I had to give my horses the bad news: Again, no ivermectin at any of the five feed stores I checked with.

Horse Beau remarked, “What is wrong with those people? Don’t they know they are risking our health?”

Ruby chimed in, “Well, really, they ought to know they are actually risking their human health. That stuff is for worms, not viruses. And they say horses are dumb! What’s so difficult to understand that vaccinations, like the ones we get, are for viral disease?”

Zahra, Ruby’s daughter, begged to differ. “Yucky! I hate that gooey dewormer. Let the humans have it!”

Poodle Lily observed to Nala the Great Pyrenees, “Wow. It must be true. We poodles really are smart. I know that ivermectin is the stuff we get for those worms we sometimes have, not viruses.” Nala: “Yeah, you’re not so smart. I figured a long time ago that people take advantage of us if they get half a chance.”

Ella, the elder statesman German Shepherd, weighed in: ”People ‘doing their own research’… Ha! Wonder how many have a clue what research means?”

Black kitty, tail and nose in the air, added, “If they did their research, they’d know that side effects in humans from taking ivermectin include confusion, loss of body control, weakness, dizziness and passing out, seizures, gut distress, visual disturbance and rash.”

Carl the rooster strolled by. “Bird-brained ideas. Who’s the bird brain now?”

On behalf of my horses’ health, and to reduce arguments at the barnyard, I ask that people please stop buying horse dewormer unless they actually have horses. And if people have worms, heaven help them. They should go to a (human) doctor.

Anne Herrick
Yarmouth