Speaking of worms..

I am a bad horse mom, I admit this here. I come clean. I have said before my knowledge of horses would fill a thimble, half way.

We have baby Chevy (filly), coming up 6 months. She is a scrawny little thing. Ribby, but with a huge pot belly. She has also had the squirts for motnhs now. Never seemed dehydrated or overly sick, but her hind end and legs were always saturated with poo dribble. I washed her frequently to avoid burning her hide off. I also dosed her with Pepto Bismol to clear up the squirts. It would work for a day, then right back to it.

In Septemnber vet was here and I asked him to worm her. He said she did indeed look wormy (pot belly) and gave her a little shot of Strongid, but only a little, since she is a very little horse. He told me to watch for pin worms in her poo. I watched. Nothing showed up. I shovel daily so if there had been anything, I'd have seen it.

She was seeming lethargic and generally depressed lately, still pot bellied with ribs and hips. I am not at all happy with this and increased her foal supplement. But I also decided to worm her again, again with Strongid. Squirted a blob (pound appropriate) into her goodies, mixed it in, topped it off with Pepto Bismol and served up this stinking, pink slop. She gobbled it down. 24 hours later, what greeted me in the horse pen almost made me barf! I had NO IDEA anything like that could live in the gut of such a little horse and not kill her. Worms...white...as big around as a pencil, 6 to 8 inches long. I have a strong stomach but that just about ended me. Even worse when the dog ate a few! (I put and abrupt halt to that!)

What I can't understand is why the Septmeber worming produced nothing. Unless...that wormer tube had a little bit of air in the front of it instead of wormer. Since the vet gave her such a small dose, it might have only pushed that little bit of tube captured air into her mouth, and no wormer at all. If she was wormed in September, there is no way worms THIS BIG should have still been present inside her. These things were HUGE! (gagging noises)

I feel horrible that I let things get this bad! I am a bad horse mom. I am just glad that shedding these worms didn't create a blockage and colic! Panicked call to vet and he says to worm her again in a week and then in another month to use a longer lasting wormer, since Strongid leaves the system very quickly. (it is also a safe choice for young horses).

Poor Chevy. First she almost dies of constipation because I didn't know to give her an enema at birth, now she's loaded with those damaging worms! What did she do to deserve such bad owners? But I'm doing everything now to get the upper hand and it will NOT get this bad again. What you don't know CAN kill you, at least it might kill your horse!

The dose was probably far too low to affect adult worms.
Strongid is a very safe dewormer. I usually do a dose higher than called for.

I reccomend that you get some safeguard (fenbendazole) and use it for 5 days in a row. It will kill off the adults that will be hatching. And they WILL be more hatching. And it does in the eggs I believe.

Otherwise deworm her heavily (probably double) once a week for the next 4 to 6 weeks. Those eggs will hatch. And they can sit there for many many months. Stress adn any weight loss will help them hatch
S

Uno I think you are a very good horse owner. Owning a horse is not as straight forward as it seems. It is a continual learning experience. Getting to know your horse,spending time with her, her eating habits, and moods goes a long way in animal husbandry. If you know her well, you will know her if something is wrong with her. You are a good owner. Lou

Thanks Loushrop, I don't feel like a good owner. I feel mortified with my failures.

Arctic, I thought the active ingredient in Strognid was fenbendazole...obviously I will have to go back and re-read Cynthia's indepth wormer post.

I admit to being afraid of harming her with wormer and trying very hard to squirt out the exact dosage suggested. Which is not easy. Those twisty things are sometimes hard to tell how much you've twisted.

Why do more people not use piperazine for horses? It seems quite safe? I will be Googling this stuff.

We bought a horse last year it was delivered by a pro horse trained from germany, when the mare got off the trailer it did it's buisness and it was a pile of worms from the stress I guess, our vet was there to inspect the horse and wormed her on the spot, the trainer ? siad he had never ever wormed. I worm my birds 2 to 3 times a year and the horses as well. UNO we all have learing times in fact I never stop learning new things every day, you are a good person and horse owner, it is now fixed.

