How do i worm a syringe hating horse

woodlandswow

woodlandswow

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i have a 7 year old who is gradually getting worse.. everytime i go to put a syringe in his mouth be it wormer or calmer he freaks out and backs up/rears .. even the sight of them now he tenses up and backs up
he hasnt had any bad experiences i know of, and its only been quite a recent thing..
any ideas??… is it possible to get feeding wormers??
any help appreciated :)
 
You can buy easy wormers - they are a specail bit type thing that you put on like a bridle and syring the wormer in at the side so they dont notice.

PM me if you are interested as I have a brand new one for sale.

Alternatively you can buy hand fed worming tablets.
 
A wormer to put in his dinner is a good solution for now, but sooner or later a vet is going to need to have access to his mouth. I was going to say, perhaps have his teeth checked incase there's a problem, but that in it's self sounds like it could be an issue! Is it just the wormer syringe, or his mouth in general he's touchy about?
 
Yes, put it in the feed.

When I told my vet my pony would not then eat the feed, his eyes rolled skywards and he muttered, "Then get the damn thing hungry!"

Would I have such a hard heart?? The poor wee mite!

:D:D:D
 
thanks for all your replies.. i should have added he only gets 1/4 scoop of feed once a day :o .. i will try it in feed and then try and purchase something else … he is fine touching his mouth and everything.. i just think he is a clever mite and knows whats coming.. i bet he will be hard to catch tomorrow morning!! :rolleyes:
 
Well my old mare will eat anything you put in front of her, wormers etc:- But show her a syringe she goes crazy, that's why I had 2 vets on thursday just to do her teeth,:(:(:(
 
Throw a rug or thick blanket over his head so he cannot see what is going on.
If he runs back with it on and rears get someone to hold a square of wood over his head so when he throws his head up he will feel that though it will not do any harm, he will think the ceiling is low so will not rear.
 
Sorry foxhunter49 That doesn't work! Shall tell my vets next time, as she hit her head 3 times hard and it still didn't stop her, that's why I had 2 vets to do her teeth.
 
Foxhunter49 said:
Throw a rug or thick blanket over his head so he cannot see what is going on.
If he runs back with it on and rears get someone to hold a square of wood over his head so when he throws his head up he will feel that though it will not do any harm, he will think the ceiling is low so will not rear.
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People still do things like that? :eek:

Jam sarnie?
 
Foxhunter49 said:
Throw a rug or thick blanket over his head so he cannot see what is going on.
If he runs back with it on and rears get someone to hold a square of wood over his head so when he throws his head up he will feel that though it will not do any harm, he will think the ceiling is low so will not rear.
Click to expand...

That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read!


I have the tablet wormers for my TB who hates the syringe ones. I give each one by hand with a couple of polo's and he munches them happily. (nb: If I put it in his feed, he just refuses to eat it)
 
Equimax Tabs are fantastic, mine used to hate syringes and I bought these and he wants more! They also come with dummy apple flavour ones then you give them the actual ones which are slightly less flavour but they still like them.
Or put the syringe in feed with apple juice in so it hides the taste :)
 
I don't know if you have already tried it but have you tried from the opposite side... I know its sounds stupid but my mare hates it if I try to worm her/inject of the right hand side the whole throwing of toys out of the pram but do it on the left no problem!!
Might be worth a try you never know and if it doesn't work the tablets,sachets or in feed will have to do.
 
What does she actually do? It maybe is just a case of honing your technique. When we're worming ours I have to make sure we catch the old pony and TB first as, if they get an inkling of something happening you can't get near them. However, to actually worm they are really quite good. Had to worm my new youngster when i got himm, that was a bit tricky and I think most of it ended up on his face! However, I will be quicker next time, get it in, press the plunge thing and done!

Our old dentist guy says to get hold of the tongue and hold it out the side of the mouth (this is what he will do usually to check their teeth initially). Can you do that with her? i think it's a case of getting her used to haveing you doing things with her mouth. If you do get the tongue out it is then easier to pop the syringe in the other side and and administer the wormer and they tend to behave when you have holdof the tongue. Maybe precatice getting hold of the tongue on occasion, not doing anything bad, let her have it back and give a treat.

If all else fails you can try the tablets but i did get some of these free from a veterinary conference, most of our horses did not like them!

