Is my dewormer really ruined?

[myhorsefaith]

Argh- so I completely and utterly forgot that I had a bunch of dewormer pastes- generic ivermectin as well as equimax stored in my tack locker at the barn. I had meant to bring them home, but it slipped my mind. And now i'm wondering if i made a very expensive mistake.

Looking at the labels- equimax says: Store at room temperature (25°C/77°F), with excursions permitted between 15°-30°C (59°-86°F).

Ivermectin label: Store at controlled room temperature, 20º to 25º C (68º to 77ºF).

I live in Western Wa, and this winter we've had freezing temps and snow, so obviously temps have dropped well below those listed on the labels. Now that I look at the labels, don't even know if having them at the house would've been ok- we keep ours at a cool 62.

So I'm guessing my dewormer is useless, eh? That is so sad :no:

[greysandbays]

Several years ago I'd ordered wormer from a vet supply company, and a sudden cold snap (20 below zero) hit while my shipment was enroute. I was pretty sure there was a warehouse/loading dock/truck somewhere between there and here that wasn't heated and my wormer likely froze.

I called the supply company and asked them about it, and they said it would be just fine. I let it come to room temp before using it because paste just behaves so much better if it's not stiff with cold (or runny because it's too warm).

[saultgirl]

You really keep your house at 62??!! Wow, you are tough!! I'm in Northern Ontario, and the temp outside is currently -18C or 0F.... I'll be heading out shortly to walk the dog, and later to ride, but I would never survive if my house wasn't 70F+ !!

Anyways, I would say yes, your dewormer is probably a lot less effective now. But it might be worth calling your vet to get his/her opinion.

[Auventera Two]

You really keep your house at 62??!! Wow, you are tough!! I'm in Northern Ontario, and the temp outside is currently -18C or 0F.... I'll be heading out shortly to walk the dog, and later to ride, but I would never survive if my house wasn't 70F+ !!
.

We keep ours at 60 overnight and during the day when we're not home, then in the evening turn it up to 64-66 or so. My 3 dogs have fleece Weatherbeeta coats they wear a lot. But when propane is $2.10 a gallon and they deliver 300 gallons at a time, you skimp. :lol:

[myhorsefaith]

Yep, 62! If we're cold, we'll bump it to 64-66, but that doesn't happen often.

Honestly, we're not home very much, when we are, we are watching tv, and we have blankets on the couch. we have a heated mattress pad to warm it up at night, and then it gets turned off.

I'm pretty used to it, doesn't bother us a bit.

[DesignerLabel]

Call the manufacturer of the wormer. I have been told that freezing doesn't hurt the wormer, the label states not to freeze because the tube can crack.

Liz

[murphyluv]

I don't worry as much about drugs getting cold as I do getting hot-- like, in someone's car.. for example. I also think Dewormer is probably safer, than say, the adequan/injectable banamine/bute/equioxx/ace, etc, that people keep in their barn and not in a fridge or a climate controlled tack room. Especially here where it's not unusal for it to get over 100 degrees in the barn during the summer. That's scary.

[draftdriver]

I keep my house at 58! I might bump it up to 62 if it gets to -30 outside at night.

My vet said that Equimax should not be allowed to freeze. She said it would be worthless if it did.

[GallopHer]

I'd love to know the answer to this question. I keep my wormers in my house, but I'd prefer to keep them in the barn.

I wonder if I should store them in my barn refrigerator? While they'd be on the cool side, I don't think it ever gets below 32 degrees...

[WeDoItAll]

Yep, 62! If we're cold, we'll bump it to 64-66, but that doesn't happen often.

I'm pretty used to it, doesn't bother us a bit.

I'm a stay at home mom .... so we're home almost all the time. Keep the house about 64... bump it to 66 if we're cold. But normally what happens is after bumping it to 66 and when it actually gets there ... I'm like ... hey who turned up the heat -- it's hot in here! And we bump it back down.

Does make it tough to go to other people's houses though --- I have to make sure I dress very light! We've got a trip to Maui planned the end of February and the condo doesn't have air conditioning -- pretty sure I'll be sleeping on the terrace.

[gabz]

I'd love to know the answer to this question. I keep my wormers in my house, but I'd prefer to keep them in the barn.

I wonder if I should store them in my barn refrigerator? While they'd be on the cool side, I don't think it ever gets below 32 degrees...

Refrigerators should be no warmer than 40 degrees and obviously above 32.

I had the worst time one day trying to dispense Quest gel when it was below freezing. It was SO thick and it was incredibly hard to push the plunger. From then on, when I had to transport dewormers to a boarding barn, I put them in a thermos with some warm water in it, otherwise, I couldn't get them to come out

[myhorsefaith]

I just called Pfizer regarding Equimax, and the rep looked it up on their frozen product list...there is no indication that freezing will harm the product, just need to bring it back to room temp in order to syringe it.

*Doing a Happy Dance* :D

[STNS]

Good timing and good to know! I left a couple tubes in my car overnight and it was -10ºC, I was worried I'd have to chuck them!