Is anyone familiar with using Ivomec (injectable)in an oral dosage to treat external parasites (lice)in horses? I have heard of it being given orally from several people but nobody seems to know what quantity to give?

use the same dosage as you would inject cattle with as per thier weight. There is the possibility of your horse having a reaction to it. I have never talked to anyone who has had a reactor but you do hear stories. If you have a good large animal vet in the area you could probably quiz him out for free. Greg

Our vet told us that he had treated horses with sore mouths from people that did that, so he didn't recommend it.
That is what paste is for, I think.

I second talking to your vet and picking his brain on that, before experimenting on your own.

That is all I have used for about 15 years now. I have yet to see a sore mouthed horse. The dosage I use that was prescribed by one of the best horse vets I have ever met was 1cc/110 lbs. I usually drench a full size adult horse with 11ml. Younger horses usually get 6-7ml. With liquid ivermectin products, there is no chance of overdosing a horse. In the initial test cases given in 60s, they were trying to find the amount that would harm a horse. They went up to 10 times the recommended amount and the horses never had any adverse reactions.

I buy 500ml bottles of the generic ivermectin for about $125. That figures out to about $2.50 per horse to worm them. I am using the cattle formula. There is no difference in formulation in the cattle and the horse labeled ivermectin. The only thing you don't want to use is any cattle ivermectin product that is formulated to kill liver flukes. Horses react severly to the chemical added to kill the flukes.

I am not familiar with Ivomec products, only the commerical for pour-on on the local ag. show.

A friend did get a horse at a auction that had lice when I was growing up. My mother, old herb doctor that she was, told them to wash the horse with Ajax powder, the stuff you use on old ceramic bath tubs and then apply oil of pyrinthum (I'm sure that is spelled wrong) the oil marigolds and related plants have that ward off bugs, It is the main ingredient in RID, human lice shampoo. It sounds strange, but it worked.

For many years, at our vets advice, we used the same Coral dust in cattle bags to sprinkle over the backs, mane and tail of any of our winter broodmares that had ticks, lice or scratched and that seemed to take care of whatever it was.

Thanks for your replies everyone, I appreciate the advice!

Ivermectin is a formulation for wormer. It is the common formula in many paste wormers, Zimectrin, Ivercare, Equvalan, to name a few. It is pretty much the industry standard in livestock dewormers. The liquid form is just one form that can be used. The liquid can be injected, drenched orally, and some is designed as a pour on. It just needs to get into the bloodstream to work. Since it gets into the bloodstream, any parasite in or on the animal that feeds off of blood will die from the ivermectin. If there are ticks or lice on a horse, they will die within a day of being wormed. It will prevent new ticks from attaching for a few days but it isn't a longterm tick or lice repellent.

We used ivermectin injectable for years on our dogs, though never on the horses for some reason.

This started years ago with my husband's 'coon hunting buddies who all wormed their dogs with it, bought from the local feed n seed store. Much, much cheaper than the regular dog wormer stuff that can cost a lot. I haven't used it in a while (I ran out and haven't bought more), but when we did use it regularly, I noticed that the fleas weren't much of a problem, either.

Also, we got a Jack Russell Terrier puppy two years ago, who ended up having Red Mange (yes, we spade her) and in her first six months, and the vet treated her aggressively with liquid (injectable ivermectin), starting with more than twice what'd I'd been giving the grown dogs per pound, and increasing every few days for two weeks, then keeping that same dose for another two weeks. Knocked that mange right out, and haven't seen any sign of it since.

I guess parasites are parasites. Our small animal vet swears by the stuff. We use a different one for the livestock, and he doesn't seem to have an opinion one way or the other about wormer (that he will discuss), but then he makes a lot of money selling the other stuff, so why should he promote ivermectin?

Just MHO.

I was always told, never inject ivermectin into horses, though we use the liquid cattle/swine etc. formula for deworming the horses ... much less expensive than pastes. The reason given for not injecting it, so I'm told, is it will harm the muscle tissue. I'm assuming an intramuscular injection..... Unless you're talking about an intravenus injection? Which is not something I'd even attempt.

I just bought a 500 ml bottle for $92. That even included the shipping.

I also just read an interesting study that is showing that the residual effect of ivermectin wormers is killing off the dung beetles. Dung beetles live in the ground and decompose manure. In areas where there is continual use of ivermectin products, there is becoming more manure buildup in those pastures. To counteract that, I worm in the fall when they come in from the pastures and a month or so before they go out to the pastures. I don't worm over the summer so hopefully I am not killing off the dung beetles in our pastures.

I also would agree that it would be better to give the wormer orally rather than injecting it.

If anybody buys it, remember that there is two types of cattle ivermectin wormer. If it says on the bottle that it kills liver flukes, don't use it on a horse. That type will also kill a horse. If it doesn't say anything about liver flukes on the bottle, it is safe for a horse.

You know what - that explains an odd occurrence I've seen in the last few years around here. Never in my life until recently had I noticed the buildup of manure in so many pastures that don't seem to be home to any more livestock than ever before - but the manure just seems to build up and build up. I especially notice this in cattle pastures, and wormers killing off dung beetles would certainly explain it (at least it makes sense in MY mind).

I had been thinking more along the lines of preservatives somehow ingested by the animals, but this really makes more sense.