I also have a VERY fussy and suspicioud pony, he is SO hard to give any drug to in feed, he knows instantly it's not 'right'. we had to give him AB's in golden syrup sandwiches! Even then (he has a very sweet tooth usually) he realised after one that there was something not quite right so, in the end we had to give up with the course of ABs (I'd have much rather injected him to be honest! Lol)
 
For now you could either put
In food like someone said but have the risk of your pony smelling it
Or get the bit that helps extract the wormer
If you can try and address the situation
Do you have any old wormer tubes
If so try putting some kind of treat inside such as yogurt or a purée of some sort
And trying putting wormer tube in mouth and squirt inside , this will make a nice experience carry on with it for a few weeks / months depending how quickly horse likes it
Hopefully the tasty experience will help for future worming
 
As the above post by ishca - I addressed the problem that was getting worse with my mare by liquidising apples - mixing with honey (icky brown colour) and filling the syringes. Then covering the whole of the outside of the syringe with the paste and rubbing it on her lips first.
Now she doesn't mind a squirt in the mouth at all.
 
Thanks for that good tip, as my vet says the drugs they gave her is now in gel so can syringe and it acts faster. so will start trying is carrots mashed up any good as they are her favorites and being a Irish tb she wont eat sugar cubes, as my other Irish horse wont.
 
My pony wouldn't let you near him with a syringe. He's now well-mannered about worming---except that you have to be a bit careful that he doesn't get the syringe between his teeth and try to eat it! Here's how I got him to come round. It took a few days, but was well worth it!

Equipment: an empty plastic syringe (asked vet for one, can probably get one in the pharmacy too), a bottle of juice, wormer syringe.

Day 1: let him sniff empty syringe, get used to it near him, scratched him on neck with it. Filled it with juice, let him sniff it again. When he was happy with it near his face, got him used to having a tiny bit of juice squirted onto his lips. Took a few minutes, until he started trying to grab the syringe to get at the juice.

Day 2/3: continued with juice and syringe, working up to letting me squirt the juice into the back of his mouth. No need to open mouth: just insert syringe at corner, pointing back and up slightly, as far as will go. Get him used to getting a few full juice syringes in a row.

Day 4: prepare wormer syringe. Give him 2 syringes of juice, then refill juice syringe and keep in easy reach. Then use wormer syringe, followed quickly by more juice.

I can now worm him easily without the juice syringe, but keep using the juice syringe as a treat anyway; makes it less likely he'll spit out the wormer, I think! :)
 
spookypony said:
My pony wouldn't let you near him with a syringe. He's now well-mannered about worming---except that you have to be a bit careful that he doesn't get the syringe between his teeth and try to eat it! Here's how I got him to come round. It took a few days, but was well worth it!

Equipment: an empty plastic syringe (asked vet for one, can probably get one in the pharmacy too), a bottle of juice, wormer syringe.

Day 1: let him sniff empty syringe, get used to it near him, scratched him on neck with it. Filled it with juice, let him sniff it again. When he was happy with it near his face, got him used to having a tiny bit of juice squirted onto his lips. Took a few minutes, until he started trying to grab the syringe to get at the juice.

Day 2/3: continued with juice and syringe, working up to letting me squirt the juice into the back of his mouth. No need to open mouth: just insert syringe at corner, pointing back and up slightly, as far as will go. Get him used to getting a few full juice syringes in a row.

Day 4: prepare wormer syringe. Give him 2 syringes of juice, then refill juice syringe and keep in easy reach. Then use wormer syringe, followed quickly by more juice.

I can now worm him easily without the juice syringe, but keep using the juice syringe as a treat anyway; makes it less likely he'll spit out the wormer, I think! :)
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I might actully try this with my horse! At the moment I hide round a corner to get the syringe out of the packet, then keep it behind my back, then shove it in his mouth as best I can. He's fine once it's in, but if he sees it first I'll have no chance.
 
I cant get near mine with a syringe just rears managed to break the front of our stable once in our attempts! I have no given up trying I now either use the tablets eats no problem or you can crush up in to feed or de core several apples works quite well especailly with some suger beet as doesn't normaly get that. Also do worm counts that way you might not even have to worm even better :-)
 
treacle_beastie said:
You can buy easy wormers - they are a specail bit type thing that you put on like a bridle and syring the wormer in at the side so they dont notice.

PM me if you are interested as I have a brand new one for sale.

Alternatively you can buy hand fed worming tablets.
Click to expand...

I tried one of these with one of the school horses who said - "you think you can fool me into thinking you're putting a bridle on me? BITS ARE NOT WHITE Dummy!"

My favourite wormer is hard to find - the reason it's a favourite - it is a very slim tube with no step from the nozzle to the barrel - it slides into the mouth beautifully and I had no problems worming with it. Now since I can't find it to buy I've started using the general shaped ones and now have horses grumpy about being wormed.

Also think the slim on doesn't need the horse to open its mouth so the wormer doesn't get spat out so easily.
 
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