# De-worming A Goat With Chewing Tobacco



## stano40

Today I was talking with a farmer who use's chewing tobacco to de-worm his goats.  I have heard of this before but never tried it.  To me nicotine is poisonous.  

Has anyone ever tried this before?

bob


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## poorboys

yes I've heard of it, never tried it!!!!! They say it's good for bee stings too


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## Ariel301

A lot of old-time farmers used to give it to their livestock as a dewormer. I remember an old landlord of mine who handled horses in world war 2 told me I needed to feed my horse a pack of cigarettes every now and then. I'm skeptical about it. :/


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## Emmetts Dairy

Im sure the tobacco in WW II was completely differant from the tobacco today...with all the additives and poisons in it.  I would not do it.  

Maybe if it was raw tobacco leaves from the plant itself??? Then maybe...but a pack of smokes with bleaches and amonia's...and God knows whatever else.  Id be scared Id poison them.

The wormers cost about the same as a pack of ciggarettes do.  

I would buy the wormers.   IMO!!


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## stano40

The fellow I talked to today when I got some goats milk for my babies says he keeps a bag of loose chewing tobacco in his house for his goats. 

He claims he has no problem getting them to eat it and he's never had a worm problem with his goats.  He also claims the tobacco kills off all types of worms that would plague a goat.

Other than him I don't know of anyone else doing it.  I was under the assumption that tobacco wasn't good for goats because of the nicotine.

So how does chewing tobacco compare with cigarette's for quality.

bob


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## tortoise

Try it on yourself, you'll give your goatie a heck of a bellyache.  Wormer is not THAT expensive...


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## Emmetts Dairy

Chewing tobacco???  That one I dont know...I thankfully dont chew!!!

Im sure it has validity of some sort??  I would just be weary cuz of the chemicals used in tobacco's.

Thats just me...but I dont know whats in chewing tobacco.  But I know they have warnings for mouth cancers to on chewing tobacco now...and its not the nicotine thats the issue its the chemicals.


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## stano40

tortoise said:
			
		

> Try it on yourself, you'll give your goatie a heck of a bellyache.  Wormer is not THAT expensive...


I don't plan on trying it myself.  This is merely a topic to find someone who actually use's chewing tobacco for their goats and what they know on how it helps them.

bob


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## savingdogs

Edited to be more polite....sorry!


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## stano40

I'll with draw the question in this post & go elsewhere where it can actually be answered.

Point is knowledge

end of post


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## BlackSheepOrganics

So sorry you got what appear to be some rather snarky replies.  Most on here are wonderful and happy to try to help, at least that has been my experience in my short time here.  

I don't have a clue on the answer but I too would be curious to know.  We don't chew or smoke but just knowing is half the fun of things.  You never know when those little tidbits can come in handy!


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## savingdogs

I'm sorry if I came off snarky....not my intent. 

Perhaps when I said what is the point I should have put it differently, such as, why not use something more effective since the veterinary journal mentioned it could be harmful.


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## Emmetts Dairy

stano40 said:
			
		

> I'll with draw the question in this post & go elsewhere where it can actually be answered.
> 
> Point is knowledge
> 
> end of post


Im sorry you felt you had to withdraw your post.  I was curious if anyone used tobacco as a wormer???? 

I would ignore the snide remarks and continue on.  But I hear ya...once they start they seem to grow.  

As you know...we are not all here to show judgement on other members.  So please dont let a few snide remarks discourage you.

If you do find out...please post.  Id be interested in what you find out.  Cuz I have heard that people use tobacco leaves as insecticides.  My friends Dad would surround his house with tobacco leaves and it would keep the black ants and termites away.

So who knows???


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## freemotion

I'd heard about tobacco as a dewormer from old-timers, too.

Tobacco is grown in my area and during harvest, you see leaves on the side of the road and in the road from falling off the wagons.  In my quest for herbal dewormers, I picked up some of the fallen leaves one day and dried them.  Then I hit the computer really to research it.

I couldn't find any information to support the use of tobacco as a dewormer.  Even sites that are herbal-friendly did not support its use.  All I could find was that it needed to be used in such large amounts that it would harm the animal before killing the worms.

I still have the jar of dried tobacco leaf.  It is also good to use to make a tea to spray for aphids, or so I was told by a landscaper.  If some good info shows up, I'd give it a try.  But since tobacco is so poisonous, I'd need some really convincing info, that would allow me to use it in small amounts.


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## cattlecait

I dated a guy who's dad would worm the horses that way, he kept chew (the leaves in a bag, not the nasty ground up fiberglass yuck in a can) and they didn't like it, but he swore it was more affective than any wormer and more natural.


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## aggieterpkatie

> Tobacco has historically been used as an anthelmintic for livestock. While nicotine does have some anthelmintic properties, it is extremely toxic in the doses needed to kill worms.


Link


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## Emmetts Dairy

Thanks for the link...interesting read!


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## cmjust0

I've never seen a goat wouldn't knock you down to eat a cigarette once they knew what it was, and they're generally enchanted by cigarette smoke.  You can blow it right in there faces and they'll get as close to your face as possible and breeeeeathe it in, then they'll put their nose in the air and curl their upper lip like "Aahhhhh, that's nice."  Weird, I know..



As far as using it to deworm, that's horse hockey.  You could almost certainly kill worms with it, but only because worms won't live long in a dead goat. :/

Having said all that, it's probably worth pointing out that the dewormer Levasole works by binding to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors which causes the worms to spaz to a halt and die..


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## aggieterpkatie

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> Having said all that, it's probably worth pointing out that the dewormer Levasole works by binding to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors which causes the worms to spaz to a halt and die..


And is it a coincidence that when deworming with Levasole dewormers one should be careful not to overdose as it's pretty toxic when overdosed?  

I don't know really if it is or not.  Honestly it's been too long since I took physiology.


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## Lisakze

This thread has been very helpful in finding out what does or does not work, sometimes you hear stuff from people and just cannot decide it to be true. I find that it helps to listen to other peoples questions and see what answers they get in order to learn for myself. Thank you fro posting the original question.


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## peachick

My goats (and peacocks) like to nibble on pine needles on these big pine trees we have.  A goat friend was over recently and commented that the pine needles are a natural de-wormer.

So yesterdays wind  knocked down a pine tree....  Hubby cut it up today and I had him put all the branches in the goat yards and the peacock pens.  My animals have  been munching on them all day.


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## Emmetts Dairy

Pine is very high in Vitamin C...and is very good for them...they love it!!!  I dont know about de worming with it...but my guys live in ledgey pine area in the woods...and Its been over a year since Ive had to worm them.  And I test regularly..cuz its only $10.00 at my vets..so its worth it.  So maybe there is something to the pine theory????


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