These odd objects were in the bottom of my horse’s water tub this morning. She has two tubs and this one was full, so she didn’t drink from it last night. These odd things look like spaghetti and give off an oily sheen. Could they be pieces of strongyles she has coughed up? She was treated with a Panacur Power Pac four weeks ago.
I plan to ask my vet but wondered if anyone has seen anything like this. In my 55 years of having horses, I have never seen anything like it.
What do they feel like? Are they really soft and easily broken like spaghetti?
Yes. I did call my vet, and the receptionist thought they may be strongyles. She is a new horse for me, imported from Canada. I did a fecal about 6 weeks ago and she had a very heavy worm load. The vet recommended the Power Pac and we were going to follow up in four to six weeks with another fecal to see how it worked. After that, we would come up with a deworming plan for her based on the new fecal.
I’m aware of the controversy around using fenbendazole and hadn’t used it since the 1990’s. However, it is still recommended in certain cases.
A FECRT - FEC reduction test - needs to be done 10-14 days after the last (or only) dose of a dewormer. Get too much past that, especially weeks past that, you don’t know if a moderate or high count means the original deworming wasn’t effective enough, or there’s a shortened ERP (egg reappearance period)
6+ weeks post-fenbendazole is really just seeing if the horse needs to be dewormed again, but you don’t know if it was because the original dosing wasn’t effective, or the immune system is still overwhelmed.
There shouldn’t be any controversy around using Fen. You either use it when you know it’s effective on your farm (less useful when it’s a horse new to your farm), or you use something known to be effective (moxidectin, ivermectin)
I do get it that at some point, with a really high load (what was the FEC anyway?) there’s a concern about a massive die-off causing toxin and/or impaction issues. But the problem with using a very likely very ineffective drug (fenbendazole tops that list) is that you might kill little to nothing, so you’re left with a high load anyway. And if it IS effective enough, you’ve killed a large load you didn’t expect to kill.
Either way, neither bots nor tapeworms have been addressed, so make sure this next deworming takes care of those - ivermectin or moxidectin, paired with praziquantel, Equimax or Quest Plus.
They’re probably ascarids.
How old is the horse? Unless she’s < 3 and never properly dewormed, strongyles are much more likely than ascarids, as nearly every horse develops immunity to ascarids by 2, if not 3. Strongyles can be a problem longer than that, ascarids not very often.
if it IS ascarids, than a PP would have been very effective, but I would also assume the FEC would have laid out that ascarids were a problem, and for sure, I assumed strongyles since ascarids weren’t mentioned.
She is eight. Again, I do know how to treat parasites in my horses. I’ve never had a horse with a heavy parasite load. Since I don’t know her deworming history, I can’t say whether she has always carried a heavy parasite load or if resistance is a problem.
My plan is to do another fecal, use Quest, and then do another fecal. I’m waiting for a call back from my vet to confirm my plan.
I’m really more upset and annoyed than anything. New horses can be a challenge and this was not the challenge I expected.
Ascarid eggs did show up in the original fecal.
Both are possible. Resistance is pretty darn likely
what was the breakdown in numbers between ascarids and strongyles?
The vet didn’t give me a breakdown. She recommended the Power Pac based on the presence of ascarid eggs in the fecal sample. The real dilemma is parasites have developed a resistance to every class of available dewormer, even Moxidectin.
My hope is we can get the mare’s numbers to a manageable level. My property is “clean,” so the reinfection rate will be very, very low. Every piece of manure on my property is picked up, composted in bins, and hauled away.
I would ask for that, so you have a more complete history.
A one-time double dose would have taken care of the ascarids, no need for a $$ Power Pack for that.
The PP may, or more likely may not, have been effective enough against strongyles, but it’s too late to know that now. A FEC at this point only tells you if she needs to have ascarids, strongyles, or both, targeted again, but either way, yes, bots and tapeworms still need to be targeted
Current research still proves that the macrocyclic lactones are still quite effective against strongyles. Their bigger current issue is a shortened ERP, which isn’t a big deal for most horses, it does become a bigger deal for the chronically moderate and high shedders
If those are indeed parasite larvae that she coughed up (I can’t tell from the photos), they would have to be ascarids, not strongyles. Strongyles, unlike ascarids, do not migrate to the lungs as part of their life cycle.
https://horses.extension.org/strongyles-in-horses/
https://horses.extension.org/ascarids-in-horses/
Thanks, I figured that one out after the initial shock. I dropped off a fecal and hope to get results soon. Last time it took days, which did not please me. 
Oh yuck! I was going to cook spaghetti last night. Now I can never look at it the same way.
I took a parasitology class in college. It was right before lunch. I didn’t eat lunch for an entire semester. 
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
