Bots on stomach wall
lining |
Bots can be very bothersome
and potentially detrimental to your horse’s
wellbeing. Advice from Worming experts at Pfizer
Animal Health is that the onset of winter is the
best time for you to get these pesky parasites
under control.
Bots are the insect larvae of the bot fly and
are a common adult parasite found within the horse’s
stomach, yet they don’t show up in a standard
Faecal Worm Egg Count (FWEC). The brown, hairy
and bee-like adult bot fly can cause serious distress
to your horse during the summer season. The female
bot fly can lay up to 1,000 distinctive yellow
eggs on the hair on your horse’s legs and
shoulders or around the eyes, mouth and nose.
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The larvae are ingested by your horse as it grooms
itself or a companion, mature in the mouth and develop
in the stomach for up to a year before emerging via
dung. The larvae then burrow into the ground and develop
into adults. Depending on the conditions, the adults
emerge in three to 10 weeks and the cycle begins again.Prevalence
of bots is most easily identified by the presence
of the eggs on the legs of animals, but this is an
unreliable indicator. Infection can show as mouth
irritation and occasionally the eruption of errant
migrating larvae from the skin, often on the neck.
In severe cases it can cause ulceration of the stomach
lining (1) and potentially the opening from the stomach
to the intestines can become obstructed.
Ben Gaskell, Pfizer’s veterinary advisor explains:
“The concerns are that not all horses will develop
obvious symptoms and that the exact level of pathogenicity
of bots is not well understood. Many animals may not
show any outward signs of illness at all giving no
clue to the possibility of damage occurring internally.
This is why routine control is important.”
A wormer containing ivermectin or moxidectin is recommended
for the control of bots, administered in the winter,
after the first frost when the adult flies have died
and before the bots mature. If you haven’t yet
treated your horse for encysted small redworm the
practical and cost-effective solution is to combine
this with your bots treatment by using moxidectin-based
EQUEST®, which is recognised as the only single
dose treatment for encysted small redworm.
Ben Gaskell concludes: “The correct worming
protocol will not only help to safeguard the health
of your horse but will also have an impact in reducing
the bot fly population in your area - which could
help to make you and your horse’s life more
comfortable next summer.”
Further information is available
from Pfizer Animal Health, Pfizer Ltd, Walton Oaks,
Dorking Road, Walton-on-the-Hill, Tadworth, Surrey
KT20 7NS www.wormingyourhorse.info
(1) T.P. Cogley, M.C. Cogley Veterinary Parasitology
86 (1999) 127–142)
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