X-CEL wormer has anone used this wormer??

[sandradittus92643]

I just got off the phone with a sales rep for this product. This wormer is supposed to get all worms including bots and tape worms. The program that I am on now has wokred for me all these years and I am not one for changing something that works, but like to keep an open mind. The rep said that it has been on the market for 6 years and that there are a lot of horse owners happy with this product. (large horses and minis). I told her that I would like to hear from satisfied customers before making up my mind.

Has anyone used this product???


Sandy D

[sandy]

I am not familiar with it. I use Zimectrin Gold for tapes and bots. I imagine it's the same ingredients as the X-Cel... invermectin and praziquantel. I use it in the spring and fall. I use Quest once a year, and ivermectic for the other dewormings.

sandy

[beckys]

Sandy,

Please don't use Quest in your miniature horses! If the dosage isn't absolutely correct (and I even question that!) it could have very adverse affects in miniature horses. It's just not safe and can be deadly. There's lots of other wormers on the market that are very effective.

[sandy]

Becky, as far as I know Quest is the ONLY dewormer that gets the cyathastomes. SafeGuard, (fenbendazole) "might" get them at double the dose five days in a row, but parasites have shown to build up resistance to fenbendazole in as few as two treatments.

I have used Quest for two years without a problem, but I haven't used it on pregnant mares or on Lucy. I won't use it on a horse under a year old.

Quest is toxic at about three times the recommended dosage. All my horses were measured with the weight tape, and with the weight calculating formula, and then three of the horses went to the vet and were weighed on the scale there. There was no more than a 10 pound difference between the weight tape and the scale.

So, if I have a 240 pound horse that I am dosing at the 250 pound level, Quest is safe. I would have to dose that horse at the 500 pound level to give it twice the recommended dosage. I would have to dose at the 750 pound level for it to possibly be unsafe, and that's just not going to happen.

I think Ivermectic can be dosed at around 20 or 30 times over and still be relatively safe, and that is the reason most people are so afraid of Quest, because of the lower margin of error.

Early on there were a few rumors and people claimed it killed their horses. Whether this is true or an urban legend, I don't know. But I really have studied this product and felt it was safe to use in non-pregnant mares and miniatures over 1 year old. Quest has been on the market for years. If it were unsafe, it would have been pulled. Evidently there hasn't been any proof it's unsafe, AS LONG AS YOU FOLLOW THE DOSAGES, which is the key thing.

sandy

[sandradittus92643]

I think the x-cel wormer that I posted about was just someone looking for personal info. So if you are contacted be careful.

As for Quest I haven't used it, I am not comfortable with a weight tape and don't have access to a scale to weigh. I use strongid c2x daily and rotate Equimax, Zimecterin Gold, or Jeffers Ivermectin every 3 to 4 mo. How often are you supposed to worm for Tape-Worms??


Sandy D

[beckys]

Sandy D, I would be leery of anybody calling me on the phone and trying to sell me a product! I did an internet search and came up with nothing, so I would be very hesitant to purchase this product without knowing more about it.

I haven't actually seen or heard how often to worm for tapeworms, but since the only ivermectin I'm using now has praziquantel in it, everytime I use that, the horses are getting dewormed for tapes. At least twice a year.

[charlotte]

I use the dewormer with Praziquantel 2 x year. I'm not sure what the recommendations are regarding tapes. We have short grass pasture and the mite is found on the roots of grasses.

But I will say Frank and I STRONGLY encourage mini owners to not use Quest dewormer. there have been too many reports of miniature horse deaths directly related to that dewormer. I, myself, am aware of several deaths and other terrible neurological reactions just here in the OkC area. Several of those episodes were administered by veterinarians.

The safety margin for Quest is very low. The other dewormers on the market have much higher safety margins. Yes, there are some reports of cases of parasite resistance, but I feel if I do random fecal checks and maintain a clean premisis I have my bases covered as much as I can and that my horses are healthy.

I do wonder sometimes if we horse owners don't over do when it comes to putting toxic products in and on our horses....dewormers, vaccines, fly sprays....... and sometimes cause more problems than we cure.

Charlotte

[sandradittus92643]

I do wonder sometimes if we horse owners don't over do when it comes to putting toxic products in and on our horses....dewormers, vaccines, fly sprays....... and sometimes cause more problems than we cure.

Charlotte

My thoughts also.

Sabdy D

[sandy]

I just read an article in a back issue of Horse Illustrated about deworming for tapes. They interviewed four veterinarians... all with excellent credentials and heads of vet schools. They all had a different opinion as to how often to deworm, but it all said once or twice a year.

The once a year vets said to do it in late spring. The twice a year vets said late spring and late fall.

Incidentally, Panacur or Safeguard (fenbendazole), will kill the encysted small strongyles (cyathostomes) the same way Quest will, if you give double the dose five days in a row, or five times the normal dose two days in a row. This is the only product known to kill those encysted small stronglyes, yet it's also the only dewormer which has proven to cause resistance in parasites after a very few uses. Sort of a Catch 22.

Yes, Charlotte, I agree. I wonder what we are doing to all our pets when we shoot all those vaccinations and dewormers and other things into them. And the fly sprays are something I really worry about. To effectively treat a horse, it takes a lot of chemical, and that chemical, despite labels, doesn't last seven to fourteen days. It maybe lasts 24 hours.

For some reason the flies never seemed to be a problem with the minis, but were terrible with the big horses. So, I began keeping them in the stalls during the worst part of the fly season and the hottest part of the day, only turning them out at night to graze. I stopped spraying their bodies and relied on fly masks, but I did continue to spray their legs, as that constant stomping to remove flies must drive them crazy, and I always felt so badly for them.

When I go on a trail ride I usually give a quick spray of OFF around their legs, heads and rump. Not only to keep the flies and mosquitoes off, but also because it helps keep all biting insects off, and I found that when a horse gets a bite or sting on the rump, it's not a pretty site.

sandy

[sandy]

One note on the praziquantel that is put in Combo Care or Zimectrin gold... if you look at the label you'll see it's not been tested in breeding stallions or pregnant mares, so if you are using this product in pregnant mares, it could be very dangerous.

sandy

[beckys]

Sandy,

I found this article regarding Equimax (Ivermectin and Praziquantel). It has FDA approval for pregnant and nursing mares. equineresources.com/pdf/20040802_equimax.pdf#search='Equimax%20dewormer'

My thoughts are if the Praziquantel dose in Equimax, at a larger dosage than Zimectrin Gold has been deemed safe for pregnant mares, then I personally wouldn't hesitate to use a wormer that had Prziquantel in it for pregnant mares. It's a personal decision and one you should discuss with your vet.

After seeing the devastating effects of tapeworms on two horses, one resulting in death and the other a major colic surgery, I do deworm my horses for tapeworms regularly here.