Autumn and it's time to treat against tapeworm - Anopocephala perfoliata, Anoplocephala magna and Anoplocephaloides mamillana.
Horses become infected with tapeworms when grazing, or eating hay or bedding, that is infected with the orbatid mite (forage mite) which is the intermediate host of the tapeworm. Eggs develop in the orbatid mite into immature tapeworms (cysticercoids) which will develop into an adult tapeworm in the horses intestine, eggs are spread via the tapeworm segments in dung.
Tapeworm infestation is a major cause of spasmodic colic, research estimating that over 20% of cases of spasmodic colic are related to tapeworm burden, they can also be responsible for ileal impaction.
Traditionally horses would be treated for tapeworm in the autumn, then again 6 months later, as their exposure to tapeworm was greater during the longer periods of grazing during summer turnout. Egg counts had proved unreliable in detecting tapeworm with the ELISA blood test being more reliable but recently a saliva test has been developed.
Tapeworm dewormers include Equitape which treats tapeworm only and is used in addition to a normal wormer or a combination wormer such as Equest Pramox which costs in the region of £20.
If any of you could see your way to sponsoring Eggsy's de-wormer, or any other aspect of Eggsy's care he does have a GoFundMe campaign where donations can be made :
Help Raise Abandoned Foal Eggsy ~ GoFundMe
Of course sharing Eggsy's GoFundMe via your own social media helps enormously too!
Thank you, Eggsy and I really appreciate your help x
