Deworming - Pony w/ high EPG

[AskMyAccountant.17]

Last Friday I took a pony who had arrived in for training about 3 weeks ago for a Gastric Scope. He had been fairly nervy and came to me slightly underweight. (All things that were abnormal from the ponies I am sent from this breeder.) You could just tell, something wasn’t quite right and he was uncomfortable.

Scope was scored a 1/5 , no ulcers but some hyperkeratosis and bots. We did a fecal which arrived Friday evening w/ a score of 1500 EPG. I gave a tube of Zimectrin Gold. I thad taken pony to a local university, rather than my local equine vet for the scope (because they could see me first) so i sent an email over to my clinic to chat w/ my vet this afternoon.

My concerns one, is this pony at risk of colic/ulcers w/ a mass deshedding from the wormer? W/ a 1/5 should he be on UG or a maintenance dose of UG until we get a cleaner fecal, which I plan to take again in a few weeks.

Wormer was given Friday, I scanned his manure Monday but didn’t see anything abnormal. Yesterday evening, he was very nervy to handle.

At my property he has 24/7 turnout w/ lots of forage and eats quart of ration balancer 2x w/ a handful of a fat/rice bran supplement. He scored a 5/9 body score from the vet, so his weight is now in a proper place.

[JB]

@AskMyAccountant.17

eats quart of ration balancer 2x

Most ration balancers are about 3c/lb. 2 quarts is 8c, so almost 3lb of the balancer. That’s a lot for a pony. What does he weigh?

Ivermectin isn’t an instant kill, so things will be dying off in stages. Personally, I wouldn’t have used the ivermectin + prazi combination, as that’s hitting all the strongyles and all the tapeworms that are also likely there. But it’s done, so all you can do is monitor things. Most likely he’ll be fine. I’ve used Quest on a 1500ct and all was fine.

What does “nervy to handle” mean and how was yesterday evening different from 3 weeks ago when he was “fairly nervy”? Did his behavior improve in the last 3 weeks?

If you’re doing a repeat FEC, you need to do it 10-14 days after using the ZG so you can do a reduction test (FECRT). If you’re doing another FEC to determine if he needs to be dewormed again, you should to that 10-12 weeks after the ZG. So, “in a couple weeks” isn’t an appropriate timeframe for much of anything.

[AskMyAccountant.17]

The vet at the university said to do another fecal in 30-days as well as per her words, “grab a wormer that has a plus or gold on your way home”

I just pulled the feeding directions of Buckeye. Pony was 750 lbs @ clinic. Feeding directions for moderate-intense work is 1.5-2.5 pounds a day for a 600-800p pony.We have 1/4 scoop on his board, so it’s likely a touch less than this since we use a 3qt scoop and a quarter is a touch less than a third. So exact match .25 of 3 quarts is .75 quart 2x day. .75 x 2 = 1.5 quarts/day so 1.2 pounds x 1.5 qt = 1.8 pounds a day. (We hack/wtc outside 4-5 days a week. He’s started under saddle. )

[JB]

@AskMyAccountant.17

The vet at the university said to do another fecal in 30-days

For what reason? It’s a fact that if you want to do a reduction test, you need to do it in the 10-14 day range.

Ivermectin is “good” for about 8 weeks, meaning without resistance issues, or a shorter egg reappearance period (ERP) which is another form of resistance, you don’t want to do another FEC for about 4 weeks past the “good for” period (which is the ERP)

30 days post-ivermectin doesn’t fit any criteria.

If he’s really eating more like 1.5qt, then yes, at 1.2lb/qt (I was able to find that on their site, most don’t have that!), then that’s better. Just know that he’s in light work, not moderate+. 600-800lb in moderate work only gets 1.5lb, light work gets 1.25lb. Just saving a little $

[AskMyAccountant.17]

Well I don’t know, that just what the vet said.

[PaddockWood]

I bought a horse last April that came back at 2100. I had him quarantined from others for a few months and started picking my fields from day one. And I’ve never stopped. Getting that manure up and off your pastures is best practice if you can do it. I have a tractor with a front end loader so it’s easy to zip around Just a thought.

And with a count like that what are the odds you’ve got immune suppression and gut inflammation? My guy was gassy, colicky, and had wierd manure. No vets ever suggested but I started a gut rehab program 2 weeks ago (did a nutritional consult with Martha Faraday) and his gas is gone and manure is looking almost normal. And he’s so much happier.

Our latest FEC was zero but I probably over dewormed the past 9 months. Getting a FEC count of 2100 kind of freaked me out.

[JB]

@AskMyAccountant.17

Well I don’t know, that just what the vet said.

The info I listed is factual info that’s been studied and validated for a very long time. Unfortunately a lot of vets don’t have that level of education on this subject.

[AskMyAccountant.17]

I chatted with my personal vet last night. Aside from the wormer there’s nothing else she would have suggested to give for that aspect. But for the hyperkeratosis and help manage his “system” suggested that we give either Platinum Performance GI or Succeed, and since no ulcers were found but the Hyperkeratosis suggested I do Ablers(pop rox) which she felt was useful for this scenario.

So we decided to do Succeed for 30-days which I got for 10% off of Farmvet with code Save10 for $129 and Abler’s ordered 60-sachets, his weight suggested 2 sachets a day, a larger horse may have needed more for a maintenance dose, for $110 after using a 10% off code Welcome10. And then we’ll go from there.

[JB]

Hyperkeratosis suggests past, healed ulcers. Why does she want you to treat for ulcers?