Any sweet itch guru's out there?????

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PC Steele

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My 20 yr old has just moved to a lovely new yard!!! In the last 2 days he has developed the most horrible sweet itch on his neck. He does have an anti weave grill on his door (which he doesn't need) and he has rubbed both sides of his neck raw on it. I really don't know where to start treatment wise???? Shall I get the vet? Have looked at Boett sweet itch rugs. At the moment I am just bathing it and putting sooth itch cream on it with little effect 😢😢
 
Boetts are fantastic. I'd suggest sudocrem (benzylbenzoate) for the itched bites if they are sore. If just swollen then aloe can help (but not on sores). The important thing is to heal the current bites and stop any more from happening.
 
If you click the link in my sig you will get to my pony's FB page. The latest post on there has all the details of what is currently working for us :)
 
Some yards are worse than others for the midges that cause SI, you need to try and limit his exposure to them by keeping him covered as much as possible, the rugs are ideal, some are better kept in at dawn/ dusk when the midges are at their worst but that means they are more likely to rub.
It is trial and error for treating it, some react badly to benzylbenzoate and become very distressed as it can almost burn any sore areas causing more rubbing, you need to cover the backs of front legs and front of the hinds as well as under the belly with a really good fly repellent as that is often where the midges bite, the reaction is systemic so will show by the rubbed mane, it is not always where they have been bitten that the reaction shows which can make treating it very tricky.

If you can turn him out well away from water in a field that has a breeze it will help reduce the exposure to midges, it is unusual for it to come on so late in life are you certain it is SI and not something such as lice that he has picked up during the move.
 
OP don't panic!! not yet anyway.

Get a Sweet Itch hoody rug, or a Boett, and stick that on and see if the situation improves. The horse will need to wear the rug at all times when turned out.

If there is itching, I use "Killitch" or benzyl benzoate is the same thing if you want to buy it cheaper.

Avoid garlic, and mollasses in feed. Turnout can have a huge contributing factor; the higher and breezier the field the better, worst places are low lying fields with water around.

You can, if you are wanting to, get the vet to take some bloods to see whether you are dealing with sweet itch or not, and if so, what severity.

Of course the itching could be other nasties such as ringworm, but then I'd have thought that other horses on the yard would be showing symptoms too.

I'd be inclined to get a rug, cover up, treat topically if you need to, and see what happens. I use the Rambo Sweet itch hoody rug (not cheap, but the best there is IMO); or the Premier Equine ones are very good -- I'd particularly recommend their Sweet Itch Buster and/or the Dry Lite rug which comes very nicely up the neck and doesn't scrimp like a lot of cheap and cheerful fly rugs do. This could be just stress from moving yard as well, so bear that in mind.

If you want to research Sweet Itch - there should be lots on here in the Archives, myself and others have contributed plenty over the years!!
 
It doesn't sound like classic sweet itch....they tend to rub out their manes and tails and midline/belly areas.
Have you checked for lice and other nasties?..
If it definitely is sweet itch, then amgood sweetness tch rug...Premier Equine sweet Itch buster is my recommendation and good Repellent...I use Net Tex Itch Stop successfully.
Also consider a food allergy if you've changed feeds....
 
The rugs are brilliant to keep the flies away and should be your first point of call but they obviously won't stop the itching. I had a pony who suffered awfully and would make herself bleed. First thing i would do is add garlic to the feed to naturally avoid the flies, I've heard that turmeric can be good too. I used Global Herbs supplement called Skratch. I cannot recommend it enough. It worked wonders for my pony and made her so much more comfortable. I would also wash the affected areas in a cleansing shampoo, maybe with tea tree or aloe vera in it and then apply an aloe vera gel to sooth the itchiness. Hope this helps!
 
_HP_ said:
It doesn't sound like classic sweet itch....they tend to rub out their manes and tails and midline/belly areas.
Have you checked for lice and other nasties?..
If it definitely is sweet itch, then amgood sweetness tch rug...Premier Equine sweet Itch buster is my recommendation and good Repellent...I use Net Tex Itch Stop successfully.
Also consider a food allergy if you've changed feeds....
Click to expand...

