Worm count meanings

[The Jokers Girl]

Sorry if this has been done to death but I need some.help!
I signed up to Westgates monthly fee for all annual worm testing plus some adhocs as needed. Just sent off the 1st sample and it came back as <150epg for strongyle eggs and then had low for redworm in brackets. Probably haven't wormed in about a year as religiously poopick.
Is this a good count? Advise was to delay any planned wormer, but how long for.
Can the egg count now start to increase if the worms start breeding and is strongyle a word for redworm or were they advising the redworm amongst others was low.
Only ever done a count for liverfluke before as have grazed with sheep and cattle for years but that came back as zero liverfluke found.

Edited for aurocorrects

 

[MissTyc]

It means you don't need to worm at the moment. It's not uncommon to have a low level burden and so some degree there is symbiosis between herbivores and their parasites ... Our management practice often throw that symbiosis out of whack but seems like you're in a good position right now.

Did you also do the Equisal Saliva test to check for tapeworm? This is a separate test and should be done now, ideally.

Finally, are you planning on doing the bloodtest for encysted redworm? It's not very common yet, and tbh, if you have some adult egg-producing worms, then you have some encysted larvae too. If you're not doing the bloodtest, then you need to worm with a moxidectin-based product ideally in January after some proper frost, to kill of the bits the wormcount can't count. By then you should have a tapeworm reading which will help you to determine which wormer to use (moxidectin + praziquantel, or moxidectin alone - saying this a lot of people prefer not to use the combination wormer in which case you would double or triple dose pyrantel to treat the tapeworm, if treatment is needed).

Clear as mud?

 

[The Jokers Girl]

Thank you Miss tyc, that is very detailed ?
Yes done the tapeworm saliva test but not had it back yet. It seems to go elsewhere to the other worm count samples.
Good to know a low level burden is not uncommon.
I was unaware there was a blood test for this, is it something a vet would do as have vet coming this week so could ask bloods are taken then if that is the case.
So would it depend on the blood test result and the tapeworm result to what I should worm with in January?

 

[MissTyc]

Thank you Miss tyc, that is very detailed ?
Yes done the tapeworm saliva test but not had it back yet. It seems to go elsewhere to the other worm count samples.
Good to know a low level burden is not uncommon.
I was unaware there was a blood test for this, is it something a vet would do as have vet coming this week so could ask bloods are taken then if that is the case.
So would it depend on the blood test result and the tapeworm result to what I should worm with in January?

You're v welcome!

Tapeworm results will be with you quickly.
Honestly? I would plan to do a winter worming rather than a blood test. The blood test is quite expensive and since you do have that low level burden, you know that there will be some level of encysted redworm. They're the most dangerous for adult horses, generally, so you might as well clear it all out in January!
We blood tested the whole yard of 25 horses last year and every single one, even the ones with a regular zero count on all countable worms, came back as positive for encysted redworm, in some case quite high burdens. This was unexpected as operate a religious intelligent worming programme.

 

[The Jokers Girl]

Fantastic thank you so much for this. Will do the worming, with what you have mentioned above, once we've had a frost in the new year and hopefully with my religious poopicking and and regular worm counts I can keep on top of everything.

 

[The Jokers Girl]

So sorry, one more question. Is the moxidectin + praziquante the equest pramox wormer?

 

[MissTyc]

So sorry, one more question. Is the moxidectin + praziquante the equest pramox wormer?

Yes that's right.

EQUEST if negative tapeworm result.

EQUEST PRAMOX if positive tapeworm result (or double/triple Pyrantel now and then Equest later).