This is the time of year I worm for both tapeworms and all the others that usually Ivermectin hits. I use this product in April and October. I use regular Ivermectin in January and July. This is how I worm. Four times a year. How does your worming schedule differ? I'm curious to find out how everyone else worms their horses and do you worm more often than I or less?
Misty once again has manged to find the burrs and I cannot imagine how.
I've also just ordered this product for Kola. Kola as most of you know often suffers from stress colic. I know her cues and intervene with a dose of Probiotics and Banamine which I keep on hand at all times. Since she recently did this again on Sunday, I talked with Jess and we discussed the possibility of ulcers in Kola. So I thought I would try this product through the Spring for her since this is one of the times of the year she gets stressy. Usually both of them get pissy attitudes during their Spring and Autumn heat cycles. Has anybody out there tried an Ulcer prevention product? If you have, what type and did you find it to work? Curious as I have never tried this before.
Both girls get two tablespoons of Metamucil with a little corn oil mixed with their grain twice a week.
17 comments:
Cannot tell about worms. I'll ask the club next week-end.
Hope you had a nice St Patrick's day.
I use the Strongid 2x Daily wormer. Have been for years. My horses look great!!
Ulcers...I have tried the powder, but it is only a temporary solution. For a full "cure" you need to use omeprazole. This is generally very expensive as you need a full tube of Ulcergard daily for 28 days. (If you decide to treat, please email me. I have some valuable information for you.)
Ulcergard, which is the over the counter Gastrogard runs over $30 a tube, so you can see how it adds up. You could try your horse on a course of ranitidine (Zantac) for a few days as well. (I THINK it's at least 15 pills but you might have to look up the dosage.) Again, if there is a change in attitude, then ulcers are very likely and a course of omeprazole is your best bet.
The omeprazole will stop stomach acid for 24 hours, and over the month of treatment, allow the ulcers to heal. I did the full courst and it made a HUGE difference in my horse's attitude. But again, if you decide, email me. My profile has my contact info.
I had one vet who insisted that I either worm continuously with powder in the grain (but I don't feed grain regularly), or every 8 weeks. I had another vet who said that a tube of paste wormer every 12 weeks is sufficient. So, I do the middle ground of every 10 weeks.
I haven't educated myself on what kinds of worms are prevalant at what times of the year. I just rotate wormers by giving them something different from what I gave them during the previous dosage.
I have experience with stress colic, but not ulcers.
Well, I'm not sure if she has ulcers. I'm thinking preventative. This horse certainly doesn't have a weight loss problem which could be an indicator of an ulcer and certainly not an "I don't want to eat issue". But I think it might help with the stress colic. I plan on consulting with the vet when I have them out for their coggins and shots.
Here's my worming schedule, recommended by my vet. I've been on it almost a year, and so far so good!
I have never had a problem with ulcers in our horses. Our worming schedule recommended by our vet calls for different types of wormers at different times of the year -- 4 times, I think. Ivermectin, Quest, Anthelcide, and something else (I forget). It is time for me to order all this stuff........
I deworm my horses every 8 weeks. I rotate dewormers. Ivermectin gets used twice, in the spring and fall. The others are Pryrantel Pamoate (Strongid), Anthelcide, and Oxibendazole. Every area is different on how much you should deworm. It also depends on how many horses you have. The vet can do a fecal egg count to find out how bad your worm situation is and than make a deworming plan to fit your needs. Everyone's will be different.
I have never had a horse with an ulcer, thank goodness! And I haven't had colic in a horse since I was a young teen. I guess I have been super lucky in the last 5 years!
My horses on given Strongid C 2X daily, wormed in April with Ivermectin and October with ComboCare. I have wormed this way for years and have healthy, happy horses. I don't have problems with ulcers and don't give preventative supplements.
Re: Ulcers...I used 30 days of Tagamet (the human drug) bought through the vet. He said it was much cheaper than the horse ulcer medicine. She's a large pony 800 lbs., so she got 6400 mg./day. At the end of that we went through 2 or 3, five-gallon buckets of Neigh-lox. A teeny scoop twice a day. No more runny poop!
