[Milktopia]

Hello! I could use some clarity about whether or not lung worm can survive in the soil. We have been trying to clear lungworm from our herd for a few months. Right now we are giving Ivermectin horse dewormer (triple weight dosage) every ten days. We tried the ivermectin sheep and cow pour on and valbazan a while later. We are so worried about going into winter with this parasite in our herd. We really love our goats and would appreciate some support. Thanks!

 

[Dayna]

Hmm Lungworm is a big issue here. Google Rat Lungworm Hawaii. there is a lot of articles about it.

 

[happybleats]

here is a great tutorial on lung worms...
http://www.goatbiology.com/animations/dictyo.html

in dry weather lung worms can last only a few days but can live for months in moist conditions..the tutorial says it can survive winter months...

I would use Ivomec Plus Sub Q 3 times ten days apart then once again in 30 days. following through a full course should kill all stages of worm.
raking up berries often can also help cut down on re infestation..

best wishes

 

[Milktopia]

Does anyone believe saturating their bedding area with diatomaceous earth could kill the parasite? I am guessing this is where they are most likely to get re-infected, since during the day time we shepherd them. We also live in the Pacific Northwest, so with the rainy season coming (what other people call winter) it seems like these parasites are going to have a great chance staying around. Our intensive treatments don't seem to help keep the herd healthy, but we'll talk about trying the ivomectin plus.

 

[goathiker]

Okay if you're in the Pacific Northwest then you have the other type of lungworm...The one that is in the slugs. They usually aren't that huge of a problem. I suspect there may be some other factors. Liverfluke can also make them cough when it is moving through the lungs as can Brown stomach worm. These two are a bigger problem.
My goats are all coughing some right now from the slash burns and the smoke lingering in the valleys.

 

[happybleats]

The ivomec Plus will take care of either the lung or the liver fluke....

 

[Milktopia]

Thank you for the help and clarity regarding this situation you three. I'll let everyone know how it goes from here. We are going to finish the ivomec horse paste treatment, see how this goes, then move on to ivomec plus if we still have problems.

 

[BCG]

Are you testing to determine if the problem has been resolved? What are the symptoms your herd is displaying?

Just curious because I live in the NW as well. Every time the weather chances, my goats get snotty nosed and cough. :/

 

[Milktopia]

Hey there! So we haven't done any testing, but we know that Ivermectin really makes them stop coughing for a few weeks pretty much as soon as we give it to them. We assume it is lungworm because the treatment works so well. I'm concerned about using Ivermectin plus because I think one of them is pregnant and the others will probably go into heat soon. I'm really confused about what treatment will heal them. We are in the middle of the treatment using the horse Ivermectin but my vet recommends using the sheep/ cow drench. Thanks again for the support!

 

[Milktopia]

Just finished the 30 day intensive treatment with the ivomectin horse paste. After 5 or 6 days, a few of them began coughing again. We are now using the ivomec drench and giving it to them internally. Anyone have any further ideas about what to do? We are sort of out of ideas at this point, and if the drench doesn't work, we can't think of anything else besides waiting to medicate them in the summer and immediately move there shelter and grazing area to another permanent location after the first treatment. Thanks for all the help so far!

 

[ArborGoats]

I would suggest getting a fecal done. You could be creating some serious resistance to the ivermectin products.

 

[BCG]

If they have damage and scar tissue in their lungs you can't ever get rid of the cough. Maybe a possibility?

 

[FarmerInaDress]

One thing I learned recently is that it is best not to treat the whole herd at once for worms, as that is the quickest way to have a problem with resistance. The idea is if you worm them all at once, only the strongest/most resistant worms live on to reproduce with each other, making them harder and harder to kill off. If you leave a few animals untreated(Maybe do them 3-5 days later) the "smart" worms that survived the first round of worming breed back to the "stupid" ones in the untreated animals.

Looking over my notes from the same talk (by AASRP vets at the ADGA convention) where I learned about this, it was recommended to withhold feed for 12 hours prior to giving ivermectin to increase its efficacy and that giving it orally was most effective.

They recommended using a class of dewormer for a specific job until it fails, as switching between classes can promote multi-drug resistance. An effective wormer should improve the goat by at least 1 FAMACHA score in 7-10 days after treatment.

The talk was given in North Carolina, where many many wormers have become ineffective. Lots of people there had to use additional measures to keep worm loads down, such as making sure all feed is kept off the ground, keeping goats' feet out of feeders, etc.

Disclaimer: The weather is so cold and dry where I live that we do not have significant worm problems/dewormer resistance. I do not have personal experience to back up the info I was given, and maybe others can weigh in. I just wanted to share, as I found the talk very informative.

 

[FarmerInaDress]

I found an AASRP article on their Facebook page that you might find helpful: http://www.acsrpc.org/Resources/Topics/Hart_Solutions.html

 

[LGFarm]

Another thing that I found/read and have used was that goats process feed/wormer quickly, so the recommendation was to give the wormer every 12 hrs for a day, so that it was stayed in the system for long enough to be effective.

 

[Milktopia]

Thank you all so much for the info. I think we have devfeloped resistance to Ivermectin because it sounds like we have been breeding super "smart" lungworms. We will definetely treat them 3-5 days a part next time. What are some other wormers we could use? We want to try treating them at 12 hour intervals. 2 of our does are pregnant and 2 are lactating, so that's a concern with the wormers. Thanks so much for the help!

 

[MsScamp]

I could be wrong on this, but it is my understanding that the only two wormers that kill lung worms are fenbendazole (safeguard is one brand name), and paraqua something. That one is found in Ivomec Plus and Zimectrin Gold.

 

[FarmerInaDress]

Edit: I found an article that recommends levamisole, and the Fiasco Farms website also lists it as effective against lungworms and safe for pregnant animals. Here is the article.

The advice about worming at 12 hour intervals/withholding food for 12 hours was specifically about Ivermectin, so I would not attempt it with another wormer without supporting evidence that it would be safe.

 

[Milktopia]

Thanks everyone so much for the help. We are going to try the levamisol. Also, we are bringing a miniature cow home tomorrow and I was wondering if you might have any insite into if lungworm will be contagious to her?

 

[ksalvagno]

I would think any livestock could get lungworm.