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My friend here in Germany has horses. She told me that if a horse seems likely to have worms, the horse’s feces has to be sent for analysis before ivermectin can be given. The reason is that it is so poisonous - for horses!

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I'm here in VA. I can buy the wormers without a mandatory "analysis." However, I always get a fecal count before administering an ivermectin or other paste wormer. If the count is below a certain amount, the horse will be fine without it.

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Like Lynell, I do a fecal count before administering dewormer to my horses. One reason is that the parasites are becoming resistant to the dewormers, and there is very little research into developing new products to overcome the drug resistance because dewormer is so cheap. So I try to use it as little as possible, but not because it’s toxic for horses. When I do use it, I see zero side effects.

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I think my friend wanted to say the medication should be respected for what it is intended.

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Well, I sure agree with that! But when dosed and used properly, ivermectin is toxic for parasites, not poisonous for horses.

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But a virus is not a parasite.

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I hope we are agreeing that no one should try to treat Covid using horse dewormer. Especially when there are excellent vaccines readily available.

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I had a puppy with mange and almost (accidentally) killed the poor dear with just a speck too much vet prescribed Ivermectin. She was in a coma for a few hours, made it through after a $2800 emergency vet bill... but was never "quite right". :*(

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How awful for you! My dog picked up mange mites somewhere a few years back and, once diagnosed (not so easy other than assumption due to the itch, hair thinning and thickening of the edges of the ears), they were gone with a single dose of Revolution. Because he was a small dog and slept in my bed, I ended up with a horribly inflamed and itch back because mites then transferred from my sheets to me. Thankfully, animal mange mites can't survive on a human, so they died off quickly and a thorough hot laundry cleared the bed sheets & covers. But I can tell you that the itch was worse than poison oak.

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That's terrible, Nancy, especially since it was through a vet's prescription.

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Oh my gosh, how scary! I have a collie, and they (and all white-footed herding dogs) do not get ivermectin. They have a genetic sensitivity to it.

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I keep waiting to hear about the medical outcome for those humans who have chosen to dose themselves with ivermectin.

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