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Author Topic: Tapeworm treatment  (Read 1044 times)

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Tapeworm treatment
« on: November 03, 2020, 09:45:48 pm »
I last wormed my sheep just over a month ago as someone had a tape worm (I believe it was one of my ewe lambs but couldn’t be sure). Now I’ve noticed one of my tup lambs pooping segments again  :rant: I’ve got a different white wormer and was going to give him a dose. I don’t really want to, and know tapeworm is not damaging to their insides like other worms (correct me if wrong!) so can be left (for a bit at least??), but he won’t get rid of it without a dose, will he? I don’t want the others ingesting segments and getting it (because the segments would grow into a worm?) Is it normal for lambs to keep picking it up as they build their own resistance? Prob got this all wrong.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Tapeworm treatment
« Reply #1 on: November 03, 2020, 10:16:11 pm »
I know it's hard to get your head around, but the tapeworms where you see the segments in the sheep's poop (Monezia expansa) are generally not really damaging to the sheep and consequently many wormers do not address them.

The tapeworms which can really harm your sheep are the ones where the segments are in dogs' poop, and cannot be treated in the sheep; they must be treated in the dog.

No your other sheep will not catch the tapeworms directly from the sheep poop with tapeworm segments in it.  All tapeworms need a main host and an intermediate host.  With the one where the segments are in the sheep's poop, the intermediate host is a soil mite.  They eat the eggs from the sheep's poop, which leave oocysts in the body of the mite.  The sheep eat the mites (accidentally one presumes, on grass they are eating on purpose) and the oocysts continue their lifecycle in the sheep's guts.

Does continually worming your sheep reduce the amount of sheep tapeworm in your pasture?  I don't know that it would, really, unless you have no other ruminants (domestic or wild) grazing your pastures.  Like visiting deer, for instance, which would then perpetuate the lifecycle even if all your sheep were wormed constantly.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Richmond

  • Joined Sep 2020
  • Norfolk
Re: Tapeworm treatment
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2020, 08:23:00 am »
Just seeing the segments in the poo is not particularly pleasant though. I know tapeworm isn't harmful but I still don't like seeing it. We've just wormed (with Panacur for round and tape worms), a couple of sheep, one who was passing segments. Put them in a small pen on very short grass so I could inspect and collect what was coming out and yesterday found a "lovely" whole worm coiled in a pile of poo. Like a cobra! Quite fascinating in a way. Anyway this morning's inspection found no worms so I'm confident the wormer worked.

Out of interest can cats pass worms on too or is it just dogs? We don't have dogs but do have 6 cats. I know they poo in the paddocks (we have lots of tempting mole hills) and I routinely go round checking and picking it up but I must miss the odd one.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Tapeworm treatment
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2020, 02:00:01 pm »
As far as I can tell from a quick surf, the cat tapeworm does not enter ruminants.  Its intermediate host is the flea.

I am sure you are aware that there are however plenty of other parasites and infections which sheep can get from cat poo, of which the two most significant are toxacara and toxoplasmosis, the former often not causing problems but can cause blindness and even death, and the latter resulting in abortion if picked up whilst ewes are in lamb.  Both of these can affect humans too.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Richmond

  • Joined Sep 2020
  • Norfolk
Re: Tapeworm treatment
« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2020, 06:15:58 pm »
Yes I'm aware of toxocara etc. I wonder if on some level the sheep know that cats are not good things to have in their field as if they spot one wandering through they run and chase it out pretty sharpish.

 

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