Worming - what do I do?

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Beth_C

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Hello!
I have 4 horses. I worked them all at beginning of December with equimax. 2 come in at night and 2 live out with shelter and ad-lib haylage, hard feed etc. Since worming, the 2 that live out dropped a considerable amount of weight. One is 24 and the other is 30.
I have been feeding these 2 horses 3 times a day with no significant weight gain so decided to do a panacur 5 day. I gave them both their first doses last night and this morning one of them looked as though he was on deaths door! I freaked out! Lying down in the middle of the field, not running to the gate as usual for his break fast. Slowly wandered over and wasn’t interested in food. Went to turnout the 2 in the stables and went back to get the other 2 in. The ill one was lying down again and wouldn’t get up! Took them in and phoned the vet. He continued to look very listless, lying down and then getting back up again and when he was standing his muzzle was resting on the floor of the stables. He pooed just before he came in. By the time the vet got to us he had perked up and was nibbling on hay. Still very very lethargic and wobbly to walk.
Vet has taken bloods and told me not to continue with the worming.
My questions are; do you agree this is wormer related?
Is it because he has a high worm burden and they are causing him pain?
How do I worm him going forward?
has anyone has any other similar experiences?
how do I deal with this?
 
View said:
Discuss with your vet when he calls back with the blood results. Might b related to the Panacur, might not.
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The vet said that it shouldn’t be the wormer as it is quite a gentle way to worm but didn’t have anything else to say about the wormer and didn’t know what was wrong with him.
 
Pinkvboots said:
He might have a high burden so the wormer can make them feel quite ill as they shift in the gut, I hope he improves and you get your blood results soon.
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Thankyou.
Do you have any ideas on what I could do about worming him going forward? I’m going to wait and see what his bloods say before I touch any wormers though
 
Perhaps it is coincidence and he is just struggling with age. I understand it is very worrying when things happen when we have tried our best for them. I hope he is soon feeling better I think I would be inclined to go with the vets advice on worming but if he wasn't affected by the equimax it might be just he has a problem with panacur. Good luck hope it is good news
 
Hope he's better soon. The head down low to the floor and the 'wobbly' walk sound like he took a tumble in the field and hurt his neck causing mild ataxia.
 
My old mare had mild colic with Panacur 5 day but is strangely fine with Pramox, so yes, I think the wormer is likely. Mine has never had a heavy worm burden but I thought, like you that Panacur would be gentler on her sensitive stomach.
 
I agree this is could be unrelated unless colic reaction to the wormer itself (rather than worm-linked reaction!). The whole point of the 5-day Panacur is that this doesn't happen, even with a high burden, and certainly not a horse wormed in December.

I hope the vet can work it out. Will they send some blood to check for encysted redworm? That would be my concern if you have been controlling adult worm population with Ivermectin but not yet done a winter wormer. When was the last moxidectin treatment of your horses?
 
The encysted redworms are the worry if high burden, as they’ll all react to moxidectin, so the gut wall where the redworms are burrowed in will suddenly , due to the wormer, become very active, and i cant imagine that feels good for any horse, no matter the burden, but especially if high burden. They’ll go off food due to how horrid their gut is feeling. We’d be the same.
I particularly hate redworms due to this.

Them being older horses wont have the resiliance of a younger horse to bounce back, so follow your vets advice and stop the wormers for now, allow spring grass to grow, them to put on weight, and resume worming depending on blood results/fecal count.

I’m personally not keen on worming an outdoor horse in the depths of winter, mainly due to the gut disturbance and die-off from any parasite burden, will make any horse feel off-colour/ dodgy gut, even if they dont overtly show it. Winter is harsh, cold dark and damp and us mammals have to use a lot of energy to keep dry and warm and fed, so i prefer to use the milder winter months for worming, and forget december and january. Mine have had slight reactions to wormers, i notice as theyre at home with me so i see any slight change in demeanour/eating/pooping. Wormers are strong chemicals, and if we took them as regular we’d come to know the true effects they have!
 
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