Foals with severe worm burden

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kat2290

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Also posted this in veterinary but thought I'd put it here too :)

Evening all!
I Had a worm count done for our two 6 month old mini's today and was horrified to find out that the poor guys both have severe worm burdens The foals came from different sellers and both told us they had been wormed a week or so before we got them (about 3 weeks ago), at the time I 100% believed this from both sellers but now I'm not so sure - another lesson learnt I suppose.
However, whether they were telling the truth or not I now have two foal who are full to bursting with worms and I need to deal with it ASAP. I am planning on registering with either westgate or intelligent worming after this, but for now I just want to get the situation under control.
Will be going to the vets first thing in the morning, and have been researching diff types of worms and wormers this evening so that I am a bit more clued up! I am thinking of using Panacur 5 day as I've read that using one of the stronger wormers when there is a high burden can cause very bad colic? However I've searched on here for Panacur and some of the threads I have been reading have well and truly scared the s**t out of me! I am now absolutely terrified that I'm going to do the wrong thing and end up with a pair of very poorly girls
I know the vets will be able to advise me tomorrow but I wanted to get advise from you guys aswell, what would you do? If I use 5 day do I need to be able to keep them in for the full 5 days?
Just to add a bit more info the girls are kept in a 1.5 acre field which I poo pick daily - unfortunately I don't have access to another field and they only way to keep then out of field is to put them inside catching pen which is where their shelter is.
The world of worming is so confusing, I've been trying to get my head around it this evening but my brain is well and truly fried right now!
Sorry for the long post, well done if you made it this far
 
Having been through this last year with "feral" New Forest Pony foals, I would stick in an ivermectin based wormer (different brands available) and see what comes out. Then I would worm monthly until such time as the worms stop coming out following a dose of wormer. You will probably find things are looking up by December.

Good luck, it is usually completely revolting...
I wouldn't be so sure about going by worm counts, foals have very little resistance to worms and there are more kind of worms about than the red worms they can spot on the worm counts. You will have round worms too, they look a bit like bean sprouts.

You're doing absolutely the right thing by poo picking. Just keep at it, and they will gradually build up their own resistance to the worms.
 
Going to the vets first things tomorrow but thought I would ask on here too as I know there are a lot of very knowledgable folk!
I wasn't sure about using an ivermectin based wormer as I'd read they aren't effective again ascairids (sp) or am I getting muddled up?
 
If they're weak at all in condition, I'd stay away from pramox/equest right at the moment as it's extremely harder on their system and has an effect on the fat tissue.

I'd go for an ivermectin based one to start, along with a equitape to cover that.

Then in 6 weeks, I'd use an Equest on them possibly as this will kill anything for the next 13 weeks, or if they're weak, I'd put a 5-day through them and then put an equest down them after whatever time period it is after that instead.


ETA - Ivermec doesn't cover encysted worms, if I recall off the top of my head! The Equest or 5-day will. Pramox will do tape also, however, I wouldn't be doing any combination wormers that do absolutely everything right from the start with such a high burden, as you're right that you do run the risk of causing colic problems from all the dead ones passing through.
 
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kat2290 said:
Going to the vets first things tomorrow but thought I would ask on here too as I know there are a lot of very knowledgable folk!
I wasn't sure about using an ivermectin based wormer as I'd read they aren't effective again ascairids (sp) or am I getting muddled up?
Click to expand...

Well they are the "beanspout" ones that come out, so I think they do! I built up to using Equest with my babies, they got that in the New Year, once I was confident they were well on their way. That shifted a few more round worms from one of them, I suspect the one I thought had the greatest worm burden of all of them.
 
Yeah I think I'm just getting myself muddled up, there are so many types of worms, types of eggs, brands of wormers and active ingredients flying around my head at the minute I can't remember what's what!
 
I bought a couple of New Forests foals from the sales a few years back and before turning them out, phoned the vet to ask for worming advice.

He recommended one of the older type wormers (sorry, I can't remember which one). And boy, what came out their other ends was revolting!

Even more revoltingly, I bagged some of the dead worms/bots up in clear plastic bags and showed them to my horsey friends - they were chuffed as you can imagine!!
 
Just to update this, I went to the vets this am and was recommended Panacur 5 day. They had their first dose about an hour ago (all of 10mls each!) so we shall see how they get on. I know it's disgusting but I am really looking forward to poo picking tonight to see what I find!!
 
Haha so glad somebody else is interested and I'm not just weird! Had a good look tonight and there was nothing much to see :( hoping there will be more to see tomorrow and Thursday, pics to follow if there is!
 
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