daily wormer: pros & cons

[sayyadina]

The stable my ponies are boarded at is going to be starting a daily worming program, and I wanted to know the pros & cons. My biggest concern is the daily use of a wormer leading to parasite resistance.

Both my mares are 19. One is semi-retired due to her arthritis and not wanting to do much anymore. She's on a pretty heavy duty joint supplement which has helped her. The other is part Arab and could work all day if I wanted to. She's been scratching her butt a lot, and nothing has cleared it up. Regular worming, skin product, washing & moisturizing, coat supplement or a mare supplement.

I do have this stuff called nu-stock that I use on our alpacas that have lost hair on their ears due to bug bites, which I could try on her.

[mvp]

Pro-- according to my BO, about $60 per year more expensive than paste worming every two months with Ivermectin. You still need to do Eqvalan (I think? Jesus I'm ignorant because she isn't) twice a year to take care of the species Ivermectin doesn't.

Pro (kind of) you can get $5,000 of colic surgery coverage from Pfizer. It won't pay your whole bill, but it may help you make a decision if you are on the fence about surgery vs. euthanasia. It bums me out that Pfizer started charging a $50 fee/year for this formerly free service. So will I pay $110 more a year for a potentially still-large surgery and rehab bill on a horse I'm pretty sure I wouldn't send to surgery anyway? No. I told Pfizer to bite me, as did many other peeps in my vet's practice.

Pro (or not) it will make just about any horse an "easy keeper." They also look pretty luscious, fat and nice coat combined.

Hope this helps.

[horsetales]

I don't think its great for all horses and can lead to resistance. For example there are horses that drop alot of food - cribbers, wonderers or bad teeth - I think its hard to verify dosage for horses that drop food. Also make sure they are worming 2X (spring/fall) for bots and tapes and to help reduce resistance. My vet has seen horses lost due to tapes and their damage because people only used daily wormer. Its definitely easier, especially for those nightmare horses. Horses tend to look great on it.

[Maryanne Nicpon]

$5000 worth of surgical coverage for $50 per year is hardly too expensive. My horses have been enrolled since the program was introduced. In 2001, I had to use the surgical coverage on a mare with a two month old foal at her side. Pfizer paid the $5000 promptly. My surgeon has said that Pfizer is easier to deal with and pays more promptly than any insurance company. When I enroll my 2009 foals, I will have 16 in the program. The $50 per horse will hurt a little, but their renewal dates are spaced out over the year, so it won't be all at once.

Believe me. If you have the misfortune of having to have colic surgery on one of your horses, the $50 won't seem like that much of an investment.

[ChocoMare]

2 Cons:

1) As already mentioned, resistance.

2) BIGGEST..under dosing.

[spotmenow]

Resistance is a big concern. And, $5000 is only going to get you about 1/2 way if your horse really does need colic surgery...around here the surgery plus hospitalization is about $8000. Then, once you take them home you need follow up visits from the vet-another $1000 at least.

I rotate dewormers every 8 weeks and throw in ALL the major chemical classes. Happy with the results.

[grayarabpony]

2 Cons:

1) As already mentioned, resistance.

2) BIGGEST..under dosing.


ChocoMare is so right. Regarding the underdosing, if you give Strongid either get your horse weighed on a scale or add a hundred pounds, or even two hundred to your estimate.

I have my horses on Strongid C currently; even with a strong deworming program, I just didn't like the way they looked without it. With the moisture levels we have here it's parasite heaven. I bought a microscope so that I could monitor egg counts, and plan to rotate the horses off of Strongid during hot dry summers and especially cold winters.

[JB]

I rotate dewormers every 8 weeks and throw in ALL the major chemical classes. Happy with the results.
If moxidectin is in that mix, then 8 weeks with something else is too soon.

If fenbendazole and pyrantel pamoate are in that mix, they are ineffective for all intents and purposes.

If you use ivermectin and moxidectin just because the calendar says so, you may be deworming unnecessarily.

:)

[RAM]

My vet was just out this week and we discussed wormer rotation. He said there are some studies out that discuss resistence, one reason being there have been no new products for 20 years. They are putting together a letter to send all clients and talked about treating horses different since some shed more than others. I'm still a little confused about all that so am waiting for more information.

[JB]

RAM, all your questions will be answered if you go to www.thehorse.com look on the left side for Webinars, and watch the recent ones on deworming :)

They're about an hour, so be prepared. But it's great information, and something *everyone* needs to watch.