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HorseAdvice.com » Horse Care » Worms, Deworming, Parasite Control » Deworming Schedules » |
Discussion on Effectiveness of Fecal Float | |
Author | Message |
Member: dirigo |
Posted on Thursday, Aug 16, 2007 - 12:01 am: Dr O -Bottom line up front: What is the accuracy of mail-in fecal floats as way of determining worming requirements? Our traditional vet is discounting them as inaccurate. Below are the facts over the past (very long) year: - 26 April 06 our 13 y.o. mare coliced mildly. Attributed by our holistic vet to ovaries hurting from coming into season. The colic cleared up with tubing, and the ovarian pain disappeared with acupuncture. -April 6 07 She broke her coffin bone and was confined to her 12x12 stall. Very unhappy about being confined. She hates being locked up and is used to a lot of marching around all day. Water intake DrOpped sharply regardless of incentive/bucket location etc. -April 27 07 Mild colic, attributed again to ovarian pain. Acupuncture eased the ovarian pain, but tubing and banamine did not work Had to hospitalize her for I.V hydration (~80 liters). Once she returned home, the minimal water intake resumed. -July 2 07 Mild colic, resolved with tubing and banamine -July 16th Automatic feeder malfunctioned at night, dumping ~ 3 quarts of timothy pellets in her bucket at once. She ate them all. -July 17th Severe gas colic resulting in surgery. No twisting, small incision required to clear impaction. Anemic before and after the surgery. Since the surgery, her Red Blood Cells and clotting factors have improved only slowly. PCV as of 10 Aug was 28, clotting time was 4.6. Traditional vet/surgeon thinks that she has worms and that they are causing the RBC and clotting factor issues. We have mailed in fresh fecal samples religiously every 3 months for over two years. Have wormed for tapeworms annually. The only positive result of 50 eggs / gram was last year. Following the positive result we wormed, and have had 4 results of "0/gram". She is in a closed herd of two, manure picked multiple times daily, and composted before being spread. The colic incision healed rapidly and well, she has a shiny coat, feisty attitude, and quickly regained weight lost during the surgery and immediate aftermath of reduced feed. Surgeon Vet wants to hit her with a power pack and aggressive worming schedule. We are reluctant to do so without a reason. I am inclined to attribute the 1st and 2nd colic episodes to the reduced water intake caused by the confinement for the coffin bone break. The severe colic we think was caused by the overload of dry timothy pellets. Coffin Bone healing nicely, no significant lameness now. Traditional vet wants mare confined in 12x12 stall and 10x10 run until anemia is gone. We would like to allow her a 50x80 paddock so she can resume her movement. Should we request locally performed fecal float prior to worming and what are the odds of a “false negative”? Thoughts? |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Friday, Aug 17, 2007 - 10:12 pm: Hello John,As long as the procedure is carried out properly, I see no reason why mailed fecals cannot be done well. My biggest concern is that the fecal test be done in less than 3 days after the sample has been produced to insure the eggs have not hatched. False negatives on a fecal are most often caused by deworming within the prepatency time of the anthelmintic. For more on procedure and interpretation see the testing subtopic in Horse Care » Worms, Deworming, Parasite Control » Overview of Deworming. All of the proposed above causes are conjectural and without further objective information that may be the best you can do but for more on this see, Diseases of Horses » Colic, Diarrhea, GI Tract » Colic in Horses » An Overview of Colic. DrO |