Pedigree Query

A friend just stopped by who has had an older horse have a bout with something about a month ago. He dropped weight, looked like he was going to die on her. She has been barrel racing him and he had a colicky episode at one of them. Vet treated for colic, but he took two weeks to come out of the whole thing. Now he is back running as good as ever. She got a notice on facebook that horses have been having reactions to Zimmectrin Gold and sure enough, she had wormed him with it a few days before he got sick. She is wondering if that might have caused it. Just wondered if anyone has heard that there might be horses having reactions to that product?

I would seriously doubt it was the wormer but there is a warning about rare cases of irritation of the mouth and lips on the package.

If you like to place blame - here you go:
http://treato.com/Zimecterin+Gold/?a=s

The stuff is made in Brazil so no telling.

The reactions to Zimectrin Gold are in the form of oral ulcers. I have no idea why it is still on the market but it seems unlikely to have been the cause of the horse's problems. It could have been from the die off however.

There have been some horses who have developed liver problems as a reaction to the praziquantel in the wormers that contain that. It can result in weight loss and illness.

When we were talking yesterday, she wondered if it might have been due to a die off of worms. He is wormed regularly but she gives the z-gold in the spring. I know that the quest wormer was causing liver problems in some horses years ago and it was cautioned not to give it to thin horses or something like that. He is recuperated and ran the fastest barrel pattern of the weekend last week.

Ive never used Zimectrin Gold simply from seeing a horse react to it while riding with my vet a few years ago. She said it wasnt the first time she had seen horses react badly to it. She wouldnt worm her horses with it so neither will I.

It's one of those risk evaluation things.. I use wormers like these, but with the following caveats:

praziquantel kills tapeworms. But so does a double dose of pyrantel pamoate without side effects. So I skip the prazi and go for 2x pyrpam...

Moxidectin kills encysted small strongyles. The only other way I know of to kill those little demons is to power pack. I will use this on a case by case basis - it is good if the horse is in great shape otherwise but has not been wormed in sufficient time (I worm every second month) that there might be a backup of the encysted worms. Since moxidectin kills them by paralyzing the nerve system it is actually somewhat safer in a horse who is otherwise in really good shape. Because it is stored in the fat cells it is NOT for a thin horse who does not have well populated fat cells. Power pack kills off the mature ones, allowing the encysted ones to mature. So if you hit the horse with that for five days, you push a lot of them out...

I think Z-Gold and EquiMax is the same stuff but the dosage is higher in the EquiMax.

Both kill tape worms and if you kill enough tape worms the dead worms my clog the horses gut. My Vet says this is a real problem with weanlings that have not been kept clean or near clean. Or have never been wormed with anything that kills tape worms.

A friend of mine lost a 6 month old Not For Love filly and the New Bolton autopsy found a wade of dead tape worms in her gut.

Many of my friends think EquiMax is too strong to use on new borns but Northview uses it and letting the tapeworms get out of control is probably more dangerous .

griff

That's pretty wild. Tapeworms are very seldom found in horses younger than 9 months..

They are not transmitted from the mare, like a few others. They can only be picked up through grazing.

It was New Bolton that found the wad of dead tape worms in that filly.

And, I don't understand why tapeworms are seldom found in young horses if they can be transmitted by the mare and by grazing..

Again, I asked Northview for a copy of their newborn worming schedule and it contained a dose of EquiMax And Northview, which I believe is owned by a couple of sierra hotel Vets, has an excellent reputation here in the Mid-Atlantic

Also, I will take your recommendation and substitute Strongid [pyrantl pamoate] past for equimax with all newborn and weanlings in the future. I know you have posted this info before but I needed this reminder.

thanks again

griff

I saw a facebook post a week or so ago about horses with swollen mouth/oral mucosa and drooling after being wormed with Zimectrin Gold. I believe it was posted by a gal in Texas who stated that 9 of 14 horses wormed with the product were affected. When she called Merial apparently they told her not to use that product on those horses again.

Take it FWIW - could be facebook nonsense, but there was a pic of a swollen mouth shown with the post.

I wonder if the problem is associated only with Z-Gold and not EquiMax.

Also wonder why a company would tell you not to use one of their products and not issue a recall,

????

griff

There was quite a long time that Quest Plus was pulled off the market. There was no recall or announcement.

What I stated above was that tapeworms are NOT transmitted by the mare and can ONLY be ingested by grazing.

Another caveat is that the double dose of pyrantel pamoate should not be used on pregnant mares.

Quest Plus was never pulled off the market, it was just backordered.

We give our mares a dose of EquiMax as soon as they foal, not before.

What is, or was, the problem with Quest Plus. I've used it on 2 YO and 3 YO with what I thought was good success but certainly will cease if there is a problem.

griff