All I Want For Christmas Is A Bot-Free Horse

Bots aren't a parasite that necessarily spring to mind when planning your horse's worming programme, however bot infestation can have potentially dangerous results. Bots aren't worms, but the larvae of the horse bot fly, which attach themselves to the abdomen, legs and the throat of grazing horses in late summer. The horse then licks them off and the larvae attach to the stomach lining where they develop into full-grown bots which can cause ulcers in the stomach wall and can occasionally penetrate the wall with fatal results.

A single dose of Vectin, one of the wormers featured in Intervet's 3-year worming plan, should be administered after first frosts have killed adult flies in December. The apple flavoured gel, which contains ivermectin as its active ingredient, is available in an easy-dose syringe and is suitable for use in foals and pregnant mares.

The 3-year worming plan advises horse owners on which wormer to use strategically at key times of the year and on a three-year rotation during the grazing season to help prevent the build up of resistance to wormers. Vectin should also be used as part of this rotation programme every 8 - 10 weeks during the grazing season, between April and August, to kill the adult and larval stages of the important intestinal parasites of horses; the wormer will remove adult and immature stages of small redworms, including strains that are resistant to benzimidazole-based wormers, adult and arterial stages of large redworms and and adult and immature lungworms.

Other products featured in Intervet's 3-year plan include Pyratape P and Panacur.

For further information about Vectin, Pyratape P and Panacur, please contact Intervet's Vet Support Group on 01908 685685.

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