Getting the Measure of Tapeworm
Christie had been having intermittent bouts
of colic for nine months, coming out of the blue each time.
An Irish Draught / Thoroughbred / Draught,
about 16 years old, she seemed to be coping. At no time did she lose weight, but
she became slightly dull in her personality and her general physical condition
was just not right. But Verna, her owner, became very worried because the colic
was so puzzling over such a long period of time.
 A
Tapeworm Problem?
During one of her routine six-monthly chiropractic visits, Vav immediately saw a
change in condition of Christie’s coat and belly. Before Verna told her about
it, she suspected tapeworm and asked about wormers.
Verna, a nurse, had charts and lists all to
hand. She explained how concerned she was at having to give Christie so many
chemicals, which still didn't seem to be resolving the problem.
Verna had previously been worming Christie
regularly for all types of worm except tapeworm. She had felt that as the
pasture was not over-grazed and as the same three animals had lived together for
some while they were at a very low risk for tapeworm, and this was one way of
reducing their medication.
Vav listened to the full history and also
referred back to her notes which she wrote each visit. After her assessment, Vav
was sure that there were no chiropractic problems interfering with the gut, or
the immune system – Christie needed very little chiropractic adjustment at all.
Try Herbal Wormers
Discussing all this, Vav suggested herbal wormers. These remedies work in
different ways to modern medicines, and Vav had been interested to hear that
they killed 75% of adult worms and killed or paralysed 100% of the eggs and
larvae – much more than conventional treatments – and this breaks the
infestation cycle.
Over the period that these colics had been
occurring, the vet had tried five different wormers. The other two horses who
lived with Christie had also now been treated for tapeworm, but seemed to have much
less of a problem. Christie seemed to be especially vulnerable - at one stage
the vet told Verna that she had the highest tapeworm antibody test in the
country!
All Gone!
Verna put all three horses onto a herbal wormer. She hasn't had another
antibody test done as yet – not wanting to put Christie through a needless blood
test – but three faecal worm counts have come back completely negative.
Interestingly, the horses all seem to eat the herbal wormer without hesitation,
and Verna said “They seemed quite perky after their five day course.” Christie
has now been clear of colic, and tapeworm, for eighteen months.
Vav said “Having seen this horse for many
years, I immediately noticed the loss of condition which suggested a tapeworm
infestation. Regular use of the best wormers had not worked and this hid the
problem, leading both Verna and the vet to think the colic must be caused by
something else. Eventually herbal wormers proved effective – which was just as
well, considering the extreme worm burden the tests showed!”
Regular Checkups
Thinking back on it, Verna felt that Vav’s holistic assessment
made all the difference. “She examined Christie as a whole horse, and she
noticed symptoms that were not obvious, but were significant to her. If she had
not suggested the colics were due to tapeworm, and a new treatment for it,
we could have continued to look in other directions for answers to the
problem."
"The fact that Vav had already known
Christie for four and a half years meant that she could instantly see the
changes. And her horse management experience came up with the answer of
tapeworms instead of chiropractic.”
Vav uses herbal remedies supplied by
Ellen Collinson - see www.equineiridology.eu |
