Deworming Schedule for the neglected horse

[MrsWat3rs]

I have a 2 part question…
30 days ago I reacquired an old horse of mine (Totally a sentimental decision on my part, but in my defense he was and still is awesome). He’s a 16 year old quarter horse who has not had vet care in at least 3 years. The vaccinations and farrier care I’ve got handled, but I used a ivermectin dewormer 30 days ago and he has been showing several symptoms of having threadworms. So I don’t know if I should do a second dose of ivermectin or move on to a Fenbendazole dewormer?

Secondly:
My plan was to deworm monthly for about 3 months because he hasn’t been wormed in so long and then move to a bi-monthly schedule as per my previous experience. However, I’m at a new barn with a new vet and the barn owner recommends a monthly deworming schedule. My old barn (I was there for 4 years) dewormed everyone bi-monthly and then recently moved to collecting and counting fecal egg counts prior to deworming. Plus all the deworming schedules I can find online are bi-monthly. Is there a reason to deworm monthly? We live in South Louisiana and there is about 9 horses on 10 acres at this barn. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[shamumu14]

I would have a fecal test done, and then do what your vet says. They know the specific times to deworm, and instruct you on what dewormer to reduce the number of worms the fastest. You could also do a powerpack, then have the vet come out. Either way, having the vet come out and do a fecal is in my opinion a very good thing to do, especially so this horse won’t be giving the worms to every horse on your property. Deworming on a monthly basis is not preferred, treating it at the root is your best bet. Hope this helps, good luck!

PowerPack: https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e07fed-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5&sfb=1&itemguid=32eaa2e6-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5&utm_content=24299&ccd=IFH003&mr:trackingCode=E353C464-3C81-E211-BA78-001B21631C34&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=plaonline&mr:ad=43741626523&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:filter=84506855563&gclid=CIG738m9_sYCFU4bgQodzXsOnA

[Guilherme]

Talk to your vet. Horses that have not had regular care and maintenance can have a heavy worm load and sloughing that load all at the same time can have negative consequences, particularly if the horse is not in good health otherwise. When we did rescue we did this and our regular vet. would give a quick phone consult.

G.

[candyappy]

[QUOTE=Guilherme;8247810]
Talk to your vet. Horses that have not had regular care and maintenance can have a heavy worm load and sloughing that load all at the same time can have negative consequences, particularly if the horse is not in good health otherwise. When we did rescue we did this and our regular vet. would give a quick phone consult.

G.[/QUOTE]

This is what I did on a TB rescue mare. My vet saw her upon her arrival and was able to help me get the deworming done right. She responded beautifully.

[AKB]

I’m glad you took the horse back. Take a couple of balls of fresh manure to the vet’s office and get a fecal done. Then talk with the vet. If the horse just had ivermectin and survived, any heavy worm burden is probably decreased. You may need to worm with Equimax or Quest Plus to get rid of tapeworms. Tapeworms don’t usually show in a fecal.

[JB]

Deworming monthly isn’t the answer for a (possibly) heavy worm load. It’s not as if the ivermectin only killed some of the heavy load - doesn’t work like that

Having used ivermectin, you took care of stronglyes, probably most ascarids if he even had any (unlikely), pinworms, and bots. It would have been a great time to do a FEC before using that to know where you started. As it is now, you don’t know where you started. But that’s ok.

However, the ivermectin didn’t touch tapeworms, which are undoubtedly there. Given it’s been 30 days, and you used ivermectin, I would use Quest Plus at this point (and I’m assuming he’s in good weight).

Why?

Because ivermectin killed 95%+ of the adult strongyles. It didn’t kill any encysted strongyles, it didn’t kill tapeworms. You can’t kill a partial load of tapeworms without under-dosing, which you never want to do. You miiiight kill a partial load of encysted strongyles by doing a Power Pack, but most likely you’d kill at least 85% of them.

So, you might as well just get everything else you didn’t get with the plain ivermectin, and get it all done with.

Then in 16 weeks do a FEC to plan how to proceed. If he’s clean, then 6 months after that Quest Plus, use Equimax, and do a FEC 12 weeks later, or early March, whichever is later.

If he’s loaded (200 or higher) in 16 weeks, use Equimax then, then proceed as above.

There’s little point doing a FEC now. YOu’d really need to wait 12 weeks from dosing. I just wouldn’t do that, given his lack of deworming, and the knowledge that tapeworms are likely there, and maybe in a larger load by now, so I’d just use the QP now, and then pick up on FECs in 16 weeks.