Ultimately I would like to talk with my vet but it seems even a conversation is harder to get these days. So I will ask here.
My weanling filly seems to have a pot belly and the looking I have done suggests foals need to be wormed several times in a row. She was supposed to have been de wormed the month I bought her but they didn’t tell me with what.
I have had her a month now, should I de-worm again and if so would it hurt to use an ivermectin or is that not necessary, better to use a pyrantel? thank you
I just discussed this with my vet on Saturday. She had me use Safeguard at a slightly higher than his weight dose (so he’s close to 500# and she had me do 600#). We’ll see what he looks like in a month or so and go from there. She said Safeguard is better for roundworms (I think) that the ivermectin doesn’t catch or doesn’t catch well.
Did she have a pot belly when you bought her? Or has this developed in the month you had her?
Truthfully I never needed to deworm my weanlings when I raised them. The place where I got my youngster in Feb does monthly rotational deworming as the norm until they turn 2.
It didn’t seem to hurt him in the slightest but I decided I would do as I always have. Upon bringing him home I waited and dewormed him as I do my other 2 and he has been fine.
Given that your weanling is showing unthriftiness I would deworm her and also reevaluate your feeding .
Many vets recommend you de-worm at 30 days, and every 30-60 days thereafter until they turn 1.
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I double dose by weight panacur or strongid starting at 60 days of age, repeating monthly until at least 18 months. I did a single dose of ivermectin at 6 months and a dose and a half of oxybendazole at 7 months just to switch things up a bit. I have followed this for over 18 years with my foals and their fecals have always been negative.
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Well I don’t know about unthriftiness, she is shiny, growing, energetic and happy. I have a schedule for my adult horses but understand there is a different protocol for foals. Her feed has been advised by an Equine nutritional specialist, still waiting for my hay test to come back to fine tune it.
It’s not as simple as “several times in a row”. It’s about using drugs that work for the parasites they WILL have while they are developing immunity (strongyles, ascarids), and that work for the things they don’t develop immunity to (tapeworms, bots, pinworms, neck threadworms)
How old is she, and what has she had, when?
sigh No 
Not only is a single dose likely very useless against strongyles, it won’t kill ascarids. You MUST use a double dose for ascarids, and don’t rely on it for strongyles unless you can prove through fecal count reduction testing it’s effective on your farm
Yes, but it MUST be a double dose by weight
You were lucky. There’s another thread here from yesterday or the day before about a Friesian foal who died from a “tapeworm” (but really likely ascarid) impaction. They have no parasite immunity and can get overwhelmed very quickly
30 days is too young - nothing has had time to mature to the stages they can be killed. 8 weeks is when to start
Every 30-60 days after that is good. You need to alternate between ivermectin (to kill strongyles), and either double fenbendazole or double pyrantel pamoate to kill ascarids. Their first Fall, or 6+ months old, needs to be either Equimax or double pyrantel to kill tapeworms
Then repeat those rotations - ivermectin, double fen or double pp, ivermectin, etc for a year, then start some FECs to see how they are handling things. Wait 12 weeks after ivermectin, or 8-10 weeks after one of the doubles, before getting a manure sample.
You might be able to slow down, but you might need to keep up the 30-60 day rotation for a few more, then do the waiting period again for another FEC and see what’s what.
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JB thank you for your info, I am copying and saving because in a month I will have forgotten which and when.
I was told my filly was wormed a month ago, so at 5 months but her people at the time didn’t remember what they used. So, if she wasn’t wormed then is it still safe to give her a double dose of Safeguard, any Fenbendazole, product?
Let’s assume she’s never been dewormed (properly). I’d start with a double fen to get those ascarids. In 30 days (she’ll be roughly 7 months), do Equimax for strongyles and tapeworms, OR, in 30 days do ivermectin for strongyles, and then 30 days after that do double pyrantel pamoate for tapes. Me, personally, I’d probably get on with the Equimax.
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JB will do, thank you.
PS thank you also for the tips on the bookmark, how do you write on the page?
Good information here, where do people buy your deworming products? I am wondering if its worth it to buy a couple years supply at a time if I mail order and get a better price? ( is this hi-jacking the thread?)
that was done on my laptop with a program called Snip. windows-shift-s lets me take a screen shot that I can then edit, and my screen is a touch screen. Same could be done on a phone - screen shot (however your phone does that, my iphone is home + power) then edit the pic to draw on it
It might have been that they were not raised on grass and their dry lot was picked daily ( by me). They also were self weaned so on the mare longer and maybe less stress? They did get dewormed before their first year.
If they showed any signs I would have course done them immediately at a younger age.
@colorfan to me a pot belly is usually accompanied by ribs showing, so I would call that some degree of unthriftiness even though they may have a shiny coat.
When was she weaned? They go through a “pot-belly” stage about 30 days after weaning and it can last anywhere between 3-4 months up to and into their yearling year. I remember a vet telling me years ago why this happens, but I haven’t raised a foal in a long time, and I’m old and forget things.
Weanlings do need to be wormed more frequently. Their young bodies can’t deal with worm loads like an adult horse. Check with your vet. I’m ridiculously out-of-date on raising colts.
She was weaned a couple of weeks before she came to me so about 5 months. I havn’t heard that weanlings get a pot belly. I wonder if its because of the transition from milk to adult food, their gut needs to be bigger to accommodate the fibre (hay) and as they grow the disproportion disappears.
Not all foals get pot-bellied. There’s a difference between a hay belly, and a pot belly, with the latter due to malnutrition or parasites, usually, and it also pretty much comes with a poor-looking topline and a general unthriftiness
They do need some time, starting around 3 months, for things to ramp up on the hay/grass digestion process, but if nutrition is high (BIG fan of ration balancers for this, nutritional needs are enormous), and deworming taken care of, their bodies should look good other than possibly a “hay belly” for a short while.
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Roan mare weird! You wrote my post!! I mean what you wrote could have been my information give or take a few weeks on the age… I guess its the season for weaning youngsters.
JB, thinking of the difference between hay belly and pot belly it probably is hay belly, but will worm again just to be sure. thank you.
