tapeworm

[Patty Lambert <esppatty@juno.com>]

Since someone mentioned tapeworms, OK, here goes my story: Last month
with no warning and no history of any colic in all his 22 years of active
life, my horse became colicky. To make a very long story short (details
available if anyone wants to hear more) he spent 3 weeks at UPenn; ended
up having surgery to fix a strictured ileocecal opening, and is doing
wonderfully well now - has been home 2 weeks. But I was told that even
though there were no worms present at the time, it could be tapeworm
damage from the past (though I have owned him for 18 years,) as tapeworms
do like to hang out at the ileocecal opening. That's it, in a nutshell.
The best Christmas present I ever had was having him make it through
surgery (4.5 hours of surgery!) 3 days before Christmas. The vets said
his endurance training gave him the strength and condition he needed to
come through it all. Ironically, he had passed his 3000 mile career
milestone just 6 weeks before all this happened. I had been giving a
double dose of Strongid paste in the spring, in addition to Ivermectin
every 8 weeks year round. Now he's on daily Strongid-C, and I'm
investigating other worming protocols. Tapeworms in horses, so I'm told,
do not shed segments as they do in dogs & cats, so are not easy to
detect. I sure don't trust fecal counts any more after this. Any
comments?

Patty in PA

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