Useful And Essential Facts About Horse Wormers

By Christopher Barnes


All kinds of wild and domestic animals face some kind of worm infestation. There are many adverse effects that these worms inflict on animals, especially horses and ponies. As such, one should be able to know when to deworm the horses. Due to the fact that there are numerous kinds of worms, one should know the right wormer to give at a particular time of the year. This is worth knowing about horse wormers.

Currently, there are numerous kinds of wormers available in the market. This at times is so confusing. There are a lot of individuals who lack the knowledge of the right program to use for good results. Apart from the numerous products, there are a lot of different strains of worms infesting horses that have become resistant to treatment. As such, it is important to know how to administer drugs in order to avoid creating resistance.

Even though horses may carry worms in their bodies, it is not always necessary to treat the problem. Research indicates that only 20 percent of horses carry a worm burden that is high enough to require treatment. To be sure about when to administer treatment, it is necessary to conduct a saliva test. This is a simple test that one can conduct by themselves without requiring a veterinarian.

Doing a saliva test is vital since one is able to determine when it is necessary to administer medication or not. In case medication is given when not necessary, it may increase worm resistance to medication or harm the horse. However, numerous medication procedures have been developed over years to choose from. There are those that are effective while some not that effective.

Saliva test for tapeworm should be conducted during autumn according to most programs. One should administer wormers for tapeworms if the results are positive. Tapeworms should be treated using wormers that contain praziquantel or an increased dose of pyrantel. Some of the most effective wormers are Eqvalan Duo, Equest pramox, strongid P, and Equimax. The treatment can also be done using a combination of medications that contain a high dosage of pyrantel or praziquantel.

In winter, one should administer wormers that target encysted larval stages of small redworms. The product to use is moxidectin. Moxidectin is capable of killing botfly larvae completely too. As an option, one can use an increased dose of fenbendazole even though this does not destroy botfly larvae. Other products one can use are Panacur equine and equest.

Testing for tapeworms should be done in spring again and medication administered only in the event the worms are determined to exist. During summer, tests for worms and FEC should be done so that fenbendazole or pyrantel is administered. Apart from giving wormers, it is vital that one exercises caution how they handle horses and their environment. One of the healthy habits to observe is removing fecal matter in grazing fields weekly to avoid worm ingestion.

It is vital that one avoids over-stocking pastures. Each horse requires about 1 and 1.5 acres of pasture. However, this is mostly dependent on the size and weight of individual animals. In case it is possible, one needs to have cows and sheep sharing pastures with horses to reduce prevalence of parasitic eggs. One should practice pasture rotation too.




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