Friday, October 23, 2009
Ivermectin Warning
I have wormed my horses with ivermectin for quite a while with absolutely fabulous results. Fecal tests always showed a very low worm count, which meant they were also being controlled in the environment. When I purchased goats I also used ivermectin to worm them. I chose ivermectin for the goats because it is a wormer also used for humans (yes humans get parasites also)and there is a short milk witholding time. There have also been no known adverse affects on pregnant does. Guess what? Parasites are now showing a strong resistance to ivermectin. A couple of weeks ago two of my does were showing signs of being wormy. I did fecals on them and sure enough they were infested. So I wormed the whole herd with ivermectin. A couple of days ago one of the does developed diarrhea. Since she showed no sign of fever or drop in appetite I decided to give her body support with electrolytes, B-complex, and probios. I figured she had probably eaten something out in the pasture that did not agree with her and she needed to flush it out of her system. We saw no improvement the next day and again she seemed fine despite the diarrhea. Yesterday morning, she wouldn't eat. So I did another fecal and she was loaded with parasites. I do mean loaded folks! So I called my vet, who also happens to be the vet for the local zoo. He said that they had this problem at the zoo in the spring. Apparently our area is showing tremendous parasitic resistance to ivermectin and he recommended Cydectin. So I wormed the whole herd with Cydectin. I have done some research on cydectin and it is not recommended for pregnant animals, according to other breeders that have used it with ill results. I am not real sure that I like it as I am not sure what the adjuvant is in it as it smells like Kerosene. However, without it I won't have my goats very long. So you might want to keep a close eye on fecals in your area if you are using ivermectin and make sure that the parasites in your area are not building up a resistance. The good thing about cydectin is that there is no milk with holding time. So start watching fecal samples especially if your animals are showing signs of being "off". God bless
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2 comments:
Hello, I had a problem with my goats this past summer and took them to the vet to have my vet inform me that parasites have developed a resistance to most treatments commonly used. He informed me of how important Pasture rotation is. I am in North Florida and many people had problems this past year with all farm animals and the normally used treatment not working. I lost 3 goats because Albon and Corid did not work.
Albon and Corid are antibiotics/antibacterial drugs. They are not for the treatment of worms/parasites. I don't understand why your vet gave that to you. I think you need a new vet. Unfortunately there are not many vets that are familiar with goats and we goat owners really must become our own vets. I would highly suggest learning to do your own fecal samples and learning what each species of worm egg looks like. This is much easier than it sounds. Then you will be able to treat your goat and know what you are looking for. Yes, pasture rotation is vitally important to parasite control and is something that we practice here. However, in the southeast (especially Florida) the winters are not cold enough to kill off the eggs laying dormant in the ground. A good solid rain for several days is plenty to brig the eggs to the surface along with bringing out the slugs/snails that are prone to take the parasite eggs up into the browse. The other key to parasite control is to rotate wormers. Unfortunately I had not done that with this goat. My fault. I will be doing fecal testing again at the end of the week to make sure we have gotten the parasite load down. I do expect to see some Coccidia eggs just because of where I am located the eggs don't get killed by winter weather. It is the amount of coccidia that causes the problem and that is what I will be looking for. She was also loaded with stomach roundworms and one more worm that I didn't take the time to id. I will be checking to make sure those numbers are gone also. Hope this helps and I think I will do a more detailed post about this for everyone's benefit. Blessings.
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