AQHA Corporate Partner Farnam offers advice to a mare owner who has spotted worms in her mare’s feces and is concerned about the foal.

Question:

I recently bought a mare and foal about a month old. The mare was dewormed by the seller just prior to our leaving, with Ivermectin paste dewormer. Over the next few days, many live worms were seen in the feces of the mare. I dewormed her again with Panacure. How long should I wait before I deworm her again, and should I deworm the colt, who is soon to be 2 months old? What should I use on her/and or the colt?

Karen

Answer:

We turned to AQHA Corporate Partner Farnam, the official dewormer and fly-control product supplier since 2004, for advice:

Anthelmintics of the benzimidazole class, like Panacur, are gone from the animal’s system within a very few days, no more than three. Ivermectin stays in the system for more than three weeks, so no dewormer should be given to the mare at this time.

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The foal should be dewormed, preferably with a pyrantel pamoate paste or liquid to treat for ascarids.

Seeing live worms in the feces of the mare after Ivermectin is unusual. Either the mare had an extremely heavy worm load or dietary change caused her to shed large numbers of strongyles. This will happen after treatment with benzimidazoles or pyrantel, as the worms are moved more quickly with those drugs than with Ivermectin.

I hope this answers your question.

– Dr. Tom Kennedy, senior vice president, R&D, Farnam Companies

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