Worming tips please!

[VioletStripe]

So, it dawned on me that I've had my boy almost 2 months and haven't yet wormed him! No signs of worms obviously, as he's in good health and keeping his weight on, but had no idea when he was last wormed. I'd've thought he would have been wormed when he came to the yard I bought him from, which must've been around May. So, quickly bought some and will be worming him tomorrow if all goes to plan It's a sort of gel consistency apparently, so best to just squirt it straight in their mouth.. any tips?! Never wormed before, although have witnessed a few. Though with the ones I've seen it's been a paste they've put in the feed. Any tips greatly appreciated, I'm guessing it'll be best to get the head up, and quickly squirt so it goes as near to the back of the mouth as possible? I'm sure I'll have lots of fun tomorrow xx

 

[Dolcé]

The gel type is loads better than the paste as it melts really quickly so less chance of them spitting it out. Set the weight marker before you start so you know how much to give and don't end up giving too much if the horse messes about, tube in through the gap in the teeth pointing towards the back of the tongue and press the plunger. Try to keep the head up for a few seconds to give the gel chance to melt. Now having said that, I tend to worm in the feed with the gel type ones and it has always worked ok.

 

[Marydoll]

If you dont know your horses worming history id have looked at a 5 day course of panacur with tretment for tapes further down the line.

 

[ISHmad]

Why not do a worm count first to see if he actually needs worming at the moment? Very fast turnaround from the worm test companies. Then you may be able to delay worming until later in the year when you will definitely need to worm for tapeworm and encysted worms.

As horse owners we really need to have a re-think about worming. So much resistance to most of the main chemical types now and no new ones being brought out. Then what?

 

[Victoria25]

I agree, do a worm count first to see if needed (no point if not) your vet will do it quite cheaply

I found this - could be helpful

Equine Annual Worming Schedule
January to March Routine worming
April Tapeworm
May to September Routine Worming
October Tapeworm
November Encysted Redworm
December Bot Worming.

Equine wormers
Wormers are divided into four different chemical groups:
1. Macrocyctic lactones (Ivermectins and milbemycins), Eqvalan, Equest, Eraquell, Bimectin, Vectin, and Equimax
2. Benzimidazoles, Panacur (fenbendazole) Telmin (mebendazole)
3. Pyrantel Embonates, Strongid P, and Embotape
4. Praziquantel, Equimax, and Equitape

Macrocyctic lactones treat bots, small redworms, large redworms and lungworms.
Benzimidazoles treat roundworms, large redworms and small redworms.
Pyrantel Embonates treat large roundworms, large redworms, small redworms, seatworms/pinworms and tapeworms (all species).
Praziquantels treat all three species of tapeworm
NB: only Panacur Equine Guard and Equest are licenced for the treatment of encysted L4 cyathostones (small redworms).

Mine dont usually eat the tablet forms so give orally but the Equimax tablets seemed to go down quite a treat!?

 

[w1bbler]

Agree with getting worm counts done & base your programme around that. Recommend westgate - send the sample one day & results in my inbox the next day.
Also it might seem obvious, but make sure your horse has no food in his mouth when you worm - I've watched someone drag their horse away from a haynet & shove wormer straight in - only to watch the lump of hay & £15 of wormer land on the floor.