Worming Protocol for Horses

Bundles of slimy, white worms, some 12 inches long, use the stomach of your horse as an incubator for young worms. Older worms set up house, slowly sucking the life from your horse. More than 150 parasites affect horses though about four species of worms infest equines regularity. Horses, like other pets, need regular deworming.

  1. Types of Worms

    • Large strongyles, also known as bloodworms or redworms, enter the equine as larvae when grazing on grass. Inside the horse's intestines, the parasites grow and eventually travel into in the blood vessels. Small strongyles burrow into the stomach wall until simultaneously rousing. During the hibernation, small strongyles resist most dewormers. Large roundworms, also called Ascarids, grow 6 to 12 inches long and hundreds of these can live in a horse's stomach at the same time. Foals usually acquire ascarids more often than adult horses. These worms enter through the mouth and then head to the lungs. Single female roundworms lays up to 200,000 eggs in a single day. Like its larger cousins, pinworms enter through the mouth, grow in the large intestine, deposit eggs on the horse's rear, and then return to the large intestine. Tapeworms and bots follow a similar pattern as the small and large strongyles.

    Symptoms

    • Horses display similar symptoms if he has large roundworms or pinworms. The major symptoms include weight loss, colic, poor appetite, rough hair coat and diarrhea. Death from ruptured stomach lining results from severe infestations of bots and small strongyles. Pinworms and bots cause external aggravation. Excessive itching of the rear on trees or stall walls indicates pinworms. Blowflies lay its eggs on the hair of the horse, so all over itching signals a possible bot infestation.

    Dewormers

    • Dewormers involve different four drugs that effectively eliminate worms. The drugs include ivermectin, pyrantel, fendbendazole and moxidection. All four drugs control large and small strongyles, pinworms, and large roundworms. Ivermectin handles bots, neck threadworms, intestinal threadworms, stomach hairworms, and lungworms. It does not work against tapeworms. Only Pyrantel controls tapeworms. It also manages intestinal threadworms. Fendbendazole handles stomach hairworms and large mouth stomach worms.

    Treatment/Diagnosis

    • Depending on the species of worms, evidence of the worms, such as the tiny microscopic eggs, appears in the feces. Blood tests also indicate the presence of worms. A horse must undergo an intensive deworming regimen and regular deworming there regimen after.

    Deworming Rotation

    • Most horse owners believe that the veterinarians recommend a dewormer rotation, because the rotation keeps the worms from developing immunity. Each dewormer type focuses on a just a few species of worms and the rotation hits the worms affecting the horse. Rotating dewormers every six weeks allows for maximum coverage. Vet Clyde group recommends a five-day course of Panacur Guard followed by Equest on day six for horses five years and older in February. The group also recommends the course of panacur Guard followed by invermectin for yearlings and two-year-olds. The local veterinarian provides the best in-depth knowledge of when to use which localized dewormers to be the most effective.