We usually deworm every two months. There is a way to time the wormings depending on which species are a problem at which time of year, but it isn't really an exact science and it's not really necessary. Simply rotating and worming often enough works fine. We do a panacur power pac at the end of fall, the ivermectin with praziquantel 2x a year (usually beginning of spring and end of summer) and alternate strongid, regular ivermectin and panacur in between.
Doing a fecal can help determine where your problem areas are; we had a huge problem with ascarids at one farm we were at due to poor pasture management, which needed to be treated with the panacur power pac. Other types of worms require different products. The best thing you can do is manage pastures/paddocks well (mowing, dragging or picking up manure, etc) and rotate your wormers - using the same product every time can cause resistance in your particular population, and may not be addressing all of the species present. Ivermectin is a good broad spectrum wormer but, for example, it won't kill ascarids as well as fenbendazole, so you should really mix them up.
For Donnie's probable ulcers we're trying a new smartpak product called 'Smart Gut,' which looks promising. We also give everyone a product called 'TractGard.' Nutrient Buffer is also a nice product, and comes in liquid form, and we've had luck with a border's horse once feeding him plain aloe juice. The U-Guard is a decent product. You just want to avoid anything that uses aluminum-based ingredients for antacids...
So in answer to your question, that's our schedule.
OK, I think there such a thing as worming too much as we've discussed as far as resistance goes. It seems everyone has a decent program in place. The only thin I might change up is what I worm for in July. Not sure though. As far as the U-gard goes, short of scoping Kola and finding out if she has ulcers for sure, I really don't think she does after consulting my Vet. Most horses that do are on the show circuit or being hauled everywhere and such. Kola has an easy life, but Vet says that the U-gard certainly won't hurt and it may help with digestive upset and it's worth a try. Anyway, I'll set a time for appointment for the girls soon as I have enrolled them in this equine wellness program. Love this Vet as she will split the vacs and leave them with me To give at a later date, so it saves me a farm call cost! Love it!
Webinar scheduled on equine ulcers. It is free. Information here: http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=13693
Researchers estimate 70%-80% of horses being worked suffer from ulcers. Syptoms do not necessarily include weight loss. (My guy was round and shiny.) Even foals can have ulcers. Much research is still being done.
While scoping can detect ulcers, many vets seem to think treating for ulcers to see if there is a change in the horse is a more reliable method of diagnosis.
Hmmm - I rotate wormers on a schedule similar to the bimonthly one described here.
I'm planning on a fecal culture after the upcoming wormer round, just to see how things are.
Do you think the metamucil helps? I've been wondering about sand colic, and I've read that psyllium can be helpful in preventing it....
Jean, Thanks for the great information. Especially foals have ulcers. That's true, I actually discussed this with my Vet and we think that this is a good start. I'm doing this as a preventative, not as a cure for ulcers, I don't know that she has one. She stress colics and I'm trying something to see if it helps.
SunnySD, I don't know if the Metamucil actually helps, but it's the same as the sand colic powder, the psyllium, and much cheaper. Just two tablespoons in their grain twice a week. I add a bit of corn oil to mix it with and they get theirs on Monday and Thursday. Been doing that for a year. Can't hurt, anyway and if you have a problem with sand, then why not?
We deworm about every two months. If not more often than that in the summers. I like a daily dewormer for the horses that I am working. I always rotate. I really love the daily dewormer.
My 20 year old gelding has ulcer issues. He stresses out about everything. We give him probiotics a week before we go anywhere and then a week after we get home. It has seemed to help him. I have never used an ulcer prevention before, I have never heard of it. I was just using the probiotics as my prevention, I will have to check that stuff out!!
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Can you get Pramox in the US. It is made by the same company that make Equest. It contains Moxidectin and Praziquantel, and will treat tapeworm and the encysted redowm stage. Ben
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