my YO that I could use safely?
Click to expand...
Pramox is a combined Equest (Moxidectin) and Equitape (Praziquantel) wormer to deal with all worms including bots and encysted red worm and also tapeworm. Normally only required twice a year in spring and autumn alternated with Equest in winter and summer.

Because of my horse's medical history the vet has recommended I don't use the combined wormer but to use Equest and Equitape in spring and autumn with a weeks interval between them. You might suggest this to your YO as an alternative.

You could always ring your vet for advice on this. It is highly unlikely that you would be charged for basic advice like this over the phone but do actually speak to the vet rather than just the receptionist.
 
Last edited:
I won't use it on anything, I know there are risks to everything but I've read so many posts about colic after using it I would rather pay a few pound more and use two wormers than a vets bill or lose my horses.
 
Thanks for all the comments. I spoke to my YO last night and she said it will be fine for me to worm with Equest and Equitape - we can work out the timings nearer the actual dates so all good here :)
Thanks again for all imput.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top