Yeah the problem is because I've changed yards everything has changed!!!! So haven't a clue what it is!!! Could be feed,stress,bedding anything 😢
 
chester2010 said:
The rugs are brilliant to keep the flies away and should be your first point of call but they obviously won't stop the itching. I had a pony who suffered awfully and would make herself bleed. First thing i would do is add garlic to the feed to naturally avoid the flies, I've heard that turmeric can be good too. I used Global Herbs supplement called Skratch. I cannot recommend it enough. It worked wonders for my pony and made her so much more comfortable. I would also wash the affected areas in a cleansing shampoo, maybe with tea tree or aloe vera in it and then apply an aloe vera gel to sooth the itchiness. Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Garlic can make matters far worse and should be avoided as it promotes the response to the bites, flies are not the issue it is midges that cause the SI reaction, brewers yeast is a better supplement to use, GH Skratch is very difficult to get them to eat as it tastes vile they may eat it if very greedy but once they have started reacting it is probably too late for this year.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
OP don't panic!! not yet anyway.

Get a Sweet Itch hoody rug, or a Boett, and stick that on and see if the situation improves. The horse will need to wear the rug at all times when turned out.

If there is itching, I use "Killitch" or benzyl benzoate is the same thing if you want to buy it cheaper.

Avoid garlic, and mollasses in feed. Turnout can have a huge contributing factor; the higher and breezier the field the better, worst places are low lying fields with water around.

You can, if you are wanting to, get the vet to take some bloods to see whether you are dealing with sweet itch or not, and if so, what severity.

Of course the itching could be other nasties such as ringworm, but then I'd have thought that other horses on the yard would be showing symptoms too.

I'd be inclined to get a rug, cover up, treat topically if you need to, and see what happens. I use the Rambo Sweet itch hoody rug (not cheap, but the best there is IMO); or the Premier Equine ones are very good -- I'd particularly recommend their Sweet Itch Buster and/or the Dry Lite rug which comes very nicely up the neck and doesn't scrimp like a lot of cheap and cheerful fly rugs do. This could be just stress from moving yard as well, so bear that in mind.

If you want to research Sweet Itch - there should be lots on here in the Archives, myself and others have contributed plenty over the years!!
Click to expand...

I am seriously panicking!!!! Because I've moved yards it could be anything!!! �� Although I have had him for 16 yrs and he has moved around with me a fair bit and has always been fine, always settled really well. This yard is lovely, nice and quiet, loads of turnout etc.
 
If he has rubbed himself raw pls don't put benzyl benzoate in it will sting.

I use neem oil, cavalesse (from vet) and sweet itch rug.

However as others have said doesn't sound like classic sweet itch, although he could be trying to itch his mane and can't reach due to the grille hence the rubs on neck.

First thing first soothe the itching or he will keep rubbing - you probably need to call vet I have some good steroid cream from our vet which works a treat on itchy skin.

Then find the cause and eliminate it. Do other horses on the yard suffer from sweet itch? Has he ever displayed symptoms before? Can you remove the grille?
 
Our regime for 2 badly affected ponies is: they always wear a good sweet itch rug and hood. Any parts of them not covered by the rug is liberally coated with neem or Nettex itch stop cream, I always make sure the lower legs are well treated as I find it helps stop midges living in the grass climbing up their legs. They are kept in an electric fenced area all summer with just a soft tub for water to cut down on places to rub.
However, before doing all this be sure it is actually sweet itch and not something like him picking up mites from the new stable. If he has never suffered before I'd get the vet to check him out and maybe inject him for mites.
 
We have one sweet itchy pony, we use a sweet itch rug all the time, and spray with deosect once every two weeks. It's kept at a manageable level like this(The deosect also kills lice if that happens to be the problem)
 
PC Steele said:
Yeah the problem is because I've changed yards everything has changed!!!! So haven't a clue what it is!!! Could be feed,stress,bedding anything 😢
Click to expand...

I would work on a process of elimination then. Take everything away and introduce one thing at a time.
 
benz said:
If he has rubbed himself raw pls don't put benzyl benzoate in it will sting.

I use neem oil, cavalesse (from vet) and sweet itch rug.

However as others have said doesn't sound like classic sweet itch, although he could be trying to itch his mane and can't reach due to the grille hence the rubs on neck.

First thing first soothe the itching or he will keep rubbing - you probably need to call vet I have some good steroid cream from our vet which works a treat on itchy skin.

Then find the cause and eliminate it. Do other horses on the yard suffer from sweet itch? Has he ever displayed symptoms before? Can you remove the grille?
Click to expand...
Yep going to remove the grill, get a better sweet itch rug and get the vet. I just really need to try and stop the itching so his skin has half s chance to heal
 
Doesn't sound like sweet itch to me so I wouldn't treat it as that. If it's something else like lice/mites and you put a sweet itch rug on it'll more than likely make it worse. I'd start with a follicle test from a vet, not too expensive and better than guessing initially.
 
If keep the grill and use it to rig up a drape inside it. If it's sweet itch this will cut down the midges and even if it isn't it cuts out access to the grill
 
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