Worming advice please

bubbilygum

bubbilygum

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Due to box rest/me being ditsy I realised that my horse hasn't been wormed in quite some time (start of summer). Now planning to start fresh and get a worming routine in place and stick to it - my horse has his own turnout and doesn't rotate to different fields, and I have no reason to suspect he is 'wormy' other than he hasn't been wormed for a long time.

I bought Equest Pramox but I've chickened out a bit due to the horror stories of colic etc I've heard about it. I have started feeding yea-sacc and Global Herbs Restore to try and reduce the colic risk, but am now thinking I should perhaps dose with Panacur Equine Guard first then Equimax/Equitape and then use the Pramox another time once I am more confident his worm burden is small? OR should I just worm for tapeworm now and do an egg count?

Any advice please! Once I am past this initial 'I'm going to kill him with a wormer because he hasn't been wormed in ages' panic I will get a proper routine established, I just need a bit of help getting on top of it!
 
From the advice I've been given, if he's healthy & no reason to believe he is full of worms premix is fine. I've used it a few times & will again next week for my only dose if worming I do. Contact westgate labs & do a worm count. You might only need to worm for tape & encysted red worm
 
I know of several horses who have been wormed with Equest Pramox and not suffered any ill effects at all. You could use Equvalan Duo which is a similar product and covers tapeworm. I would then worm for encysted redworm in the early New Year with Equest. As your turnout is pretty much your own then egg counting may be the way for you to go thereafter, just cover for tapeworm and encysted redworm at the appropriate times of year. Check with your Vet for reassurance.
 
Thank you for your replies! I PMed the lovely Gill at Westgate who said, as you have said, that the Pramox will almost certainly be fine but if worried I could use Equitape and Equest a week apart, which I think I will do. Then start with the egg counts in feb, and worming for tapeworm and encysted redworms at the start and end of grazing season.
 
bubbilygum said:
Thank you for your replies! I PMed the lovely Gill at Westgate who said, as you have said, that the Pramox will almost certainly be fine but if worried I could use Equitape and Equest a week apart, which I think I will do. Then start with the egg counts in feb, and worming for tapeworm and encysted redworms at the start and end of grazing season.
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That s exactly what I did as I was worried about using pramox too. I was advised to then do a worm count in march.
 
shannonandtay said:
That s exactly what I did as I was worried about using pramox too. I was advised to then do a worm count in march.
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I'm glad I'm not the only one worried about Pramox - I felt a bit ridiculous but I would feel awful if I used it and my boy got ill, seems too risky knowing others have had awful reactions to it.
 
Pramox should only cause problems IF your horse has a heavy burden of encysted small redworm or is intolerent to the chemical but this is a risk with any wormer, thiswould be caused by a fast emergence of small redworm and possibly causing a blockage. Pramox is probably your best bet as small redworm will have encysted by now(if he has them, these do not show on faecal egg counts) so other wormers arent much good. Panacur would be the one to use if your horse has a burden but there is high resistence to benzimidazole based wormers (panacur contains fenbenzole of same group) in the UK so its effects are debatable. equest pramox contains moxidectin as a broad spectrum and praziquantel for tape worm.
 
Forgot to add if your horse is mature 8+ he is not considered to be high riskto worms and if the grazing is good (not overgrazed) and poo picked regularly there is no reason to suspect that he will have picked up many parasites as he doesn't mix ith others. Also how long on box rest?
 
cumbriamax said:
Forgot to add if your horse is mature 8+ he is not considered to be high riskto worms and if the grazing is good (not overgrazed) and poo picked regularly there is no reason to suspect that he will have picked up many parasites as he doesn't mix ith others. Also how long on box rest?
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He is almost 18 now, I've had him 10 years and this is the first time he has missed regular worming (every other yard I have been on has had a yard-wide worming routine in place). He hasn't been turned out with another horse since being wormed at the start of summer, and was wormed before box rest (which was five months November to March last year due to Laminitis) and at the end of box rest too, as we had to move yards during box rest time and this was his first time out in the paddocks there. He was also on box rest AGAIN in July with abcesses (his feet were very cruddy due to the lami and the flooded fields were causing problems) but this was only for a couple of weeks. Has his own paddock which is poopicked regularly.

I feel like such a fool for letting this slip my mind for so long! I was spending so much time worrying about his feet I inadvertently forgot about the rest of his body!
 
bubbilygum said:
He hasn't been turned out with another horse since being wormed at the start of summer, and was wormed before box rest (which was five months November to March last year due to Laminitis).
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Sorry this isn't clear, box rest was November 2011 to March 2012, and he was also in for three weeks in July 2012.
 
The other option is to Equest for the encysted redworm and get vet to do tapeworm blood test. That way you only need to worm for tapeworm if it is necessary, reducing potential issues with resistance as tapeworms are on the increase

(NB you may not have to repeat the blood test year on year, maybe only every 2 to three years - a couple of clear results and no change in environment/companions/management acc to my vet mean the horse is likely to stay clear, whereas horses that test positive tend to recur positive in the test (even if tapewormed, even with different tapewormer ingredients year on year).
 
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