Worms - question,.....

[Marnie]

A friends horse had an infestation of roundworm autumn last year - despite regular worming and egg counts throughout the year as recommended by her vet. She was treated and egg counted afterwards as zero count. She has found worms again in the droppings last night and today which she is obviously concerned about.

She (and the others on the yard) poo pick daily as they have fairly limited grazing. Next door to where her mare grazes is a field with horses in that are probably never wormed. I am assuming that the pasture is now infected, probably originating from the next door field. She is going to contact her vet to discuss but I just wanted to know if it was possible to get soil tested for worm eggs so that she could look at the field. I am assuming that the relatively mild winters now are not killing off the eggs as would have happened previously. Also, she wormed with Equest on 28th December so should still be covered by that, so to have adult worms appearing is obviously of concern.

Has anyone had similar? Is it worth contacting the drug company?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Dolcé]

I saw a very worrying report in HH last week about resistence to Ivermectin being reported (although mainly in foals and I think in Denmark) tis worrying though! I was thinking the other day that the cold spell we have just had should hopefully kill the bu**ers off, I would definitely contact the company, they need to know these things. Might be worth mentioning to the vet too.

 

[OWLIE185]

You are correct that the worms will migrate from one field to another.

Yes it has been a warm winter which may not have helped.

Your friend needs to worm at least every 6 weeks if she wishes to keep the worms down.

Also she needs to be made aware that a worm count will not detect any encysted small red worm or tape worm both of which are dangerous so she needs also to use a wormer that will control them.

 

[iconique]

The attached link might help with some information, it relates to research and information from Liverpool University.

http://www.diagnosteq.com/methods.html

It includes information about most of the wormers available on the market and what they do. There has been alot of press recently about resistance to wormers, we tend to rotate and use the wormers recommended by our vet so that we don't build up a resistance to any particular wormer and we are looking at the option of doing the regular testing to ensure that we aren't infected, I think the kits to send away are about £6 each, so it might be worth everyone investing in a test to see if the infestation is more widespread, obviously your vet can give you the best advice. I believe that my vet can do the tests for me and as he's due out shortly so I'm going to check with him then.