Tape worm infestation! Help!

[riopony]

My horse has had some issues basically since I bought him 1.5 years ago. Some minor, some larger (Lyme and lameness type). He has also had some intermittent diarrhea, girthiness, sensitivity to touch, etc. The vet has been out a few times lately to diagnose what is going on now.

I had a fecal done sometime late February and it came back negative. I planned on worming for tapes after it warmed up per the usual protocol. Last year he came up positive for tapes in the fecal so I wasn’t sure if he would this time. He didn’t. As part of the exam a few weeks ago we decided to pull blood to have that tested for tapes. It just came back today. The vet’s secretary said that she usually gets the results back as like 5% and my horse was 78%!!! I have been calling him tape worm as a joke but Christ, he is more tape worm than horse at this point! (I do worm for tapes Spring and Fall by the way).

So… I am obviously buying Quest Plus as soon as I get out of work. The vet’s secretary couldn’t answer me on when I should retest the blood and/or hit him again. I know there are some amazing deworming people on here and am hoping to get your collective wisdom while I sit at work.

I feel like it is something like 14 weeks I should retest? Please enlighten me! I feel horrible for him and hope killing these will help with some of his weird issues.

[Sparrowette]

What does your vet recommend? Not Vet’s secretary, the VET.

[riopony]

I have that question out to them… They weren’t in the office when I was on the phone. I just thought I could get some suggestions on here while I wait to get the package instructions and the info from the Vet.

[gnu]

Deworm w/ Quest plus. Be sure to check manure piles produced 20 - 24 hrs post deworming. You will find tape segments (heads and/or segments) at that time if your horse is infested. I had three horses w/ lots of tapes; repeated Quest plus 3 months later. One horse required 3 treatments to get his numbers to remain very low.

[Scribbler]

Typically tape worms don’t show up in fecal counts so this problem could have been brewing for a while.

Had horse been around goats? I understand they can spread tapes to horses.

[JB]

The praziquantel in Quest Plus (and Equimax and Zimecterin Gold but never use ZG) is really effective against tapeworms. I wouldn’t worry about re-testing for that until about 6 months after, which is about the time you’d be doing a Fall FEC if you do those.

[riopony]

He hasn’t not been around goats but I’m wondering if he has carried a load of tapes since before I got him. His previous owner was of the “my fields don’t have worms” variety so I have been trying to get him squared away. He has been wormed for tapes spring/fall 3 times and then today. All times with QP. He did test positive for tapes in his last spring fecal. I may have spaced doing a fecal this past fall but he was definitely given QP.

I have done some more reading on the blood testing and it appears that since it tests antibodies not actual tapes it can mean that he has been exposed to a high tape load at some point (hence high antibodies) but may not necessarily have a high load now… I may be off on this because I also read that with dewormer and a decrease in tapes the antibody level can go down to “low” but not to “zero.” If anyone has thoughts or experience on that part please let me know. I try to educate myself as much as I can!

Thanks for the replies!