People who know worms.......alarmingly high worm count!

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Had our rescue pony egg counted today and shes come back as having over 2,000... which im told is in the high risk category.

So, what now? she's been wormed with Equest this evening, but how often should we be worming to get the infestation under control? Should we be changing drugs each time we worm? We're going to do another count next week after the first wormer.. so should know more then as to whether the wormer has had much of an effect.

I just want to know if anyone has had experience of fighting a heavy worm burden, and what the best course of action is!
Thanks to anyone who can help!
x
 
when my youngster came to me she was close to if not over the 2000 count.
I wormed her immediately after results. Picking up droppings daily and when the next count was done, it had dropped and she is now on a low worm count along with the others.

I can't remember what we wormed with etc but will hunt out the paperwork tomorrow and let you know what worked for us. x
 
Too late now, but I would have gone for a 5 day panacur 1st rather than risk causing a blockage when all the dead worms are expelled!
 
You should also worm for Tape worms, but need to wait till you tackle those. I guess it could have been worst, you could have gone straight for a combined wormer like Equest Pramox, which can prove fatal in those with a high worm burden.
 
Hopefully she will be fine, but colic is a concern when dealing with a high worm burden, but then colic is a concern if it isn't dealt with either.....

My friend brought one from a dealer who despite claims that his worming was up to day had large round worms in his droppings! He had a 5 day panacur, then 2 weeks later an equest (dung appeared red at this point due to the number of red worms expelled), then 2 weeks later an equitape. Doubt the poor bugger had ever been wormed in his life. He is fine now though and on a normal worming program.
 
I have seen much higher counts than 2000 epg. I am sure the horse will be fine with Equest.
I probably wouldn't bother counting the horse again next week, but wait about 6 weeks to give a better picture of any reinfestation. I would then worm again with equest pramox. Personally I would count and worm every 6 weeks until the worm count is clear. I have never had to count more than 3 times. As long as you are rigorous with the poo picking, the horse shouldn't reinfest again. All mine are counted every spring and are all zero. I then only worm in the early spring to cover tape worms, (not always shown on a worm count) and late autumn for bots, and that's it!
 
Monkers said:
I have seen much higher counts than 2000 epg. I am sure the horse will be fine with Equest.
I probably wouldn't bother counting the horse again next week, but wait about 6 weeks to give a better picture of any reinfestation. I would then worm again with equest pramox. Personally I would count and worm every 6 weeks until the worm count is clear. I have never had to count more than 3 times. As long as you are rigorous with the poo picking, the horse shouldn't reinfest again. All mine are counted every spring and are all zero. I then only worm in the early spring to cover tape worms, (not always shown on a worm count) and late autumn for bots, and that's it!
Click to expand...

Just a thought, your suggesting i count and worm every six weeks, am i best using the same wormer each time? x
 
Yes, I would. You will probably only need 3 cycles maximum as long as you are religeous with poo picking. I would use equest pramox next time for tapes and then ordinary equest after that. pramox is a powerful drug and it's not for use on pregnant mares and youngstock (I forget minimum age) do make sure you are accurate with the doseage.

I would then only worm twice a year, something for tapes early spring and bots in the autumn. As for rotation, there is widespread resistance to (and I am spelling this off the top of my head, past midnight and with two glasses of wine in me here....!) fenbendazole and benzamidazole, the drugs in "old fashioned" wormers like panacur.

Equest pramox blasts everything

ivermectin (eqvalan) does bots

pyrental (strongid p) does tapes at a double dose

All do red worms, but only the modern wormers and panacur 5 day guard do encysted lavae. You won't really need to worry about these this time of year and you should have your horse clear of worms before these become a problem.

I would probably use equest pramox in the spring of year one and equest in the autumn

then the other drugs mentioned for year two.

I never use 5 day guard unless I am concerened with the health of the animal as some have already mentioned on here.
There is another one called equimax that is similar to equest pramox which I use too.
 
Equest lasts for about 13 weeks in the horses system, surely you shouldn't worm three times with that or Pramox every 6 weeks? I'd speak to Westgate Labs or Abbey Diagnostics or whoever did the worm count for their advice first OP.
 
Hi one of my old horses came back wit h a count over 2000 last week too. I have wormed him for strongyles and was planning to retest in a few weeks to see if the numbers had dropped , is this normal or should I leave it longer before retesting. Horse looks fine is just very old so don't want to risk anything too hard on his system.
 
Any new horse I have on my place are bomb drenched - wormed weekly for three weeks in a row. Using a wormer that contains a 'mectin' and 'praziquantel' base are the best to use. mAke sure that if you don't know her exact weight overworm rather than underworm.
 
I worm my two and go through
http://www.intelligentworming.co.uk/
they set up a program for each horse based on worm counts etc, and it is reveiwed every year.
great if you're like me and know little about wormers etc.
they are very knowledgeable.
send you the wormers & counts to do and even remind you when to do them.
My two have gone from high counts last year to low or none this year. now just monitoring plus spring & autumn wormers
 
Yes intelligent worming is a great thing as said by last poster. I am surprised the worm count lab didn't advise you on what to do next - they are usually good like that.
 
Horsesforever1 said:
Its best to speak to your vet and follow their advice . Far better than asking on a forum and taking unqualified advice.
Click to expand...

agree with this as things get forgotten or taken for granted that OP will know

I just started worm counting my new horse including blood testing for tape worm. However even if all come back clear I will still worm in spring for encysted red worm as there are not tests that will pick this up and it is what my vet recommend
 
Hi, We've just started egg counting ourselves at work. Oneo f the staff is doing it as a dissertation for uni under the supervision of someone who used to do it as a job. Im thinking i might get in touch with WGL and go from there. Thanks for everyones advice though, its good to know she doesnt have as high a count as some! :D x
 
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