So lately I have been hearing more and more about continuous dewormer in horse feeds. SmartPak, Pfizer, and Farnam all have it, as do many other large companies. I have always wormed my horses 4 times a year with tube wormers, and have never had a problem with them.
Which do you think is better/more effective? Some people say that quarterly is better, some say daily/continuous wormer, and some use both together. Any thoughts on this?
I had a discussion with my vet about this a while back, and (like most things) it really depends on the horse.
Some horses have a good natural resistance to worms and don't need to be dewormed more than a couple times a year. My horse falls into this camp. I deworm him twice a year, and do a FEC in between just in case he needs an extra deworming. Every FEC I've ever done on him has come back with zero eggs, despite less than ideal conditions at my barn (as far as cross-contamination goes).
Other horses are more prone to carrying heavy worm loads. My vet recommends daily feed-through dewormers for these horses, in addition to periodic paste deworming (since feed-through's don't get everything)
Yeah that would make sense. I think I am going to keep current horses the way they are since I have never had a worm problem. But I am getting another 2 year old in a few days, and her current owner said that she has had some worm trouble. Maybe the continuous wormer will help.
With CW, they still need to be wormed for bots, and possibly encysted strongyles. I am against it, because if worming every 2-3 months is causing resistant strains, imagine what a little dose every day must be doing.
With CW, they still need to be wormed for bots, and possibly encysted strongyles. I am against it, because if worming every 2-3 months is causing resistant strains, imagine what a little dose every day must be doing.
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