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"Zimecterin Gold 'THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!!!'"

Friend of mine wrote this about one of her boarder's horses and her bad reaction with Zimecterin Gold. 2 more horses that she knows (not at her barn) have recently started slipping into the same pattern of symptoms. [quote]Here is play by play it got really really really bad. [*]Monday 3/22/2010 6:00PM: Jinx (6 year qh mare) and Whiz (6 year qh gelding) were both wormed with Zimecterin Gold [*]Monday 3/22/2010 6:30PM: Jinx Mouth swelled so bad her tong was sticking out of her mouth, skin began to sluff off and she drooled excessively [*]Monday 3/22/2010 7:30PM: Jinx began shaking I can only assume due to painMonday 3/22/2010 8:00PM: DVM came out to treat Jinx she was treated with Banamine; Dex and Antihistamine [*]Monday 3/22/2010 8PM-12:30AM: We continued to observe Jinx. She seemed to settle down a bit but would not eat [*]Tuesday 3/23/2010 6:00AM: Jinx was laying down though the swelling in her mouth was gone she exhibiting severe colic type symptoms, laying down, kicking at her belly, groaning in pain (I notified her owner the her condition has diminished over the last 6-7 hours and I was concerned) [*]Tuesday 3/23/2010 6-10AM: Jinx was walked, hand grazed on grass and at 10 she was given 10cc Banamine IV upon vet recommendation [*]Tuesday 3/23/2010 12:00PM: Jinx at not time has shown any relief with the banamine so DVM came back out to treat for colic she was refluxed, and given another pain med, and sedated still showing no signs of improvement. [*]Tuesday 3/23/2010 2:30PM: Jinx was taken to the vet because we feared she was flipping or beginning to twist a gut. Throughout the colic symptoms she maintained what appeared to be normal gut sounds, and just a slightly elevated resp and heart rate. [*]Tuesday 3/23/2010 3:20PM: Jinx arrived at DVM and was sedated, refluxed and given additional pain medication, she still showed no improvement they chose to put her in a stall for observation and would reflux again at 8:00PM followed by oil. [*]Tuesday 3/23/2010 6:30PM: I stopped by to check on Jinx and found her writhing in pain in her stall, concerned I spoke to the vet on hand and found she had been maxed out on pain meds an sedation and we had to wait it out until 8 to administer any further medication. [*]Tuesday 3/23/2010 8:00PM: A vet tech went in her stall to reflux Jinx again and before she could do so Jinx went into massive seizure, (Thank goodness the tech was not seriously injured during this seizure) Jinx however did sufferer several blows to the head and was stitched up above her right eye and at her left stifle. [*]Wednesday 3/23/2010 6:00AM: Jinx was exhibiting normal behavior looking for food and aside from being in pain from the obvious injuries she sustained during her seizure she seemed to be acting quite normally. Jinx was kept for observation the until [*]Thursday 3/24/2010 at about 6:00PM when she was released to come back to the barn. A no point do I think that any Vet, Tech or Hospital did a single thing wrong, I believe that she was cared for in the exceptionally. I am emailing this to you because after this incident I started doing some research and have found some rather disturbing news and I did some experimentation myself. Zimecterin Gold has PH levels between 5-6 Battery acid tests at around 6 (I tested it myself), so I have to believe that this Zimecterin Gold had done the following: Mouth Alkaline type burns which caused swelling and drooling, after about 12 hours it had sat in her stomach long enough to cause cramping and pain(thus the collic like symptoms), after several more hours it had reached her intestinal track and caused more Alkaline type burning to her intestinal track. When it got into her blood stream it somehow passed thru the blood/brain barrier which caused her to have the seizure. I have done quite a bit of research and have found several other people who have had horses suffer very similar affects including temporary neurological affects. I know you might be thinking the mare might be positive for EPM she is not and she was tested for a leaky gut, in addition to a stomach tap while at DVM and they found that she is in good health. The interesting thing is she has been wormed with the Zimecterin Gold and has had no adverse affects prior to this and the gelding that was also wormed also showed no affects. There is a warning on the Zimecterin Gold Box that in rare cases it can cause swelling of the mouth and excessive drooling temporarily. I remember back around 1997 there were similar symptoms with the liquid Ivermectin and I have to say, I really believe that this Zimecterin Gold is what caused all of this. The owner is in the process of contacting Zimecterin to address the issue, so I am assuming she will not be allowed to discuss these events shortly, but I wanted to get the word out since I witnessed these events first hand.[/quote]

rodeoratdogs Fri, 11/05/2010 - 09:44

That's horrible, I have never used it. I stick to just plain Ivermectin, Pyrantel and Oxibendazole. However I did order some Equimax but have been putting of useing it because I heard it was haveing some horrible affects as well. I asked my vet about it but she said she hadn't heard anything about it and that she thought it was safe, but I'm wondering if it the same ingredient in Equimax that is in Zimecterin gold that is so harmful.

