We commonly hear from farmers who are concerned that they've dosed their cattle and the animals are still coughing, or even coughing harder.
This most typically happens with clear wormers like ivermectin or eprinomectin.
Clear wormers are very effective at killing lungworm and do so quickly. The problem is that this dead material needs to be expelled from the animal and coughing is the mechanism by which this occurs.
Unfortunately, too much coughing affects intake, performance and in extreme cases can lead to respiratory disease as stress levels spike. Respiratory disease is very dangerous in cattle, unfortunately however, cattle are not well equipped to deal with stress on their respiratory systems.
In addition, if there is a big burden of worms in the animal at dosing time, the decaying of these worms once killed can also trigger an allergic reaction, furher compounding the problem. It is important to monitor any coughing animal, treated or untreated. If you are concerned that their symptoms are excessive, or their behaviour has changed, restrain the animal and take a temperature.
Ensure that normal eating and rumination behaviours are observed and, in dairy herds, monitor yield, BCS and fertility (repeats if during breeding season). Animals coughing without any disturbance (e.g. before being moved for milking/to a fresh paddock) are under respiratory pressure and should be watched closely.
It's important to consult a vet before worming animals that are already coughing quite hard.
It is also important not to delay a lungworm treatment once infection is suspected, particularly in young animals.
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We commonly hear from farmers who are concerned that they've dosed their cattle and the animals are still coughing, or even coughing harder.
This most typically happens with clear wormers like ivermectin or eprinomectin.
Clear wormers are very effective at killing lungworm and do so quickly. The problem is that this dead material needs to be expelled from the animal and coughing is the mechanism by which this occurs.
Unfortunately, too much coughing affects intake, performance and in extreme cases can lead to respiratory disease as stress levels spike. Respiratory disease is very dangerous in cattle, unfortunately however, cattle are not well equipped to deal with stress on their respiratory systems.
In addition, if there is a big burden of worms in the animal at dosing time, the decaying of these worms once killed can also trigger an allergic reaction, furher compounding the problem. It is important to monitor any coughing animal, treated or untreated. If you are concerned that their symptoms are excessive, or their behaviour has changed, restrain the animal and take a temperature.
Ensure that normal eating and rumination behaviours are observed and, in dairy herds, monitor yield, BCS and fertility (repeats if during breeding season). Animals coughing without any disturbance (e.g. before being moved for milking/to a fresh paddock) are under respiratory pressure and should be watched closely.
It's important to consult a vet before worming animals that are already coughing quite hard.
It is also important not to delay a lungworm treatment once infection is suspected, particularly in young animals.
Keep Learning