deworming before mating - Page 2

Why would you not do a fecal first though? Honestly, deworming is pretty much never 100% effective, even with my horse who's FEC has come back with 0, he probably does have a very low parasite count. It's about controlling it, you can never really be totally parasite free with your pets IMO. You risk resistance when the worms are exposed to but not completely killed off, and when that happens no dewormer you use will be effective, which can be catastrophic.

I've been to a number of seminars on this issue, it's both incredibly fascinating and incredibly scary. You have to understand that we have, I believe, only 4 drug classes that we can use and they are all having problems with resistance, which is a very real danger.

Also, just some food for thought - if you (hypothetically) have created a situation where you have created some resistant strains of parasites, YOUR DOGS are far more dangerous going out in public places than the person who's dogs are maybe not as routinely dewormed - but also don't have a resistance problem either. Once you have resistance, you are very limited in what you can treat the animal with - if at all. You could be spreading resistant strains of parasites to otherwise healthy dogs.

(I am not saying this is the case, but merely trying to show an example of why doing routine fecals and deworming accordingly, if at all, is preferable)

Perhaps discuss this issue with your vet the next time you're out and see what they have to say about it. I hope you will be open minded enough to at least look into it and see what is really your best course of action.

Actually, when I first bought my horse, he was a yearling and I brought him up from Georgia. His breeders had been feeding a dewormer that was fed daily in the horses feed. They actually apologized to me when he colicked 4 weeks to the day after I'd brought him home, saying they didn't realize the danger of it. That vet bill was my $1200 introduction to horse ownership and maybe that is the reason this is a hot topic for me. I was very lucky he pulled through, and the dewormers we used were effective (had to use Panacur first, which is a slow kill so you are less likely to have an impaction for a huge die-off, then hit him with Strongid P two weeks later) he was very close to making a trip to the veterinary college, and believe me a colic surgery in a horse is no laughing matter. Minimum $10K, and you may or may not still have a horse at the end of it. My friend went through the same thing and after $24K in vet bills, she ended up losing her horse.

Here's a bit of info (sorry, it's horse related):

http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-dept/equine-large-animal-dept/parasite-resistance-on-the-upswing.aspx

“We need to use dewormers more carefully and base their use on the actual parasite burden in the horse and in the herd,” McKenzie says. “Parasite resistance is very real, especially in ascarids  and in small strongyles.”

“A variety of dewormers  are easily accessible on the market,” Holland says. “The problem is if a dewormer is not given in proper dosage and timing, it might not be as effective as it could be. Inadequate treatment dosages allow residual worm populations to survive and encourages resistance.

Wendy Vaala, VMD, Dipl. ACVIM, cautions that misconceptions exist about drug resistance. “Drugs don’t create resistance,” she says. “Random mutations occur in certain parasites that render them resistant to certain drugs. Frequent use of those drugs selects for the resistant parasites and allows them to become the dominant (resistant) population. Don’t rely on one drug repeatedly. That will select for resistance.”

I don't think we are comparing apples to apples here. Hutchins, and most I know including myself,  gives his dogs Ivermectin monthly as a h-worm preventive in a dosage much lower than would be needed if the dog acutally had parasites. The suggested dosage for Ivermec for h-worm preventative is .0015 - .003mg/lb. To treat dogs that actually have a parasite burden, the dosage would need to be increased to .15 mg/lb. The lower dosage is generally accumulatively effective at preventing intestinal parasites from become established in an already parasite free dog, but will probalby not be effective for clearing a dog of intestinal parasites.

The OP asked when is the best time to deworm a bitch that is scheduled to be bred. My answer - don't do it unless she needs it and you can't know that without a fecal exam.

Blitzen, since we you also worm with Ivomec just as I do, I am not sure why you continue to debate or question me for doing the same thing as you.

I simply anwered the OPSters question, and gave my personal experience that worming this way does not interfere with the ability of reproduction of the male or female.  Thats all I intented to contribute to the OPster's question, NOTHING MORE.

Good Luck NigerDeltaMann.  I wish you success with your breeding if that is indeed the purpose for your original question.

 

Huchins, I am NOT questioning you at all for using ivermectin monthly. You are not "deworming" your dogs every month, you are preventing H-worm. If you were deworming your dogs monthly they would be getting much higher doses than I assume they are getting as a h-worm preventative. Do you mix your own ivermectin or do you buy a product for dogs that contains ivermectin?  If you are mixing your own and using the deworming dose, then you may be giving them more chemicals than they really need.