Worming with equine granules sachets?

Smithym

Hi there, new to this board and looking for other people's opinions on wormers.

I have a 6-year-old tb who's a very poor doer, loses weight very easily, very difficult to put weight on him, then keep it on him! I've had him for 14 months now, when I got him he was in a terrible state, an ex racer who'd been terribly uncared for, and he's the sweetest boy in the world so it was very sad to see. Now after much effort he's doing much better but it doesn't take much to knock him back again. The weight seems to fall off him so easily if he has any minor hickup.

Anyway, it's 6 weeks since I last wormed him. I usually use one of the oral pastes, in rotation. But it is very tough work as he absolutely LOATHES the stuff and now I've been recommended using Panacur Equine Granules 22.2% w/w, active ingredient is Fenbendazole, they're powdered sachets that you add to the feed. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with these before? I've seen horses get really cut up by wormers in the past and he's in good condition at the moment so I'd really hate to see him get knocked back terribly when I'm not even sure he has worms, this is just regular worming. He's out on grass full-time since the beginning of June having been stabled by night up to that.

I don't believe sending off a sample to see if he has worms is an option, or at least I've never done it nor have any of my horse-owner friends. Does anyone have any experience with that?
I can't see why everyone doesn't use the sachets as they sound so easy, just mix them in with grain feed, so I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing. Would love to hear some advice from someone who's used these! Thanks.

convert

If your horse is quite a fussy eater, then there is a very strong chance that he won't eat the feed with it in it.

I've a very fussy eater at home (we have to put molasses and/or beet pulp in his feed to get him to eat his feed). Although he doesn't like getting his worm doses, luckily he isn't too difficult to worm, but we have found in the past that most wormers, esp. Strongid (spelling?) will cut him up completely and he looks awful - desperately thin, even for a TB. He was up to date with vacs and worm doses, so 'worms' wasn't the cause of the weight loss, it was just the wormer. As a consequence we're really restricted when it comes to worm dose brands. We've found Telmin works really well for him. It's a 'gentle' wormer, suitable for use in young stock, so it doesn't cut him up at all, which is great. I don't know if it comes in a non-paste form, but even though your horse is difficult to worm it may be worthwhile trying it as it's worked brialliantly for us.

You could try starting off with Telmin and see how it works, and then maybe have a chat with your vet about finding another 'gentle' wormer for the next dose.

Smithym

Hi convert, thanks so much for the advice.

I have to do exactly the same to get him to eat his feed, add beet pulp and molasses to it, but once they're added he'll eat anything, it seems to overrule all other tastes.

I've had exactly the same problem, and it seems to have been the wormer that caused the weight loss rather than worms or other causes. I don't know why they're so tough on him, but they are.

I will definitely look into Telmin, I haven't tried that particular one but I'm still looking for something in non-paste form if at all possible, he will do all in his power to spit out the paste with a look of total disgust on his face. I'm very surprised there aren't more options when it comes to non-paste form. What's great with the Panacur Granules sachets is that they're willing to sell them individually and I can buy them for €4.75 each, I'd need two for him but I expected the powder form to cost quite a bit more than the paste as it's so much easier to work with (providing he'll eat it!).

convert

Hey, just googled 'Telmin Equine wormer' and found this site. Apparently Telmin is available in granule form.

Smithym

Oh excellent, thanks for your help convert, I'll give that a go!

fizififi

It shouldnt be necessary to worm more than 4 times a year, every three months or so. Depending on the space available for grazing and how often you pick up droppings to keep the ground clean you may manage worming just twice a year, especially if your horse finds worm doses hard to take. There is a new product, called Vectin (i think) which are chewable flavoured tablets of ivermectin. havent tried them but they may appeal to fussy eaters. Make sure to worm once a year for tape worms.