How to Make Deworming More Effective

The topic I would like to share to you today is on deworming. How do you make the process more effective? Read on. 

Not a lot of horse owners find it easy to deworm their horse, especially for beginners. However, if you are adept at delivering the worming paste into your horse’s mouth using the best technique, it might still remain futile of you don’t try to check if his mouth is not empty.

Deworming is an essential component of horse care. Horses are susceptible to worms especially if they are left in the pasture to graze. That does not mean though that horses should not be turned out – turnout is as important as well. It is just one of those inevitable circumstances when equine parasites are there to exist and the only control you can give is by managing your horse’s environment properly. And there’s use of wormers as well. Many horse owners use the conventional oral paste formulation when deworming their horses. However, this can pose as an inconvenient method for those who are not so skilled in using the syringe and making the horse submit during deworming.  However, there’s one tip that you can use to make sure you are doing the right thing when it comes to deworming.

About ten minutes before you give the dewormer to your horse, you need to cut off access from grain or forage. Doing so will clear his mouth of any partially-chewed feed and will not encourage spitting of the medication.  Either you need to remove the feeder or just tie him up and make sure he can’t reach his feed.  If you believe that he is still chewing the last bite, just open his mouth carefully and place your fingers in toothless bars, much like what you do when you are inserting a bit. Apply a little pressure on the tongue to make him swallow. If there is a need to use a catheter-tip syringe, do so to flush oral contents with water.

When you are certain that his mouth is clear of feed or bit, you can give the medication and wait a couple of minutes to make sure that the medication does not come back to be spitted out. Keep in mind though, that equine dewormer in paste formulation are made to be extra sticky so it has the ability to stick to the roof of the mouth; therefor, it does not happen very often that it will escape the mouth.