Authors

Discussion

Faecal egg counts (FECs) are the standard method of diagnosing the level of parasitic infection in horses and other grazing animals. Testing before treatment is an important factor in slowing the appearance of anthelmintic resistance in nematode parasites of horses. The FECPAK^G2 allows owners to perform FECs on their own animals, without the need for a microscope or any specialist knowledge. A comparison of the FECPAK^G2 (G2) method with an accepted FEC method (FECPAK^G1) was made, using samples from 17 horses in Wales and 22 horses in New Zealand. There was no significant difference between the FECs obtained using the two methods (rmANOVA: F_1,37 = 0.052, p = 0.821, ŋ²_p = 0.001), and no effect of the country of origin of the data (rmANOVA: F_1,37 =2.084 p = 0.157, ŋ²_p = 0.053).  Accuracy of the G2 method was not affected by FEC level (r = -0.251 (CI: 0.030, -0.472) p= 0.124 n = 39) and repeatability was slightly better in the G2 method. It was concluded that the FECPAK^G2 method is an acceptable method of performing FECs in horses. It is hoped that the user-friendliness of the method will increase the uptake of FECs amongst horse owners, either by direct use of the technology or through their veterinary practice, hence slowing the development of anthelmintic resistance.