How often should horses be treated? Annually?
OK so I did the double dose thing with 3 of my horses that were a bit itchy. My 3yo had her last dose on Sat. She is not itching her tail anymore but I haven’t discovered any crusties. And I did 2 yearlings who have really blossomed I might add and are not itching. I now have 2 more I’m going to give a go on this week so will give you updates then.
And funny enough I was in my feed store one day yapping with the girls who work there as per usual when a guy came in looking for a wormer for his wife’s horse because he was quite itchy and rubbing his mane and tail raw. He picked up a tube of panacur because it was the cheapest. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut and told him before I started, I am not a vet and to talk to your vet before doing anything that comes out of my mouth. Told him about this thread thingy and the itching. He went away with 4 tubes of Equimax abou a month ago. I got a call from the girls about the horse in question who was doing so much better and a thank you. If you could have seen the look on his face when he saw the price of the Equimax’s - just priceless!
Terri
Way to go for spreading it to Ireland for us. :yes:
I did a DD of Ivermectin last week (what I had on hand).
DD Equimax is 10 days out!
Carrying on…
I’ve ordered enough dewormers to double dose my crew with ivermectin and then follow up with a double dose of Equimax.
I have a couple of questions - I’m having hip surgery on the 20th. If I receive the ivermection on the 12th, it will be too soon for the Equimax before my surgery. I may not be physically stable enough to administer the Equimax for 3-4 weeks after the ivermectin.
Will this be long to wait - and will it be too late in the season (approx mid-Sept) to treat for NTWs?
Thanks.
Unless you’re dealing with severe sweet itch/itching/etc. symptoms, just follow up with the next double dose when you can.
If possible, though, could a friend add the double dose to a mushed up banana and mix with their grain/dinner for you?
Jingles for a speedy recovery for you! :yes:
Pony was DD with equimax then DD with ivermectin. All looked good. He’s blossomed - no itching, his tail is growing back in thick, he’s gained weight. Last dose was about 1 month ago.
Now I notice some flaking again on his neck. He’s not bothered by it but…I want to catch this before it goes anywhere. Should I DD with equimax or ivermectin? and should I do a followup in 14 days?
Since it’s back, I’d do a DD Equimax followed by regular dose ivermectin once a week for 3 weeks. Once your NY weather cools down, the gnats will depart.
Thanks for the info, ChocoMare. My husband will be home, but I have a gelding who is very head shy. Maybe I can hobble to the barn and offer support from the aisle.
Oh good. My Clyde-X will let me shove anything in her mouth, no problem. My 17.3 Percheron tho? No way lady! :no: Soooo, I mush it up in 2 older, soft bananas…mix with beet pulp and a little cinnamon and DOWN it all happily goes, with much licking and eye rolling. :winkgrin: :lol:
Onchocerca
I was given a protocol of Panacur DD and then 10 days Quest Plus and 10 days and Quest. Of course I did this BEFORE I read on here that Quest makes them rub their tales. He was already rubbing!!! Yep…he really rubbed after Quest and is still rubbing! I have tried everything as far as topical things. It has been 11 days since the Quest. I’m concerned about giving more wormer now, but I am encouraged by the results that you have gotten with DD Ivermectin. The only issue I’m having is his tail rubbing. His coat is beautiful, very shiny and he has plenty of weight. Opinion??? What to do next?
The rubbing is because, as the microfilaria emerge, they itch like nobody’s business.
I would be hesitate to deworm with Quest again so soon, especially since the informal case studies clearly show that Equimax and Ivermectin work so well.
For your case, since you’ve done QuestPlus, I’d be doing a regular dose of Ivermectin every week from here on out until all symptoms cease.
Thank you ChocoMare - I did the DD this morning. Will follow up with the ivermectin. Yesterday I saw the pony doing this:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y292/ringersuz/Cocoaitching.jpg
He started at his chest, then proceeded a long, slow scratch to his groin and back to his chest :lol: His own personal scratching post. We’ve been inundated with deer fly and horse fly this year and he has quite a few bites and scabs on his belly, so this may very well be the cause of his itching. However, I thought he was quite ingenious :yes:
:lol: Smart pony!
Best I saw was my Clyde-X three springs ago. I’m watching her from a bit of a distance. She’s standing but rocking back and forth, almost as if she wanted to move forward but her feet were glued to the ground. 
Hmmmmm, time for a closer look to see if she’s caught on something.
Get within 3 feet of her and I see my smart mare has found a single upright stick (remains of a shrub) that juuuuust hit her belly. Perfect for tummy scratches! :winkgrin: :lol: :lol:
Yup - that’s what the pony was doing - rocking back and forth. Almost looked obscene :winkgrin:. He was even nibbling the grass in front of him as he was relieving the itch. One of the funniest things I’ve seen !
Worms
So after de-worming if the horse has the onchocerca will you actually see the worms in the poo? Also wont the worms become immune to these high doses of wormer?
Carab, I know it’s long but please read the majority of this thread, but particularly the first few pages and all the links to studies.
NTWs do not live in the gut. They take up residence in soft tissue, joints, skin, etc. They are truly microscopic, so when death occurs, the body absorbs them and eliminates them in the poo but they are invisible.
Resistance to dewormer normally develops as the result of regular under-dosing.
Just to be clear on the resistance issue:
Yes, normally there is a resistance issue when you under-dose. Under-dosing is commonly done in 2 ways - you use a weight tape to get the horse’s weight, and, as it’s notorious for, it’s a low number, often as much as 200-300lb low.
Or, you use the correct dosage, but the horse and you wear some of it.
The other resistance issue, and this is why you shouldn’t just willy nilly use this protocol or continue it without a pretty good reason, comes from using a chemical at a time when the stage of the parasite won’t be killed by it, but will be exposed to it. That’s why, with ivermectin, you normally don’t use anything else until 8 weeks is up, and certainly not ivermectin again before 8 weeks.
This is a different situation though, but because you’re still in the latter category above, it should still be done with thought.
Ok
Oh ok, I originally thought my mare had this problem (though we don’t have any nats, no see ums ect here) because she has itched ALL the hair off of her butt…and now she is pretty much itchy all over her body so I’m thinking it is not oncho cerca. I did worm her with a full syringe of the Equimax (she is only about 600-700 lbs) so I figured a full dose would do it. I kind of had to dig through her poo and found some reeeeeaaalllly tiny worms, thinking maybe they are ascarids or something. Anywho back to the drawing board to figure out what is wrong with my poor mare!
Really tiny probably means Pin Worms. Pin worms will cause a very itchy tail 
