Bad Year For Sweet Itch?

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Kalliwally

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Hi all, first time poster here :)

I've had my pony for over a decade now, and she's had pretty intense sweet itch the whole time. It was really bad when we got her due to having gone unmanaged, but we eventually reached a point where can stay on top of it relatively well with a combination of preventative and treatment methods - except that this year she's really suffering with it, and it's bad earlier than it's ever been before.
Has anyone else noticed this with their sweet itch ponies? Is this year particularly bad for it?
Thanks
S
 
I think this really has a lot to do with location. I am in Sussex, and I am finding the opposite - touch wood. This is the first year my horse hasn't rubbed her forelock out. However, this is also the first year she hasn't been vaccinated with Insol, purely because my practice couldn't get any in, so I am half wondering whether for some obscure reason, Insol didn't agree with her... But that is most likely pure coincidence.
 
Yes, my Shetland has been really struggling the last few weeks. Hes been throwing himself on the floor and refusing to leave the field shelter morning and evening. I'm South England and can't say I've noticed the midges to be particularly bad, but have also been itchy and bitten by something. So maybe they are smaller and can't really notice them.
I've had to clip him out and put the sweet itch rug on earlier than normal
 
We also have a forelock this year! We are using Spotinor and a medicated rug. So far so good…

ETA: I rug from the beginning of March and our rug is the Rambo Sweet itch hoody Vamoose.
 
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My two itchy ones are doing well this year, on is just starting a small amount of itching, the other hasn't itched at all. Both treated with Switch from the vets, the one that's not itched at all comes in overnight in summer which makes a huge difference. The other can't due to arthritis but does better with switch than any other topical treatment or fly rugs including boett.
 
Do people have suggestions as to where is best to buy large quantities of Piriteze as recommended by the vet for my Fell pony who has developed sweet itch? It is, as those with sweet itch horses/ponies will know, much cheaper from the internet than vet prescribed, which he was happy to admit! Also large quantities of any sort of emollient creams-Sudacrem, citronella fly creams, aloe vera etc, anything like that which people have found works to use as a greasy barrier to the midges. Also looking at the Biteback products as they seem to be popular.

She has a rug and the field rises on a gentle slope, so there is usually some form of breeze at the top there, but just want to throw everything at it I can. She's not too bad at the moment and I'd like to try and prevent it spreading as much as possible (obviously).

Many thanks.
 
cariad said:
Do people have suggestions as to where is best to buy large quantities of Piriteze as recommended by the vet for my Fell pony who has developed sweet itch? It is, as those with sweet itch horses/ponies will know, much cheaper from the internet than vet prescribed, which he was happy to admit! Also large quantities of any sort of emollient creams-Sudacrem, citronella fly creams, aloe vera etc, anything like that which people have found works to use as a greasy barrier to the midges. Also looking at the Biteback products as they seem to be popular.

She has a rug and the field rises on a gentle slope, so there is usually some form of breeze at the top there, but just want to throw everything at it I can. She's not too bad at the moment and I'd like to try and prevent it spreading as much as possible (obviously).

Many thanks.
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Have a look on Amazon for the antihistamines. You may find other brands which are cheaper but which have the same basic ingredient. I'm using Nettex Summer Freedom cream this year. I used it years ago and have comeback to it after trying many other options. If my pony really rubs I use Sudacrem. I'm also using Meddi Midge on his tail- it's an oil and seems to keep the worst of the midges off. For flies I use Zero Flies spray. Biteback products didn't seem to help mine. Once it warms up - pony hates a bath on what he thinks is a cold day - I bath with Malaseb - which you have to get from the vets. It's a horrid condition for them to live with.
 
Piriteze is cetirizine which I got from home bargains super cheap if you have one near you.

My non-sweet itch pony is very itchy this year having had no issues for the last 2 summers.
 
We're by a very small river up in the NW, and my YO commented this week the midges were worst he'd seen them. Perhaps the weather has favoured their lifecycle this year? Lots of the horses on the yard do suffer with them. My old horse had to be managed very carefully, so I appreciate your pain!
 
We are doing ok this year but I rug religiously, use Nettex Summer Freedom on his face and ears and Biteback lotion spray on his legs, belly, sheath and on his tail under his rug. I also feed linseed. Fingers crossed this is working despite midges being bad and moving to a yard where he has access to lots of things to rub on in his field, we have no rubbing! I did notice he had started chewing his fetlocks but using the biteback seems to have stopped that.
 
Dreadful this year. My field isn’t even close to water courses and I’ve never seen so many clustered around my two as there has been the last few evenings.
 
really recommend kilitch, jay also has an aussie rug when turned out. put kilitch on every day and wash mane and tail regularly it really helps. jay is also always in at night which also helps - i know that doesn't suit everyone
 
We've got away with it till now - this is the longest I've been able to leave my horse out of sweetitch rugs, but there are some spots coming up in his mane now so they will go on this morning.

I second the vote for killitch - it's the only thing that has saved my horse's tail for the last 3 years.

Try ebay for cetirizine? I'm about to start my horse on it, and got 180 tablets for £4.49
 
Thank you for all your suggestions; a lot to look at there. Need an hour or so on the internet now! But will definitely look at Home Bargains for the not Piriteze, we have HB not too far away.

It's such a shame, as apart from it making her uncomfortable, the Fell mane is a crowning glory for them, but of course, that gets rubbed. Then she doesn't have her thick mane for protection. It is just about starting to grow back, so perhaps I can keep it in check a bit. She had a foal last year and it all started not long before that, but we couldn't do too much in terms of medication because of the foal. My other Fell doesn't have it, so just unlucky, I guess.

Cheers.
 
We've had a good season so far, but it's been bone dry in Surrey. We had heavy rain, last night, so this morning I did goo her up with the neem/benzyl benzoate solution. Past strategies that have worked best have been brewer's yeast and linseed in the feed, weekly bed baths (she won't tolerate a hose and even the bucket and sponge produces acrobatics) with Selsun and a squirt of neem/BB in there, diluted as a no-rinse application. I then apply neem/bb to naked areas not covered by the rug (ears/face, armpits, teats, belly and dock). I also apply it down her legs if I expect a population explosion (like today!).

I confess I had stopped bed baths for last year as things were just too much for a variety of reasons (she really is bad, sometimes, to bathe), but started again this spring and the difference in her skin is astonishing, so she'll have to suck it up.

Piriton didn't do much for her, sadly. Controlling grass intake does, though.
 
Fransurrey said:
We've had a good season so far, but it's been bone dry in Surrey. We had heavy rain, last night, so this morning I did goo her up with the neem/benzyl benzoate solution. Past strategies that have worked best have been brewer's yeast and linseed in the feed, weekly bed baths (she won't tolerate a hose and even the bucket and sponge produces acrobatics) with Selsun and a squirt of neem/BB in there, diluted as a no-rinse application. I then apply neem/bb to naked areas not covered by the rug (ears/face, armpits, teats, belly and dock). I also apply it down her legs if I expect a population explosion (like today!).

I confess I had stopped bed baths for last year as things were just too much for a variety of reasons (she really is bad, sometimes, to bathe), but started again this spring and the difference in her skin is astonishing, so she'll have to suck it up.

Piriton didn't do much for her, sadly. Controlling grass intake does, though.
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Sorry but what is a bed bath?
 
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