allergy testing

[dollymix]

Hi all

I have a new mare, a grey ID who has been with me now for about 6 weeks.

On her vetting, the vet she had 'a degree of seborrea in her mane'. This is scaly, scabby skin...nothing horrendous and at the time it wasn't that itchy so we thought it was fine to go ahead with the purhcase.

Since having her home, she has begun to itch it quite badly, including her forelock and face, and her neck along her mane. The vet gave me a wash called seleen, which I use every 3-4 days, which does help, but only briefly.

It looks a bit like sweet-itch (I have another horse who has sweet-itch so know the signs inside out), but whereas the other horse has stopped itching, the new girl is still scratching.

Thererfore, I was wondering about having some allergy tests done. Has anyone had their horses tested for allergies and if so, was it useful. I.e. did it tell you anything which could alleviate the allergies?

Any advice would be great!

Thanks

 

[PopStrop]

My mare went to Newmarket for intradermal allergy testing with a veterinary dermatologist. She had 64 injections of the most common allergens on a shoulder, which showed allergies to dust mites, forage mites, mould spores and a couple of weed pollens. Dermatologist's advice was to live out 24/7 with vacuum packed forage (ie horsehage) or if she was to be stabled, to be on rubber matting with no bedding. I got a page of recommendations for managing the allergies from things like feeding aloe vera to keeping rugged to limit dust exposure, using a human anti-mite duvet cover under rugs and washing weekly, bathing the horse weekly and pressure hosing the stable monthly.
I am 100% sure she also has feed allergies but according to dermatologist there has only been 1 (I think?) documented case of a horse with feed allergies so they are considered rare... and can't be tested for intradermally, just through trial and error and clinical symptoms.

My mare had a change of bedding, she gets grass, hay and dried grass with supplements to keep diet simple and the one major difference has been since feeding linseed (natural anti-inflammatory) she has been able to come off the antihistamines and stay off them, for 18 months now, with no lumps, scabs or itching. She stays unrugged unless clipped and gets very little by way of the special treatment/management recommended because the addition of linseed (which wasn't in my list of recommendations) has made all the difference.

I was offered the choice of a vaccine made up from the allergens to which she reacted but it wasn't guaranteed to work - can't remember the % rate, may have been 80%? - was expensive and required several injections and my mare is needlephobic (even more so after this particular trip with lots of IV sedation and the 64 inj's!) so I opted to try and maintain comfort with management.

Bloods can be tested for allergies but according to my vets/the dermatologist they are not as accurate as intradermal testing and can throw up a lot of false positives.

Hope that helps.