Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Powerpac Advice?

Okay guys, I have heard a lot of you talk about using the Panacur Powerpac 5-day dewormer on your horses and I need your experience...

I hear that this time of year is one of the best times to use the Powerpac to clean out Strongyles.

I usually wait for a good hard freeze and a bit of a cold spell before deworming for the winter and this year I missed getting that done in December.

Does anyone think I need to hit the horses with Ivomectrin to clean out whatever worms are present before using the Powerpac (6weeks after deworming with Ivomectrin)?

No one here should have an unusually heavy worm load, but due to observing some cocked tails, I'm sure they have bot worms and this year I really wanted to try the Powerpac to clean out encysted parasites. That seems to have been a big problem for several of our blogger friends last year, even for horses on regular deworming schedules.

I forgot to ask the vet about this the other day when I was in his office.


11 comments:

Sherry Sikstrom said...

I am not in your area , but I would doubt it would be nessesary . Maybe to a fecal count before the investment

Rising Rainbow said...

Well, if you're seeing signs that say bots, I'd be doing the ivermectin but like FV says a fecal count should help with priorities.

Kristen said...

I used the Panacur Powerpac on my mare back in September and it worked miracles! I had been worming her monthly but she still would have some worms in her stall & just couldn't put weight on. That wormer sure did the trick! She handled it well and looked so much better less than a month later!

Danielle Michelle said...

Look slike you're last post you are hauling water to your ponies too. I've got to get something set up so when I have a horse in for the winter I don't ahve to keep a bucket filled.

Bots were bad this year here too. I just wormed with an ivermectin. Hoping that takes care of the signs I've seen. Haven't done a fecal count though. Figure I will in a month or so and double check.

Keep us informed of what you do and how it all goes. I haven't ever used a powerpac either, but heard it's great!

One Bad Pixie said...

A fecal count is a good idea and if you forgot to ask when the vet was there- pick up the phone and call. What would it hurt? That's what they are there for.

Chelsi said...

I have never used it but heard good things... with things like worms I tend to want to hit it hard once rather than chase it with the "lighter" treatment for months.

Unknown said...

I have never used the stuff personally - but I too have heard people rave about it. Give your vet a call and see what he thinks...then decide.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Thanks ladies!

I talked to the vet this morning. He's my next door neighbor, so I caught him at the bus-stop-LOL. He told me to go ahead and deworm with an Ivomectrin and then in a couple of months when the boys come off pasture, we will do fecal counts and proceed from there. He said there is no sense Powerpacing everyone if they don't all need it. Modern theories are proving that certain horses are naturally more resistant or susceptible to carrying worm loads. Going overboard on everyone just because they are all running together is a waste of money.

Well, that saved me $375. Zimectrin for 6 geldings = $70 (purchasing 2-6-packs from Horse.Com) vs. Powerpac for 6 geldings (6+2extra because a few of my boys are over 1250lbs) = $448.

Moon and Jet are the only 2 that are below the 1250 lb mark. Turk and Bugs are probably right there or a little over and Frosty and Spooks are between 1300-1400 lbs.

DM-The boys only come in to be grained and then go back out to the pasture. I just set a partial bucket of water in the pens with them while they are in so they can wash their mouths when they are done eating their grain (spoiled or what?). I did have to pack warm water to Beretta for a few days, but that's all. The geldings have a big tank in their pasture that has to be filled every day, so ice has not been a problem for them. Although, I purposely placed their tank near the shop, so if I did need a tank heater, I could plug that in. Egads girl...did you forget how lazy I am? LMAO

AKPonyGirl said...

Good advice from everyone. Just remember that a fecal isn't always correct. There must be active shedding of the parasite or eggs for it to show up in a fecal.

I so much prefer daily dewormer. My horses are on Strongid 2CX from breakup to freezeup and ivermectin every 60 days during the winter. I once had a vet tell me that ALL horses have a parasite load and all you can do is manage that load.

Anonymous said...

Powerpac treats encysted strongyles - it is a five day double dose of fenbendazole. I powerpac at least once a year and I have done so with my guy on daily wormer as well as when I switched to rotational. It has been very easily tolerated and very effective for as I said, encysted strongyles.

I even boarded in one show barn where all the horses had to be powerpacked at least once a year and they were all dosed at the same time.

C-ingspots said...

Glad you got advice from your vet. We hardly ever recommend doing the powerpack here, it's very expensive and if you regularly deworm your horses using at least 2, or better yet, 3 different drug classes - it's generally a waste of money. Ivermectin should be given in the fall or early winter after a good ground freeze, and 6 months later and then alternating 2 different drugs in between. Regular deworming like this will remove encysted strongyles and will rid the horse of the bots too..."regular deworming" is the key to getting the encysteds. All the vets around here say that since there's nothing new under the sun in regards to deworming drugs, now they have people do fecals...it's a great way of getting people into the clinics to spend their money.