Worming a Very Thin Horse..

[Sunflowers]

My 4 yr old 16.1 warmblood is looking severely thin and struggling to gain weight, no matter how much food we pack into him!

He was wormed 3 weeks ago with Equest, but I am advised that if he has a tapeworm problem he'll need something different to combat that.

Any advice chaps? Should i get the vet? Thanks so much! x

 

[kellyeaton]

i would speak to your vet but if he was wormed 3 weeks with a equest he will be clear of everything there are strong p equtipape and partral p for tape worms the best is equitape. have you had her teeth checked? what are you feeding her?

 

[scotsmare]

Was it Equest or Equest Pramox you wormed him with? If it was just Equest I would recommend worming again with Pramox to get rid of tape / red worms.

What are you feeding him? Is he stabled all the time or turned out for some of it?

 

[lhotse]

I would certainly get the vet to have a look at him, he may need blood tests to rule out other causes.

 

[BeckyDiamond]

Would agree, good idea to get blood test done. Had similar thing with my TB Nov/Dec time, he dropped lot of weight, despite getting plenty of food and haylage, and was generally not himself. Vet tested liver, kidney, enzymes, all fine, worm count negative. Blood tests however showed abnormal white and red blood cell counts indicating he was fighting off virus. Pretty off colour for about 2 months and had to have 3-4 weeks complete rest but he's fine now. Red Cell or ProPell Plus work wonders as pick me up and to support immune system

 

[competitiondiva]

Also make your feeds small but often through the day, people often say they are packing the feed in but feed a massive bucket full but only twice a day, about half the feed will not be absorbed in the gut as the horses stomach is only small so the feed will be pushed through too fast. What are the horses feaces like? You could try adding a probiotic to the feed to aid digestion in the gut. Definately try worming with a tapewormer (Equitape, Equimax, Pramox or Eqvalan Duo are very good ones). But I would speak to a vet if weight drop is continuing.

 

[Crystalbank_stud]

You say he was wormed three weeks ago, but has he always had a regular worming programme before that and I assume you checked his weight and gave the correct dose?

Dependant on your worming programme I'd be looking at worming for tapeworm with Strongid P or Equitape (remember for Tapeworm to double the dosage).

I'd also get teeth checked and have the Vet out to run bloods.

As already pointed out, try to break his feeds down to little ones throughout the day. You may also want to get your Hay/Haylage analysed and I think D&H can do this for around £5.

Good luck and I hope it sorts out soon.