Fecal Float Questions

[Sue Gremlin]

Also, there are commercial places to run horse fecals for you, I'll be one of them, but I am not up and running quite yet.
You can PM me your name and address and I'll send you a kit, but I am still in the developmental stage so I don't have a lot of accuracy data yet. In other words, I am good at it, but I can't totally prove that yet.
You can also use The Horseman's Laboratory, I can recommend him highly, they are very good and come with all sorts of knowledge that I can't offer, Dr. Byrd is a veterinarian and will consult with you about your herd. https://www.horsemenslab.com/

 

[jolenesdad]

There are good and diverse products for control of fleas, ticks and heartworm, and there are no current recommendations for rotation of these products. There is clear evidence of resistant heartworm in the field, but there aren't any other drugs out there to prevent it, there's only one class. It's still very very important to keep your dog on prevention as failures are rare, and mostly concentrated in the lower Mississippi River Valley. You do not want your dog to get heartworm, it's not like intestinal worms. Treating them is terrible, and heartworm can cause a lot of damage to the vessels of the lungs and heart.
Fleas and ticks are well-controlled with current products, so if you use one and it works, keep at it.

Yes I do heart worm for sure especially in our climate. I read once that a MAJORITY of mosquitos in our area are carriers. That doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to pass it, but still it’s so concerning.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Yes I do heart worm for sure especially in our climate. I read once that a MAJORITY of mosquitos in our area are carriers. That doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to pass it, but still it’s so concerning.

In your area, it's very widespread.

 

[h2oratt]

Well, I also have horses so I’m trying to learn. With any livestock you really should be doing a fecal float before and after deworming protocols. But that’s really expensive so I end up doing fecal floats once or twice a year on my horses. Resistance is a huge deal with worms in all livestock. You give them a wormer for something they don’t need, and there’s residues left in their system. Future bugs use that to build resistance to deworming medication.

if you know exactly which worms you have and don’t have, you can use more specific medications targeting to just that parasite. In the long run, if you stay on top of it, you can be deworming the “high shedding” animals more often as the problems develop and not even have to use wormers on those without the worms.

it may still fit in my scenario that a broad spectrum is worth it in this specific instance.

I have the equipment but no space to set up a lab area.

 

[casportpony]

I have the equipment but no space to set up a lab area.

Same here.

 

[h2oratt]

Same here.

Not something you want in your kitchen.

 

[aart]

I have the equipment but no space to set up a lab area.

Same here.

Almost like having a bunch of chickens and no coop to put them in
Sorry, am a bit punchy this afternoon.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Not something you want in your kitchen.

Um.

Oh yeah.
I mean.

Sure.
Of course.
I would NEVER have anything like that in my kitchen.
NEVER!

I mean it!

I swear!

What are you all looking at?

 

[h2oratt]

Almost like having a bunch of chickens and no coop to put them in
Sorry, am a bit punchy this afternoon.

Yes I set up my microscope to look at semen but if I start doing fecals I am going to need a permanent lab bench.

 

[h2oratt]

Um.

Oh yeah.
I mean.

Sure.
Of course.
I would NEVER have anything like that in my kitchen.
NEVER!

I mean it!

I swear!

What are you all looking at?

Well I have a kitchen like a galley on a boat. Very small.