Fluke worm/Liver fluke, anyone had a horse with it?

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PlodAlong

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Basically I bought a horse 4 month ago, she had a body score 2. She had no topline or condition at all, dull coat, grumpy and always dehydrated. She has also had oedemas on her stomach. Ive had her teeth and back done.

A couple days ago I had an old horsey man out the other day and he said he thinks its fluke which she has symptoms of but I had bloodtests done which showed nothing signifigant. It would however make sense because she is eating coolstance copra,allan and page c&c and alfa a oil which is not putting any weight on her but keeping her stable. She is swollen at one side of her belly more than the other and have from a yard with livestock.

I have no knowledge of fluke, wondering if anyone has had a horse with it? any pics? how long was recovery?

Vets coming tomorrow to dose her for it.
 
There are lots of liver fluke threads on here if you look back. Fluke is a problem in wet areas and also where there are sheep/cattle/deer. It's easily treated with Fasinex which you can get cheaply from your vet. Blood tests don't always show the problem, sometimes you just find they are not holding their weight. I'd have chat with your vet.
 
My horses had liver fluke last year, they were all looking very well until they foaled then lost weight quite quickly after foaling which is very unusual for them, and it happened one by one as they foaled between March and end of May. They mostly lost weight over their ribs and could not regain it, they all sweated a great deal in that hot weather we had, some were lethargic, all tired easily if they galloped up the field. Their foals were not affected. Bloods showed they were anaemic with raised fibrinogen but normal WBC, normal liver enzymes and normal albumin. One did have slightly raised liver enzymes as in one over normal. Worm counts were negative and all of them had had equest in Feb and ivermectin on foaling. Vet said it was easier to treat for liver fluke than test for it so i dosed all but one with fasinex, they all ate it in their feeds even the fussy ones. After 10 days they all just looked slightly better whereas the untreated one looked worse, so she was treated and the others all had a second dose at 14 days. It took nearly 8 weeks for them to regain the weight but they did and all look okay now. I dosed all my other horses as well after as they must of all had them but the mares only looked so bad because they had come under stress foaling. The ground is wet here and was grazed by cattle and sheep 25 years ago but not since.
 
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