Pin Worms - please educate me !

Gingerwitch

Gingerwitch

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As above -overheard conversation = a horse at my yard has been diagnosed with pin worms.... live in back gut.... look like beansprouts..... she has been perscribed a huge dose of some kind of wormer..... owner wont tell anyone- whats going on - all i know is that in 16 days time the whole bed has to be thrown away and disinfected.


So being a bit selfish here - what does this mean to me and my boys? as they are both stabled in the same barn, but not in the same fields... do i need to phone my vets or what?
 
They are a fairly normal type of roundworm and are controlled by all standard wormers at the standard dose! I can only presume the owner does not worm their horse and there is no worming program at your yard for this level of infestation to occur. Bed does not need to be thrown away and a huge dose of any wormer will probably just kill the horse!

However, if you misheard and the horse has small redworm disease, they will have been recommended a 5 day course of panacur. If it was tapeworm then a double dose of pyrantel will have been recommended. Your horses should be wormed as normal.
 
Samba had pinworms and when researching it I found that they do have a habit of sticking to objects like stable walls etc. Most of the wormers will kill the pin worms she was new to me and considering her poo wiggled with them vet advised equimax. I stabled her for 7 days and took the bed out and scrubbed the stable with jeyes. Had to do her and the foal tho.
 
Horses who have pinworms are very itchy and rub thier bum on walls doors fence posts etc i believe when they are treated for this you are given something to apply to the outside of the anus as well as the worm sticks it head out and can lay eggs on outside as well and can be a bugger to get rid of.

I am telling you this from a friend having them so do check as would hate to give you wrong advice as havnt had them myself but i do think they may need slightly different treatment.

I would have a good read up before turning my horse out near this infected horse.
 
After checking the female does seem to crawl out and lay the eggs it is the stcky mucus that the eggs are in that seems to cause the itching with appropriate worming for this specific type you should be ok be aware the infected horse can rub anus so if your horse comes in to contact with these areas could become infected.
 
Horse's DON'T always itch when they have them. Earlier this year I had my horse on a showing yard when I pointed out that one of the horses had quite bad pin worm evident from the amount of sticky yellowish mucus around the anus and he hadn't itched himself at all.

The vet said that you have to worm them every 30 days for 3 months.
 
We've got this currently at our yard - my friend's horse was diagnosed this week with wormer resistant pinworm. Pony has itched itself raw round its rear end. She is being kept in and on a 5 day course of Panacur Guard, with her rear end being washed twice a day and the stable walls disinfected. Horses have been regularly wormed so please do not assume that a horse with pinworm hasn't been wormed! However, the vet is going to look at the programme and advise on any alterations needed.

My horses share the field but vet says they are not at risk unless they have been grazing where she has rubbed and the eggs have dropped off onto the ground. There isn't actually anywhere for her to rub in the field so we are just keeping a close eye at present.
 
My horses are on a well managed livery yard and we have a good worming programme based on egg counts etc and under vet supervision but we have just had pinworm and it was a b****r to get rid of!!!

All horses were given 5day panacur guard twice 28days apart and their bottoms painted every day for 30 days with a liquid supplied by vet (sorry cannot remember what it was!!!).

They are not life threatening but cause horses to itch and can become a welfare issue - personnally I would treat the whole yard. Ours appeared out of nowhere - no new horses on the yard for ages and grazing is shared with sheep to reduce the worm burden in fields.
 
My big lad had a triple dose of ivermectin followed by a course of 5 day guard 7 days later, and an ivermectin solution painted around his anus for 28 days. Seemed to do the trick, no longer itching.
It was confirmed by examining strips of sellotape under the microscope which the vet had stuck around his anus to pick up any eggs (sellotape not microscope!). He was itching the underside of his tail raw by flicking his tail over the fence and then sitting on the top rail and rubbing.
Vet said eggs aren't present in faeces but are spread when the horse rubs it's bum on a surface then another horse cribs/chews or scratches on said surface, picking eggs up on the coat and then itching themselves or during mutual grooming. Also said eggs are spread at water sites, troughs etc but not sure how.
Female pinworms take approx 5 months to reach maturity and start emerging from the anus to lay eggs, are several inches long, and emerge when the horse is relaxed or sleeping.
My lad lives out but we scrubbed trough and powerhosed the fences he'd been scratching on (was in introduction paddock when he arrived) to prevent re-infection. If he'd been in, would have thrown bedding and power hosed the stable for same reasons.
Would think unlikely yours would be infested if not using same stable/next door stable in some circumstances or same fields, provided it's just the one horse that has them!
 
Spoke with my vets and we are having a worm burden done on both of mine - as the first stage, vet did say this worm is becoming more and more common as many of the "new" wormers are just not touching it !

so will let everyone know how it goes.

By the way the vets practice treating this horse has said "infection cannot occur through tools, wheelbarrows etc" and can only occur if the horse is in the same stable or manages to scratch on the same place the infected horse has.
 
My boy had pin worms, he was wormed regulary and lives out (poo pick and the other 2 didnt get it!) but still had them. Emailed lots of people and although there is no scientific proof (yet!) I was told that it seems the worms do not go, when given ivermectin based wormers. This seemed true as all the wormers I gave him were ivermectin based! So I gave him strong-id P which is not ivermectin based and hey presto all gone (touch wood!)
 
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