Maigray Fri, 11/05/2010 - 09:49

Hasn't this topic come up before? Read the label carefully! This is what it is says on the Zimecterin Gold label:

Warning: Not for use in humans. Keep this and all drugs out of reach of children. In horses there have been rare reports of swelling and irritation of the mouth, lips and tongue following administration of ZIMECTERIN Gold. These reactions have been transitory in nature. Do not use in other animal species as severe adverse reactions, including fatalities in dogs, may result.

It's a documented side effect which the user is warned about, so whenever you give this producet to a horse, you are aware this is what may happen. It sounds like a severe allergice reaction, with complications. Yikes.

Krickette Fri, 11/05/2010 - 09:56

Yeah, same story, just sort of a play by play. She just sort of wrote it up because of the other horses having the same issues, and I decided I'd share the full details. And I've heard of the mouth swelling and that sort of thing, but the seizures... I wouldn't be prepared for that.

rabbitsfizz Fri, 11/05/2010 - 10:39

This product is Ivermectin + Praziquantel. Without using Praziquantel you are not, effectively, covering your horse for tapeworms. Here you can buy Praziquantel separately, which is what I do, and I have never had a bad effect from using it. I also use Praziquantel to tapeworm my dogs and, again, no bad side effects.
Rabbit, when (to my everlasting mortification) hospitalised with what turned out to be impaction with tapeworms (a margarine tub full) was fed a full pack of a Moxidectin/Praziquantel wormer by the Vets at the Royal Veterinary College, enough to de -worm a 700 lb horse (Rabbit weighs in at 180 lbs) and he suffered no side effects although the Vet who, after I had shrieked at her hysterically for giving my Mini Moxidectin, [i]then[/i] went and checked on the Internet under Minis/Moxidectin, nearly had a heart attack!! I felt quite sorry for her......
I can only think that it has to be whatever this product uses as a "carrier" paste.
Since this is far from the first instance, I would have thought they would have done something about it by now, even the Moxidectin products now carry a "mini" warning...in the States, not in Europe, though, as nothing has died.....yet.

rodeoratdogs Fri, 11/05/2010 - 11:13

Praziquantel that is the same ingredient, but are tape worms even really an issue in western WA where I live? I bought it because Doc had slight skin issues that I thought may be caused by thread worm and I had heard that equimax was effective for that, but his problem had cleared up in the mean time.

Monsterpony Fri, 11/05/2010 - 20:33

The above reaction is very rare. I have dewormed with praziquantal many times and never seen the reaction. Praziquantal is the only dewormer that will reliably treat tapeworms, which are now being recognised as a cause of chronic, low-grade colics.

Rodeoratdog- Tapeworms are present in Western Washington. They are spread by pasture mites when the weather is warm.

RiddleMeThis Fri, 11/05/2010 - 23:29

Currently don't have a horse, but if I did I would NEVER EVER use Zimecterin Gold. Read MULTIPLe upon MULTIPLE of HORRIBLE reactions from many different people on every horse forum I am on.

ETA: And yes, RF is correct. It is currently thought to be something in the carrier paste or coloring that is causing the reaction.

rabbitsfizz Sat, 11/06/2010 - 11:31

No, there is the same amount of Praziquantel in Equimax, but less Ivermectin in one of them, can't remember which one!
Tapeworms are now endemic in horses everywhere, there is nowhere (well, possibly the arctic circle, not sure :-D ) that does not, now, have tapeworms. Think about it, even without the mites, you buy a horse that has tapeworms, before you worm it for tapeworms how many segments do you think it can shed?

rodeoratdogs Sat, 11/06/2010 - 15:44

If a horse had a heavy infestation of tape worms would you see evidence of that when in their droppings like when they have roundworms? When we bought Doc he had so many round worms that he pooped worms for 2 days then he coliced. The vet gave us some powder stuff to put in his grain to absorb the toxins from the dying worms, then we had to worm him every 2 weeks for 4 more wormings, I think he had thread worms possibly because he broke out after a couple of the wormings in between his front legs. He also had this golf ball sized abscess on the side of his head, it was gross! but my vet didn't think that was caused by the dieing worms but I wondered. He seems to be all good these days but holy cow, when we bought him we didn't know we were in for all that.

rabbitsfizz Sat, 11/06/2010 - 15:51

Hardly ever, although if you know what you are looking for you can sometimes find them. The only really sure way of telling is with a blood test.

Or when your horse poops a margarine tub of the flaming things (dead) after having been fed a whole syringe of Equest+ (ARGH....small explosion from owner... :-t :hammer :BH :-t ...... :argue :argue :sign )

rodeoratdogs Sat, 11/06/2010 - 16:34

It was a horrid experience I have never seen anything like that and have had many horses since I was a kid. Not to good for my husband being that it was his first horse! We are so glad we got him though because he is such a character, we love him dearly and had we not got him when we did he probably would have died with the heavy infestation that he had.