🎄💩✉ Our lab and office will be operating a reduced hours service over the Christmas Holidays from Monday 24th December. If you are sending in samples then the lab will operate each day there is a post to ensure all testing is completed and results are returned. Any shop orders received will also be processed and sent out but the main office will remain closed for general enquiries. We'll be back to our normal hours from 2nd January.
We are again offering our popular winter resistance test, available at a reduced price of £5.50 December - February inclusive, aiming to target the treatment of small redworm. The winter 2018/19 offer encourages horse owners to conduct a worm egg count, treat for the potentially fatal encysted stages of small redworm and to test any positive horses again to ensure that the treatment has been effective.
❄🐴 Winter parasite control ❄️ December - February ✅ treat for the possibility of encysted redworm ✅ test to ensure treatment has been effective Responsible horse owners aim to minimise the wormers they give their horses, basing their parasite control on the evidence of worms being present rather than treating routinely. There is however one dangerous parasitic stage of the small redworm that we can’t test for (yet!) that can have fatal consequences. Instead we need to treat proactively for this.
A targeted worming programme usually relies on worm egg counts through spring, summer and autumn with a proactive treatment for the possibility of encysted redworm in the winter. November to early December is that awkward time of year when deciding ‘is it winter enough or not yet?’ can make us question our own sanity. So how and why do we make this call? Let’s look at it objectively to help make an informed decision.
Autumn is traditionally known as ‘tapeworm time’ as this was a good point in the year to worm hunting horses coming in from a summer at grass. It can be a useful way to remember to target tapeworm but there’s no reason to stick to this routine if another serves you better – and certainly no point in giving a wormer for the sake of it without knowing if there are parasites present to treat and if so, which ones?
[Now resolved] It was a very lean bag of post that we collected from the post office this morning 21st September, along with the news that our local sorting office at Team Valley, that serves the north east of England, suffered a walk out of staff overnight. We’re reliably informed that the morning shift hasn’t come in either.
🍂🍁🐴 Autumn is traditionally known as ‘tapeworm time’ as this was a good point in the year to worm hunting horses coming in from a summer at grass. It can be a useful way to remember to target tapeworm but there’s no reason to stick to this routine if another serves you better – and certainly no point in giving a wormer for the sake of it without knowing if there are parasites present to treat and if so, which ones?
Earlier this summer horse health experts raised concerns over the implications of tapeworm treatment options following the news that Equitape is to be withdrawn from sale in October 2018. In a turn of fortune for horse health, a specials manufacturer dedicated to the veterinary industry has stepped up to fill this gap. A new praziquantel-only equine product will be available to vets from- August 2018.
From October 2018 the wormer brand, Equitape®, commonly used to treat tapeworm infection will be discontinued from sale in the UK. This wormer is the only licenced product for horses containing praziquantel as a single active ingredient. Going forward it will only be available in ‘combination wormers’ also containing either ivermectin or moxidectin, the drugs most commonly used to treat small and large redworm (strongyles). Equitape’s removal from the portfolio of veterinary medicines available to target specific worm infection presents a challenge to prescribers and horse owners alike.