Monday, July 15, 2019

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.

At the moment, there are several different kinds of wormers available on the market. This can often be confusing. Not all people understand which worming program to use in order to achieve good results. Besides the existence of many products, the various varieties of worms that infest horses are reportedly becoming resistant to medication. That means that one has to be careful with how they administer medication to avoid resistance.

A horse may be carrying worms in its body system but it may not always be necessary to administer medication. According to research, it is only 20 percent of horses that have a worm burden that meets the threshold for administering treatment. For one to be certain about administering treatment, they should conduct a saliva test. This test is quite simple and can be done without the help of a veterinarian.

The importance of carrying out a saliva test is to avoid administering medication when it is not necessary. Besides harming the horse, this may also encourage resistance against medication by the worms. As a solution against this problem, several worming programs have been developed over the years. Some are effective while others are not that useful.

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.

During winter, wormers which target encysted larval stages of small redworms should be administered. A suitable product to use is moxidectin because it is capable of completely killing botfly larvae. The other option to employ is increased dosage of fenbendazole although it is not effective against botfly larvae. Equest and panacur are other options that can be used.

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 important to avoid over-stocking of pastures. Having 1 and 1.5 of an acre is good enough for every horse. This can however be varied depending on the weight and size of the animal. If possible, one should have horses sharing pastures with cows and sheep to minimize parasitic eggs in the environment. Pasture rotation is also highly advisable.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...