Worms

Apparently Bo and Nakita havent been wormed in the last 10 months. My friend that is taking care of them now wormed them as soon as they got off the trailer at her place. She said both horses had a belly full of worms, she inspected the pooh after worming them both for a couple of days. It was loaded. They also have bot worms. How do you get rid of them? I have never dealt with bot worms before. Any suggestions?

I believe Ivermectin kills bots. Ivermectin is one of the very best (and now the cheapest) dewormer you can buy. I remember when I was paying close to $20 a tube, and now you can get it for $2.00 a tube.

I would wait a little while (I'm not sure how long, maybe a couple of weeks?) and then deworm them again with Ivermectin. There are also some good dewormers that are ivermectin based but also feature another ingredient that is supposed to kill tapeworms too.

Maybe some other folks can offer more clarification.

I have a warning for you about caring for horses with heavy worm loads... you want to kill off the worms slowly... if you kill them all at once with an aggressive worming schedule then you could end up killing the horse!

I've seen horses end up having to be put down due to being completely blocked with dead worms!!

So be careful on how aggressive you are in killing off these horses' infestation... I know it's hard to know they have worms and wait to get rid of them but sometimes you can love a horse to death.

Sorry if this scared anyone.... I just don't want to see anyone go through what that other owner went through.

Thank you both for responding to me. I know they will be taken care of the right way. The way I ask for them to be. That is why I have come to the experts. I did not even think about the overload being bad for them. Thank you MysticDragon for that bit of advice.

No problem! I share that little piece of info with anyone who asks just because I know if I got a horse with a heavy load of worms my first instinct would be to want to get rid of them NOW! But after witnessing what I did I am quite cautious about this... most people don't realize that once the worms die the horse still has to pass them through their gut and as y'all know their guts are sensitive at the best of times.

Glad I could help out though... even though I didn't answer your question LOL

You may not have necessarily answered the initial question, but I sure would have never thought about the load going into their bellys, and not passing. I am definitely not in a huge rush to get them gone. I want to do it as safely as I can for them.

Whenever I get in horses with unknown deworming history, I give a single dose of Pyrantle Promate, then 1 dose of Ivermectin in 2 weeks, followed with a dose of Quest Plus 6 weeks after that. That will get rid of nearly all of the parasites in a horse's system without much risk for colic.

Moxidectin (Quest) and Ivermectin both kill bot larvae.

Dewormers with the main ingredients of Oxibendazole and Fenbendazole are NOT effective in adult horses. The only way they work is in the 5-day power-pack format, which can be very hard on a horse's system and not as effective as using a single dose of Quest.

Also, be sure all the manure that the horses are producing is picked up out of their pasture/paddock regularly and is composted or disposed of away from horses, so the risk of reinfestation is lower.

A good vet will give you a plan over probably a few weeks to kill ever stage of the worm... adult, larva, and egg. Its your best bet. Also, IMO, for preventative measures after the fact, a good vet will take fecal samples on a schedule to test for parasites and will only treat the horse for them if they are present to avoid immunity toward wormers.

Did you know you guys are so awesome? I really apprecaite the advice and information. Thanks everyone.