Fed up with this worming lark ... advice anybody??

quirky

quirky

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Sorry it's long!

Bought pony last September, unknown worming history.
This is what has been administered since I purchased her ...

September - Equest.

Moved yards and went on their program which ended up being non-exsistent.
Noticed redworm in droppings, so ..

March - Panacur 5 day guard

followed 3 weeks later by

Equimax.

Horse turned out end of April and droppings picked up daily or at worst every other day only out with one other horse (not wormed until early june)..

Had a worm count done at the end of May and it came back <50 epg.

Moved to another yard who has a worming program, they had a worm count done last week and mine has come back +ve. Spoken to the vet practice (but not vet) and they have said to do with Eqvalan now.

How do I know this is the right way to go?
Since September, I have spent nearly £100 on wormer and egg counts and she is still not clear.

Anybody any advice?
 
Moving yards so often is probably not helping. It sounds like your pony contracted the worms since moving to the newest yard...did the FECs of the other horses in her field also come back positive?

I'd speak to the vet about it, explaining about moving yards twice. My guess (complete guess) is that the vet will suggest sticking to the new yard's programme and then re-evaluating at the next egg count (next summer?), but I'm no expert.
 
Worming does mount up. I get mine from the vet, which always seems a lot of money, but I got so confused about what to do when, so I signed up for the vet's programme and the surgery just telephones when the next lot are ready for collection. They do a worm count every so often as well, which is included in the price.

My sister puts away £2.00 per week in a pot to pay for wormers, and it probably even more £ now, so that is how much it costs.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Moving yards so often is probably not helping. It sounds like your pony contracted the worms since moving to the newest yard...did the FECs of the other horses in her field also come back positive?

I'd speak to the vet about it, explaining about moving yards twice. My guess (complete guess) is that the vet will suggest sticking to the new yard's programme and then re-evaluating at the next egg count (next summer?), but I'm no expert.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, vet has said to worm now and then fall in with their program, which I am happy to do.
This is, a year is a long time to wait to have another count done when she could be carrying a big redworm burden
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It is not the brand of the wormer but the active ingredient which is important.

Also be aware that worm counts do not detect tape worms and encystead emerging small red worms which require a blood sample taken by your vet to detect them.

You also need to ensure that droppings are picked up daily. Best practice is to completly rest the field from horses for 3 month to elimenate the worms.
 
Worming isn't that complicated.
Here's some different Programmes;

TRADITIONAL PROGRAMME (EXAMPLE)
Feb/March- worm for encysted small redworm (so either Panacur 5 day or Equest are the most effective).
April - worm for tapeworm (double dose Pyratape/Strongid P or use one with Praziquantel)
May - Aug - worm with one set drug rotated each year- so Strongid P or Equest or Eqvalan etc at the recommended frequency
Sep - Tapeworm again
Oct/Nov - Encysted small redworm again
Dec - Bots - so Equest or Eqvalan if you haven't already used something similar for the encysted small redworm.

STRATEGIC WORMING PROGRAMME
In a strategic worming programme, you can test for faecal egg counts (but that would have to be more frequent than once a year, and remember that encysted redworm won't show up til they produce eggs), and only worm if the animal shows >50 epg.
You can blood test for tapeworm too, as it doesn't show in FECs.

SIMPLIFIED PROGRAMMES
There are also simplified programmes available - so Equest Pramox in Spring, Equest 13 weeks later, Equest Pramox in Autumn, Equest 13 weeks later...but you would have to rotate this with a different wormer the next year to prevent resistence to moxidectin building up over time.

MANAGING GRAZING
To me, it sounds as though your horse is being infected by high egg counts on the grazing, which can only be reduced by resting for prolonged periods, sustained low temperatures in the winter or grazing with other species such as cattle/sheep.
Of course poo picking within one week of falling from horse's bum will help to reduce future worm counts, but won't reduce an existing wormy field.
Harrowing used to be recommended, but they now think you just spread the problem further, especially if done in damp weather.

As a further point, you can get wormer much more cheaply and easily if you buy online from some of the dedicated websites - cheaper still if you buy in bulk (often discount for more than five or so).

N.B. * * * Always seek veterinary advice before using any programme, don't listen to random people like me from the interweb thingie
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I'm on a worming programme called intelligent worming I pay about £20 per month for my two horses. They sned you everything in pre paid envelopes for egg worm counts and then design a worming programme and send the wormers to you directly as and when. Much easier than trying to figure it all out yourself!
 
I would imagine this is dependent on the contamination of the pasture at the new yard, ie this latest count is all burden acquired from their yard and some horses for various reasons are more susceptible than others and will tend towards higher burdens.

Picking droppings once a week in winter and twice in summer is sufficient to prevent reinfection due to the time taken for larvae to reach the infective stage.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I would imagine this is dependent on the contamination of the pasture at the new yard, ie this latest count is all burden acquired from their yard and some horses for various reasons are more susceptible than others and will tend towards higher burdens.

Picking droppings once a week in winter and twice in summer is sufficient to prevent reinfection due to the time taken for larvae to reach the infective stage.

[/ QUOTE ]

She has been on the new yard 16 days .... is that enough time to become wormy?
I'm shocked if it is.

My thoughts are that I have never really managed to rid her of worms at all, that I got a <50epg result is because it doesn't account for encysted.
 
One of mine picked up worms remarkably quickly when I grazed her in a wormy paddock.
The other point is make sure you are giving her the correct wormer for her bodyweight - overestimate her weight if you are not sure, as most wormers have quite a good safety margin.
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well you shouldn't have an encysted redworm problem as you treated in March and they are normally an autumn/winter issue and they wouldn't I don't think have encysted since then.

If the egg count is reflecting redworm it should take 5 weeks for L3 larvae to become egg producing adults hence it is not the new grazing either, for all others I would say that wasn't long enough anyway.

Do you know what the count was as opposed to just positive?

It is possible that the count you had done previously was a false negative as eggs for several reasons tend to aggregate in the faeces so you may not have taken a representative sample and that it was actually higher and although your poo picking should have been fine you have a very susceptible horse, what age is it?

I would worm with eqvalan and get another count done soon after to check that it has worked, if not speak to your vet.
 
I don't know what the count was, the vets said they would only note it down if it was unusually high, so I'm assuming it's not massive.

The egg count only checks for round and tape worm, I mentioned the redworm as an aside.

The horse is just 4.
 
egg count will not do tape worm this requires a blood test.

The reason I asked age is it is possible that as a young horse it has developed little resistance/resiliance and hence getting a count. (Sorry I know more about this in sheep/lambs which aren't quite the same, I know lambs will always tend to be higher than ewes)

The other possibility is that there were worms present when you got the initial <50 epg but that they were at an earlier life stage hence not producing eggs.

I hope I am making sense
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I would still treat as suggested and re count if it were mine.
 
Three weeks is a pointless stage to re-count. As you had a low count, I doubt your horse has a worm count to actually worry about.
If you can't get satisfactory advice from your vet why not contact Chris Dolby at www.abbeydiagnostics.com
Otherwise, agree with Shilasdair, spot on advice and words of wisdom.
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