This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (BRIAN C JACOBSEN) Dear Jean,
Sorry it has taken a few days for you to get a reply, but you asked: >I have a half dozen tubes of Eqvalan Brand Ivermectin paste that are >Outdated, ie. exp date Dec 96. I'm not sure how this happened, guess I >stashed them away and forgot them? But are these still usable? >Considering the cost, I hate to just toss them. ----> Probably they are still good but it's hard to know for sure. One way you could know is if you or a friend had a horse that a) WAS NOT on Strongid C, b) had a fecal exam done and some worm eggs were seen c) was dewormed with one of the Eqvalans in question, and d) a fecal exam was done again a week later and the number of worm eggs was significantly reduced. Sound like a lot of work? Maybe, but the thing you wouldn't want to do is just use them and assume they are good and allow worms to build up in your horses, possibly causing internal damage, and adding to the number of worms (eggs) on your pasture. So when you look at it that way, you would be spending probably $25 or less for the fecal exams to find out if you can save (use) approx. $72 worth of dewormers. If you don't mind the trouble, it's probably worth it. >Another question: I had my horses on the Strongid C2x Daily wormer up to >about two weeks ago when I went out of town asnd didn't want the horse >sitter to fool with giving individual feedings, etc. So they haven't had >it for over two weeks. Do I need to worm with Ivermectin before starting >again? Or Strongid (Pyrantel Pamoate) paste? I had intended to stop the >daily wormer in mid October and restart in the spring, as there is snow on >the ground here in Fairbanks, Alaska from Mid October to Mid April. ----->Yes, you would need to deworm them with a full dose of a good dewormer. If your horses picked up any worm larvae during those two weeks, those immature worms may already be starting to migrate around in your horse's body, and the Ivermectins and Moxidectins (Quest) are reported to be better against migrating larvae than standard doses of the others. If you just re-started the daily dewormer without using a paste (or having your veterinarian tubeworm), you risk allowing any worm larvae that the horses picked up in those two weeks to continue developing inside your horse. Reason? The daily dewormer is only a low dose designed to kill worm larvae in the stomach and first part of the intestinal tract right as they enter. It is not enough of a dose to kill worms that have gotten inside farther than that, or that have gotten in the tissues. -----> To everyone using the Strongid C or Strongid C-2X daily dewormers, (and actually everyone else as well), don't forget to also deworm your horses with a product containing Ivermectin (Eqvalan, Zimectrin, Equimectrin, Rotectin 1, etc) or Moxidectin (Quest) after the first killing frost or two. Why? Strongid (paste or daily) is not labeled for removal of Bot larvae. Let me risk being a little too basic here and describe Bots, since everybody may not know about them (especially since the eggs can be hard to see on a Fjord). Bot flies are active in the summer and lay eggs on the hairs of horses' front legs, especially around the knee (carpus), and sometimes on the neck and jaw hairs. The eggs are like a small sesame seed in size and color. When your horse licks or chews at the area of the eggs, the larvae get in the horse's mouth and then make their way down to the stomach. One gruesome note - they are not swallowed, they tunnel through the tissue of the esophagus to get there, causing microscopic damage all the way! Once there, they chew a hole in the lining of the stomach and suck blood. Sound like nasty creatures? They are. The good part is that the flies are killed after the first really good frost, so no more eggs will be deposited on the horses until the next summer. So if you deworm with a product that kills Bots after a few good frosts, you can keep your horse clear of them until the next summer. It is also a good idea to scrape the eggs off the horses at the same time you deworm. Realize, though, that the sesame-seed-looking-thing is actually the egg case or shell; Even after the larvae have hatched out and gone, the case remains cemented to your horse's hair. However, if you get the egg case off, you know that the larvae can't be there either. Jean also wrote: My vet here is sold on the Daily Strongid throughout the WINTER believe it or not, as he has seen some tremendous benefits to horses using it, and feels that worms may well be a problem in the winter here, As Horses may munch on frozen manure, etc. Is there one of you vets out there that has some extra knowledge on this? -----> If you trust your veterinarian and believe he's making the recommendation for the good of your horses, rather than to just be able to sell something to you, then follow his advice - he should know. If you have any question, or even if you don't question his motives but you want to find out if YOU really need to use it in YOUR HORSES (compared to the neighbor, for example, who might not do as good a job of keeping the worm levels low) then when the days are starting to stay cold (40's maybe), stop using the daily dewormer, and once each month have a fecal exam done on a different horse to see if any worm eggs are showing up. There's only one catch; Worms are smart (in a manner of speaking). Some species of worms have the ability to burrow into the intestinal wall, form a cyst, and basically hibernate until the weather outside is more favorable to the development of their eggs! Crafty, eh? So the horses could be picking up worms but not shedding any eggs in their manure because the worms are "hibernating". So if you don't want to take any chances, use the daily dewormer; It has definitely been associated with a decreased incidence of colic and often a slightly shinier horse who needs slightly less feed. If you want to do what you can to find out if you really need the daily dewormer through the winter, then do what I've described above, realizing that if absolutely no worm eggs at all are being seen in the horses' stools, then despite what I wrote above, MOST LIKELY they are not picking up any. Hope this helps Jean! Brian Jacobsen, DVM _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
