Update - itchy horse

Birker2020

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Well after waiting to see if the treatment the vet had given me had cleared up my horses itching I finally admitted defeat and I called the vet out last Thursday morning. She arrived in the evening after work and gave my horse an ivermectin wormer up his bottom and a steroid injection to calm the itching. She felt it was pinworm as the marks on either side of his anus were so localized, and not typical of a skin problem, or reaction to feed/hay.

She said Ivermectin was the best wormer to use now as the pinworms have such a resistance to Pyrantel. She says its a huge problem as there is so much resistance due to overworming. So she said to continue with the mud fever cream around his bottom and she would take a sample with sellotape around the anus and ring me to let me know the outcome when she had chance to look at it under the slide on the microscope.

She also gave me some two syringes of steroid for me to give him orally, one on the Friday night and one on the Saturday night.

She rang me the next day to say that my horse had 'quite a lot' of eggs showing up on the slide and to continue with the selenium sulphide and then the pinworm wash one day, the next day just the pinworm wash, and so on for three to five days and to keep on with the mud fever cream. She said the eggs don't live outside the body for long so didn't feel it necessary to wash rugs/ dispose of bedding and said that you don't normally see an outbreak on a yard - just one single horse affected.

Goodness knows where he's picked them up from. He hasn't been wormed for about 18 months to two years now as I've been using worm counts so maybe this isn't the best thing to do. So confused.

This weekend I've not seen him scratch once, but I think this is down to the steroids he's had to stop the scratching. We are hoping we can clear it up quickly, last time it responded very well to the treatment I gave him.
 
Interesting about the localization of the worms - when a horse was diagnosed with them back in Norfolk, we all got told about it and told to up any hygiene routines as it is easily transferred to other horses and humans though grooming kits, rubbed yard furniture/fencing etc.

You've made me think about mine though as he's always itched his bum, but only across a certain part.
 
Interesting about the localization of the worms - when a horse was diagnosed with them back in Norfolk, we all got told about it and told to up any hygiene routines as it is easily transferred to other horses and humans though grooming kits, rubbed yard furniture/fencing etc.

You've made me think about mine though as he's always itched his bum, but only across a certain part.

Yes my horse's itching is very localized, not like last time when he rubbed all his flanks and thighs on things and was literally throwing himself against the side of the stable to scratch the itching.

I think I will disinfectant my brushes, tools and scrub the stable walls at bum height just in case.
 
How bizarre, glad you've got to the bottom of it! I think you're right to disinfect in this case too - better safe than sorry. Hope the patient continues to improve!
 
Thanks Apercrumbie. She said that in some cases pinworm can be extremely hard to get rid of. Total nightmare. It just so happens that there was a horse with pinworm that grazed in his paddock and was also stabled for a few days in his stable too, but this was at least twelve months plus ago.

If they can't live outside the body for any length of time I fail to see how he could have caught it from that horse. I don't really understand as what I am being told by my vet is contrary to what I am told on the internet, yet surely my vet must be right as she is a vet.
One site it says that the eggs are not expelled in the dung, and yet also states in the previous paragraph that the eggs are picked up by horses from contaminated pasture. Surely that is a bit of a contradiction?
 
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Mine stopped itching once I fed more copper - not saying yours doesn't have worms, but mine rubbed himself raw on his back end. Upped the copper - and I had a supplement that contained 400mg of copper daily, but it was only when I upped it, he stopped itching.

Not saying vets are ignorant, but they don't always have the answers!!
 
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