Wormer and lammi pony advise needed please

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juevans

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Hi apologies if this is posted in the wrong place but I really need as much advise as possible.

My 4 year old riding pony as had lamminitus ,now she needs worming in fact she is over due but due to the lammi I havent done it as yet as I am afraid it will bring on another attack.She as been sound now for 4 weeks and turned out for 1 hour per day unmuzzled so I really dont want to upset everything again. I feed her 1 cup of baileys feed balancer a day mixed with a tiny amount of rowan barbary ready fibre mash and soaked hay.
Previous to the lamminitus starting I had a worm count done at the end of Jan this year as she was at the vets and it was suggested but before I got the results I found the long white worms in her poo (not had a wormer)so I rang the vet and the worm count had come back negative but obviously due to me seeing these worms I was told to worm her with Pramox which I did and a few more came out.
So now I am rather sceptical as to how accurate a worm count can be and also I have read that giving a wormer to a lammi prone pony can trigger an attack but obviously I need to keep the worms under control, so Im in a no win situation at the moment. Also the first time she became footy was after the Pramox even though she had that wormer a few times previously with no effect .Any advise would be appreciated sorry for long thread but am trying to get in as much detail as possible.
 
What worms did the vet say the long white worms were?

If tapeworm then that would be completely consistent with a clear poo worm count, as neither tapeworm nor the encysted stage of small redworm are generally picked up in the worm count, that is for the other types of worms.

NB also, I would not be risking a combination wormer like Pramox on a lami pony - it is too powerful. The active ingredients are available in more targeted single ingredient wormers which would reduce the risk, Pramox is a very powerful clean out and can be too much for horses with issues

The plan ideally would be to worm count, blood test once a year for tapeworm (vet does this, I have it done with jabs and teeth as 'horsey MOT' so no extra callout cost) and worm once a year specifically for small redworm (eg with normal Equest not Pramox) (plus one for tapeworm if that is positive eg Equitape), then you will cover all the common worms.
 
Agree with above, sounds like Tapeworm which can only be picked up with an Elisa test. I worm once a year with Equitape for Tapeworm, in November I worm with Pramox as it kills encysted strongyles, and I do WEC's through the grazing season to identify if I need to worm again.

Make sure you are dosing at the correct weight as well as one tube of wormer does not equal one horse, most have graduated syringes which tell you how much to use on what weight of horse. You can get weigh tapes to determine the weight of your horse too.
 
Thanks for replies but the worms that came out were ascarids (large roundworm) not tape worm so should have been picked up in a worm count I have no idea why they came out without a wormer as pony had been wormed regularly.
 
Ascarids should normally show up in a good worm count (using a centrifuge rather than just filtering sample). As your worm count was in the winter it might just be that the worms were not egg laying at that time? Some ascarids are resistant to ivermectin which might be a reason for them being present?

Your horse will not have ascarids now (they are worms which affect youngsters usually) and it would be a good time to test for redworm. With a lammi case I would definitely test now and only worm if you really need to, using a single drug wormer not a combination product
 
Thanks borderreiver I had the worm count done through my vets so not exactly sure who did it who would you suggest I use this time for a more accurate test.
 
The most gentle wormer is Panacur Equine Guard which is a liquid given each day for a 5 day period.
Emerging encysted small red worms can cause laminitis. They will not show up on a worm count. You need a specific wormer to deal with them.
Does your vet know what caused the Laminitis?
 
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I got her as a 2 year old I wormed her with Equest and Equest Pramox until I moved to my current yard where I wormed her with Equimax like everyone else on the yard so for 12 months she didnt have Equest and then last Jan as I said a pile of the white worms came out without a wormer so Im now thinking that the Equimax was not doing its job could possibly be a resistance as everyone on yard were constantly using it (scarey stories about Equest put ppl off using it).So there are a number of things the lammi could have been caused by my vet is unsure, could be worms, or the wormer,she was over weight (still is a bit ) or due to her age could be insulin resistant but as I dont and probably wont know for sure Im trying to be cautious about the wormer. To get her sound I had to change my farrier and I really dont want to upset anything again.Does the 5 day guard do encysted red worm? or is there only Equest that does that?
 
Yes definatley ascarids
Im moving her to a different place in a couple of weeks so will worm her then will give it some thought about what to use and get in touch if I need anymore advise thanks
 
oops I have just seen your facebook pics and Im rather confused now as they could be pinworm they looked like beansprouts which I always thought was ascarids but its seems I may be wrong could you enlighten me BR thanks
 
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