Melodie: my yearling has not coliced since late last winter (concerned about tapeworms)…

I have treated her for worms every three months with worm check, and each time I take a sample to the lab, a few weeks after, she has had worms again, sometimes a different kind- the last time she had, "some round worms", as the previous, as well as, "lots", of hook worms, as the time before that. I have gone through me first 12 pack and need to worm her again.

I want to check with you on the plan before going ahead and ordering more this week. Each time, I waited a bit to worm, about 3 months, thinking that more frequently might not be the best, and right now this seems to be routine for her. As we are headed into winter, and I also just ran out of the gut check I have had her on, "gone through 4 cans now", I am concerned about colic and don’t want to make any mistakes.

A local natural vet here that sees another owners horse on the property where I am at, warned her that tape worms are on the rise in a come back here, and that she is using the harsh stuff herself for her horse, as she is seeing some horses colic and die from it. She said you cannot detect them with the stool samples checks.

My thought was that if Gypsy had them, then why has she stopped her colic. I don’t think the gut check would have stopped it if tape worms were the case.

If Gypsy were yours, what would you do now? Continue worm check, or go to something else, and…. would you treat for tape worms at a different point in time as she now has round and hook worms? If you ever advise me to do something different than worm check, please advise what, as I have no knowledge about the rest.