Strongid's active ingredient is pyrantel pamoate

Fenben needs to be administered for 3 to 5 days in a row to work. It has a different mode of action.

The wonderful thing about horses, is they never stop teaching you things.
They teach you you're not always right.
They teach you all the other horse people are not always right.
They teach you patience, courage, trust and respect.

We just have to pay attention.
Its when we stop listening to them that we become bad horse owners.

Just remember, 5 horse owners can have the same problem, and the other 4 are dealing with it wrong in the 5ths opinion.

I believe you're doing a fine job!

Thanks for your kind words, Hillbilly.

I am amazed at how wrong I can be. Chevy (little horse) used to run and buck and be frisky and have attitude. She had one mission in life; MUST KILL DOG. THe dog had one mission in life; MUST CHEW HORSE. But it's been a while now since she even showed any interest in the dog, let alone running and bucking. I thought it was because she was maturing and no longer did that weird baby horse running, bucking stuff. The dog couldn't even get a reaction out of her beyond an ear pinned, head shake.

BUt today! It was like she was a crazy horse! The hapless dog entered the pen and BOOM, Satan horse descended on him all stomping feet and ugly faces. Whirling and letting fly with both hind feet. Interstingly, although she could connect with him every time, she manages not to. Puts on a good show of kicking his brains out, but mostly doesn't. Then he bites her on the hind leg, clamps onto her knee. She drags around for a while, stiff legged, like you would if you had a little kid wrapped around your shin. He growls and hangs on (never breaking the skin or she would boot him!)After a bit she gives a mighty buck, takes off like a lunatic with barking dog in hot pursuit. She lets fly with both legs, misses, he seems to have no clue that she could rearrange his skull and its meagre contents. Then she's suddenly interested in a stick. Wow, it's a really good stick. She has it in her mouth. Dog decides this will never do and snatches the stick out of her mouth. SHe swipes at him with a front hoof. More barking and running around stupidly.

That horse must have been feeling like crap!! What I took for maturity was a depressed horse, physically and emotionally. I still feel horrible for being so stupid. But very relieved that the medicine to correct this problem is already in my tack shed. Oh, and for the first time in months, she does not have the squirts! I was going to say this is a lesson...but seems I'm the last to learn it! NOw it's all about growing and being happy (for her) and more caution for the dog.

Awwww, Best Briends!!!

Well you have the worm thing figured out and all is well now. Enjoy her babyhood, it is a fun time.

Well done! She is feeling better! What a happy story.

That game is called "wild horse and wolf" I know it well.

Oh Uno, what a way to learn that hard lesson eh? Poor Chevy, she must have really been feeling illy. You had no way of knowing that she was in trouble with worms, you MUST not blame yourself. It is not your fault. There are so many things in this life that we can only learn by making these types of mistakes. Will you ever have a horse with bad wormy conditions again? I would beg to answer "no", you have learned a most valuable lesson, and honestly, how could you have EVER in a million years known? I don't think that worms manifest in the poop unless they are dead (or do they???). You must stop that beating yourself up, because it has gone on long enough, sigh and . Your little Chevy and the dog from hell are having the time of their lives, playing Russian roulette with their playtime together. She must be feeling like a new little girl. Don't you wonder where all these worms come from? I surely do, guess they get dropped in by birds, animals, who knows what and they just grow and grow and grow. In you email to me you told me how they were, indepth, and you almost make me puke, along with you puking as you were writing (you stop that, bad girl!!!), so I have a pretty good idea what you were seeing. Ich, ich.....anyways it is done. You are now armed with some very good knowledge, and you can bet your bottom dollar that you won't have issues with worms again, you might graduate from that school of hard knocks one day, just like I believe that one day I will too beautiful days, CynthiaM.