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Discussion on Roundworm infestation in adult horse
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Member:
Sandbox
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Posted on Wednesday, Oct 27, 2004 - 8:07 am:
I rescued a 7 year old TB the end of May. Foster was malnourished and had uveitis. He was wormed with ivermectin immediately. The morning after worming there were many large roundworms in his DrOppings. I followed up with Qwest Plus a few weeks later and there were no visible worms.
He has been putting on weight but we were unable to save his vision - he developed glaucoma and we had gentocin injected in his eye to relieve the pressures - but that's another story.
Since June he was been wormed twice - both times with ivermectin - the most recent deworming was 10 days ago. Yesterday, we took a little walk down the road and after eliminating a few times my riding companion noticed a large round worm dangling from his rectum - ewwww!! It was about 8" long and dead.
My question - how can this be?? And what steps can I take to kill off this worm? Is there anything else I should have checked?
Thank you ~ Sandy
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Oct 28, 2004 - 7:29 am:
Hmmm, though a little large I wonder if this is a pin worm Sandy? Usually adults do not have rounds do to immune resistance but the debilitated nature of the horse might make this horse more susceptible and the dewormings less effective.
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about deworming lately. If one or even a dozen good dewormings could eliminate all parasites we would not be constantly deworming our horses. These parasites have complicated life cycles that have stages that are not susceptible to any dewormer. It is apparent this guy came to you heavily burdened and debilitated and it will take time to get all the larval stages out of this guy.
You are using the most effective products and with continued use you will gradually remove the parasites and perhaps even eliminate them if you also follow our other management suggestions, but it will take time.
DrO
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Member:
Sandbox
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Posted on Thursday, Oct 28, 2004 - 8:32 am:
Thanks Dr O - I'm starting Foster on a monthly deworming program for the next few months. I'm including his pasture mate on the same program to ensure they don't reinfect each other.
~Sandy
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Member:
Onehorse
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Posted on Thursday, Oct 28, 2004 - 9:14 am:
Sandy,
Two things:
First, just to let you know my experience, when I first purchased my horse (a malnurished, worm infested, 2 year old) I put him on a schedulled de-worming program. Despite the on-going program, it took over a year before he was 'free' of the parisites. There were times he looked 'free' during the period, but then they would re-appear. I would advise occassional fecal exams by your vet because many of the parisites are not seen by the 'naked' eye. The good news is, despite the time it took, my horse rid himself of the infestation. (NOTE: all horses will have a low number of parasites in their system at all times, so a continued de-worming program should be maintained throughout their life.) That was 16 years ago and he's still on scheduled maintenance for worms.
Second, you mention you'll be deworming every month. If your vet does a fecal exam he can determine which parasite or parasites are prominent and you should time your de-wormings on their 'life cycles' to de-worm once the 'eggs' hatch that are left in your horses system after a de-worming. My understanding is that the de-wormers have no efect on eggs that are in the horses system.
As Dr.O says the products are effective and it does take time.
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Member:
Sandbox
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Posted on Thursday, Oct 28, 2004 - 4:35 pm:
Rick - Thanks for sharing your experience. I would have never guessed that those parasites could hang in there for so long! At least my expectations are more realistic now.
My thought process behind monthly deworming, for at least 3 months, was to try kill the parasites at some phase of their 80+ days life cycle. But your practice of checking fecal samples may help pinpoint the appropriate time to deworm again. I'm going to run it by my local vet.
Thanks ~ S
PS Rick, I really thought your vet's class (that you posted about on another discussion) was a great idea, plus I love that he was so open about his pharmacy markups. Wish I could find a gem like him! Well, other than Dr O....
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