moxidectin

The Donkey Sanctuary is a UK based charity in Sidmouth, Devon. Its mission is to transform the quality of life for donkeys, mules and people worldwide through greater understanding, collaboration and support, and by promoting lasting, mutually life-enhancing relationships. The Donkey Sanctuary has a total of seven farms in the UK including a reception farm for new arrivals (quarantine) where the study is based. The relinquished and rescued donkeys by can arrive to the quarantine farm from different origins, for that reason, it is important to follow a health control program on arrival which includes a full coprological exam; this will determine the need of using an specific worming protocol. One of the most prevalent parasites is Strongylus spp. and it is very common to find animals with a moderate egg count who are asymtomathyc. The general recommendation is to treat donkeys with an egg count of 300 to 400 eggs per gram (The two antihelmintics used during the isolation period were two endectocides: moxidectin (Equest, 0,4 mg/Kg) and ivermectin (Eqvalan, 0,2 mg/Kg).

The worming protocol used for those animals that have been considered healthy on arrival and that they did not have received a recent antihelmintic treatment was to recieve an initial treatment with Moxidectin with a quarantine period of 48 hour without access to pasture. Those animals that have recieved a recent worming treatment( within the last 6 weeks) with ivermectin or moxidectin, they were only treated if the faecal egg count was higher than 50 epg or a different type of parasite was found (for example pulmonary nematodes). No other actions were taken in those animals with Strongylus spp. after the first faecal egg count results if they had been treated with moxidectin, otherwise the previous described protocol had been followed. 

Donkeys and horses share several parasites including the small strongyles, Cyathostominae. Moxidectin (MOX), a compound of macrocyclic lactones, has a wide range of ecto and endoparasitic activity in many species. For horses, MOX is available as oral gel formulation that provides excellent and long-lasting efficacy against nematodes such as large and small strongyles. There is a paucity of data available on the efficacy of anthelmintics used in donkeys (Veneziano et al., 2011). Therapeutics, such as antiparasitic compounds, are often administered to donkeys on the basis of dosage and intervals recommended for horses, because very few drugs have donkey-specific label indications (Grosenbaugh et al., 2011). The objective of the present study was to evaluate the field efficacy and Egg Reappearance Period (ERP) of MOX oral gel up to 84 days at horse dose against natural infection of Cyathostominae in donkeys.