Dr. Getty-
I recently bought a new horse who has been living where I board for 2 1/2 weeks now. The lady who owns the barn had been worming on a regular basis for many years with Ivermectin and Strongid. A week ago she had a filly of her's put down from being so badly infested with encysted strongyles. (My 10yr old Tbred gelding has been on a routine schedule by his former owner with Zimmectrin Gold and SafeGuard. His last wormer was about 6-7 wks ago with Zimmectrin Gold.) Now I am petrified about my horse and want to keep him safe. I wasnt sure if he was okay with his past worming schedule. The barn owner is now going to rotate with moxidectin and fembendazole, as well as the pyrantel wormers. I am incerdibly leery with moxidectin wormers like Quest because I have heard such horror stories. I was going to worm my horse with the Panacur PowerPak but I am unsure if this is my best bet right now. If you could provide any input I would greatly appreciate it!

Where are you from? New England

How did you locate this forum? search engine

Hi Meg,

I like a simple system that entails a daily wormer (pyrantel tartrate) such as Strongid C2X. And, then twice a year, a paste worming of Ivermectin in the spring and Ivermectin/praziquantal (for tapeworms) in the fall (the Zimecterin Gold you spoke of). However, once every year or two, I also advocate a 5 day regimen of fenbendazole at a double dose (packaged as Panacur Power Pak), to get rid of encysted larvae.

This is a much better plan, in my opinion, than paste worming every 2 months because infestations are kept at a very low to non-existent level with a daily wormer. With paste wormers, infestations build up to high levels within a couple of weeks after administering the worming. However, they are necessary, even with a daily wormer, twice each year to get rid of bots and tapeworms. And, encysted larvae take special treatment, hence the Power Pak.

I hope this is helpful,

Dr. Getty

Where are you from? Bayfield, CO

JMO, but instead of worrying if your deworming program is working maybe you should have a fecal exam done 1-2 times yearly. While a negative result doesn't mean your horse has no worms, a positive will let you know where you stand and you can adjust your deworming product/schedule.
Sorry about the filly...

Where are you from? Maine

How did you locate this forum? word of mouth

Hi Callie,

Yes, a regular fecal exam is the best way to know if your worming program is doing its job. However, fecal egg counts of adult cyathostomes are often negative even though there is infestation. Also, tapeworm eggs are often missed during fecal exams. So, a negative fecal result is nice to see, but one cannot completely rest with that result. That is why a combination of fecal exams and regular worming treatments are important for a horse's general health. Horses generally look and act healthy even though they have worms. It's only when the infestation gets overwhelming that horses exhibit outward symptoms (lethargic, poor hair coat, weight loss, diarrhea, etc.).

All the best,

Dr. Getty

Where are you from? Bayfield, CO