Quest wormer

["Janet Baca" <horsetrl@ctaz.com>]

Below is a note from my vet about Quest.  I have a horse that gets
infections due to flies (habronema) and they migrate through his skin and
come out as fly plugs.  I have an explanation of fly plugs if anyone wants
one too.  This is all new to me, I guess he is especially sensitive to the
fly larvae and it enters through his mucous membranes, mostly eyes.  He has
had infections all over though, on his left hind foot on the coronary band
(big piece of proud flesh that I got rid of with Schreiner's), he had an
episode just below his eye, on his chest (not all of these are mucous
membranes though) and after I purchased him he had them in his eyes.  They
actually migrated out as "fly plugs" and made the infection wall off into a
cone and when I rubbed it, the cone popped out leaving a big cone shaped
hole near his eye (in the thin skinned area).  Ewwwwwww, it's nasty.  I
thought it was only this breed line (Moniet El Nefous-Egyptian and Spanish
Cross) but the vet said she's seen it in appys and quarter horses also.
Anyway, here is what she wrote.

Janet Baca
Hi Janet,
Quest or moxidectin is the ONLY dewormer that gets the "encysted" form of
strongyles....at least according to the literature and studies done...
resistance of parasites to dewormers, however, has been documented for some
time and it is for this reason that you should alternate dewormer
products... I personally reccomend that people use both an Ivermectin
product (like Eqvalan or Zimectrin) and/or Panacur with Quest thrown in at
least once during the year (I think that deworming a minimum of 2 times a
year in this area is o.k. and would prefer to see people do it at least 3
times a year).
I don't think that he is a "wormy" horse, usually they are thin, poor hair
coat, often times have diarrhea, and are all around poor doers, I think he
just has a weaker than usual immune system.... last week I got Eqstim in,
if you ever have any more "healing" problems with him or you plan on
shipping him for a long distance, I highly reccommend this for him, it is a
probiotic that is injected IV and boost the immune system.

FLY PLUGS

The ply "plugs" are really just disorganized tissue (mostly granulation and
collagenous) that forms due to the migration of the larvae, the larvae
aren't visible to the naked eye, they are microscopic.
Pigeon Fever (or pigeon breast, or dryland strangles.... there's tons of
names) is actually caused by a bacteria, it's called Corynebacterium
pseudotuberculosis and it is thought that in some cases it is carried into
the skin by the Habronema larvae (like what Dar had... Habronemiasis or
"summer sores").  Lancing the abscess facilitates the healing process, so
it can drain etc., it is treated with Penicillin, so I'm not sure what
"special" antibiotic they were referring to?  I usually put Ichthamol
ointment on these as it helps draw out the abscess and keeps the flies
off.... it is highly contagious!!!!!



Date: Sun, 25 Oct 1998 10:48:24 -0700
From: "Karen Steenhof" <steenhof@cyberhighway.net>
To: "sandy lundberg" <sandylwes@yahoo.com>
Cc: <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Subject: Re: Quest wormer
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>
> Has anybody used the  new Quest wormer??? Any pros or cons???
>
My vet advised me not to use it.  He said he did many colic surgeries on
horses that had been recently treated with quest.  Apparently it is easy to
overdose and interacts with fat differently than ivermectin does.  So ponies
and lean, fit horses are most susceptible.  We had a discussion on ridecamp
about this a few months back so you might check the archives for the
particulars.  I know many ridecampers had no problems and were planning to
continue using it.  I gave the tubes I had away because I didn't want to
take any chances.

Karen Steenhof
Boise, Idaho
steenhof@cyberhighway.net