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Bolus gun.. Basically, a pill shooter. You can get cheapo plastic ones for like $1.99 at TSC, but I recently threw away the two cheapies I had after getting this one from Valley Vet. The last thing I want is for a goat to bite down on a cheapo plastic bolus gun and break it in half, leaving me to fish it out of her neck jagged end first. The one from Valley is steel, plus it has a clear flexible tube on the end that won't scratch their throat or palate...unlike the cheapies, which often have a bit of an edge on the business end..
As for wormer....Levasole is OTC, but good luck finding it. None of the manufacturers have been making it lately*, so all the major catalog order places (Jeffers, Valley Vet, KV Vet, etc) have it listed as indefinitely unavailable. I found a partial bottle at an ol' timey farm store and bought every one they had...I keep them around as the "nuclear" option, in case a goat doesn't respond to other wormers. Levamisole is in the "Nicotinic agonist" family of wormers.
Otherwise, there are really only two other classes or families of wormers..
First, there's the "white wormer" family -- benzimidazoles -- which include Safe Guard, Valbazen, Panacur, Synanthic, etc.. The active ingredients are fenbendazole, oxfendazole, or albendazole. There's fairly widespread resistance to the white wormers. Safe Guard, for instance, is practically useless around here. I keep some on hand, but generally only to 'pre-deworm' before using something stronger.. Plus, Safe Guard works well for dogs, and it's way cheaper than buying it from the vet's office.
Then there's the "macrolytic lactone" family...aka, the "clear wormers"...aka, the "avermectin family." This family includes Ivomec, Dectomax, Eprinex, Cydectin, Primectin, Zimecterin, Quest horse wormer, etc... Quest and Cydectin are the same medication -- moxidectin. Ivomec, Primectin, and Zimecterin are all Ivermectin. Dectomax is doramectin. Eprinex is eprinomectin.
It's wise to do your very best to switch around between families of wormer, if at all possible. If not, well...my suggestion would be to at least switch from one chemical to another. Fenbendazole to ivermectin to albendazole to doramectin to oxfendazole to moxidectin...etc. If you can find Levasole or Tramisole or Prohibit or anything else containing Levamisole in any configuration whatsoever, my advice would be to buy as much of it as you can and either work it into your routine or save it for your be-all, end-all wormer.
For now, at least..
Anyway...not sure if that helps you or not, but it's pretty much my standard primer on worming.
Since you're worming in pregnant goats, you'll want to see what you can get ahold of and check everything you can to determine whether or not its safe in pregnancy.. Valbazen, for instance, isn't recommended during pregnancy.. Just FYI..
* There are a lot of theories floating around about why nobody's making Levasole.. Some folks say there was an earthquake that destroyed the manufacturing facility in China. Some folks say they're running Stage III human trials on Levamisole, so they're not putting it on the market for animals anymore. Some say it's because cattle people aren't using Levasole anymore, so nobody's making Levasole anymore.. Who knows.. All I know it that it's really hard to find, and nobody is sure if/when it's going to ever get any easier to find.
Bolus gun.. Basically, a pill shooter. You can get cheapo plastic ones for like $1.99 at TSC, but I recently threw away the two cheapies I had after getting this one from Valley Vet. The last thing I want is for a goat to bite down on a cheapo plastic bolus gun and break it in half, leaving me to fish it out of her neck jagged end first. The one from Valley is steel, plus it has a clear flexible tube on the end that won't scratch their throat or palate...unlike the cheapies, which often have a bit of an edge on the business end..
As for wormer....Levasole is OTC, but good luck finding it. None of the manufacturers have been making it lately*, so all the major catalog order places (Jeffers, Valley Vet, KV Vet, etc) have it listed as indefinitely unavailable. I found a partial bottle at an ol' timey farm store and bought every one they had...I keep them around as the "nuclear" option, in case a goat doesn't respond to other wormers. Levamisole is in the "Nicotinic agonist" family of wormers.
Otherwise, there are really only two other classes or families of wormers..
First, there's the "white wormer" family -- benzimidazoles -- which include Safe Guard, Valbazen, Panacur, Synanthic, etc.. The active ingredients are fenbendazole, oxfendazole, or albendazole. There's fairly widespread resistance to the white wormers. Safe Guard, for instance, is practically useless around here. I keep some on hand, but generally only to 'pre-deworm' before using something stronger.. Plus, Safe Guard works well for dogs, and it's way cheaper than buying it from the vet's office.
Then there's the "macrolytic lactone" family...aka, the "clear wormers"...aka, the "avermectin family." This family includes Ivomec, Dectomax, Eprinex, Cydectin, Primectin, Zimecterin, Quest horse wormer, etc... Quest and Cydectin are the same medication -- moxidectin. Ivomec, Primectin, and Zimecterin are all Ivermectin. Dectomax is doramectin. Eprinex is eprinomectin.
It's wise to do your very best to switch around between families of wormer, if at all possible. If not, well...my suggestion would be to at least switch from one chemical to another. Fenbendazole to ivermectin to albendazole to doramectin to oxfendazole to moxidectin...etc. If you can find Levasole or Tramisole or Prohibit or anything else containing Levamisole in any configuration whatsoever, my advice would be to buy as much of it as you can and either work it into your routine or save it for your be-all, end-all wormer.
For now, at least..
Anyway...not sure if that helps you or not, but it's pretty much my standard primer on worming.
* There are a lot of theories floating around about why nobody's making Levasole.. Some folks say there was an earthquake that destroyed the manufacturing facility in China. Some folks say they're running Stage III human trials on Levamisole, so they're not putting it on the market for animals anymore. Some say it's because cattle people aren't using Levasole anymore, so nobody's making Levasole anymore.. Who knows.. All I know it that it's really hard to find, and nobody is sure if/when it's going to ever get any easier to find.
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