I’m new to EPM and am still learning. I’ve read that you should be cautious when deworming them, but I don’t know exactly why. Is it because the wormer itself is stressful to the system thus causing relapse? Is it with all types of wormers?
Can somebody elaborate for me?
I have wormed our EPM horse on our usual schedule. I did hear that Quest may be good for horses with EPM, but I don’t know if there is any truth to that.
“may NOT be good”
Ivermectin and moxidectin should be used with caution for an EPM horse, as there’s an increased risk of crossing the blood-brain barrier. I would not deworm with either of those while having issues, and would use them as little as possible outside of that. You can use a double dose of pyrantel pamoate (Strongid paste) for tapeworms, but you need one of those 2 for bots.
Use FECs to guide you, and discuss the risk of bots in your area with your vet. At some point you’re going to need to use ivermectin. I’d probably just avoid moxidectin forever for those horses.
JB, are there articles supporting avoiding moxidectin? My EPM vet was the one who suggested I use moxidectin, after treating for EPM.
Both ivermectin and moxidectin are macrolides (class of natural products), have the same general structure and same mode of action to kill the parasites.
At high enough concentrations in the brain, they are neurotoxic. If I had any concerns about the BBB being intact, I wouldn’t use either one.
No “real” articles that I’ve seen, just general “best practice” I’ve read on a few vet sites, and my own vet has stated, for the exact reason Larbear stated.
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