Best feed supplement for sweet itch, what do you reccomend??

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ru-fi-do

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Thinking ahead for the my shettie that suffers with terrible sweet itch and wondered if anyone could recommend a supplement, i know some people use NAF and others have used the global herbs one. When do you start to feed it, he is still very itchy now. At the moment he has brewers yeast tablet that do seem to work to a certain extent. Any thoughts or recommendations welcome!
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THE only thing I've found to work is stopping them getting bitten in the first place ie rugs and barrier creams and I've had my sweet itch cob 8.5 years now. However, if anyone comes up with something new I'll give it a go. Does brewers yeast work? How do you know it works if he's still itchy? I know this time of year is one of the worst times for sweet itch but aren't you using Camrosa aswell? and a rug? I really do sympathise!! I was told not to use the Naf D Itch as it boosts the immune system and you want the opposite for sweet itch! (same goes for garlic!). Personally, I think sweet itch becomes a habit too. They are so used to itching that they just do it whatever. I never used to be able to tie my cob up or stable him because of it but now its under control I can at least tie him up for a short period of time without him getting in a tangle!!
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Thanks for your reply sojeph, yes i'm using camrosa and a rug, i've beenon holiday for two weeks and even though under strict instructions for feeding hew was not given is brewers yeast and he is now itchy again, so that makes me think it has been working, he looked really good before i went away and had no sores what so ever. He's clipped out now too, his coat was that thick we just couldn't keep on top of it. I must admit he looks 99% better than when he first came, which is down to the camrosa, i still apply it now. He doesn't rub in the stable but i have watched him over the past few days and he has found a piece of fencing that sticks out and rubs his neck on that. I have put electric fencing round there now. I do agree though that it could become a bit of a habit.
 
Brewers yeast all the way

I feed 2 scoops of gold label daily. The impact was amazing and I can prove it on my horse. When I went on holiday and my parents reduced the dose, his sheath went back to being swollen and spotted with blood. The brewers yeast combined with Nettex Itch Stop, Sudocream and Metanium means he was totally controlled this summer and at competitions people wouldn't believe he had sweet itch.

Mine does have severe sweet itch and lives in his PJ's 24/7 (I am looking forward to the frosts later on this week!!)
 
I just thought I'd contribute cos I had a bit of experience with Sweet Itch this summer. My horse gets it midly. I tried the Dodson and Horrell Itch Free herbal supplement. Unfortunately I can't say whether or not it works as my horse refused point blank to eat it
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I ended up just using a fly rug. I also put a barrier cream on her - i used the Nex Tex Itch Stop which seemed to do the trick. I would say that the rug was the best solution although the cream seemed to help when the flys were really bad.

My friend went a bit CRAZY trying to control the sweet itch on her Welsh Sec D though. She tried everything to help him including all the products on the market... plus some homeopathic remedy and a very very expensive oil called Beezlebug which cost her over £50.

Nothing worked apart from using a rug... and a decent one at that. He would just rub up the neck piece and scratch his mane raw on a normal fly rug so she had to buy him an all in one job. He was really really itchy though - much worse than my mare who just got a bit irritated in the evenings.

One thing I heard working is a solution called Benzone Benzonite (sp?) which apparently you can buy in the chemist and is used to cure crabs (?) or something... Personally I would rather just buy a rug though LOL
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My old boy gets terrible sweet itch IF I do not hog him tail and mane!

If he is hogged and I get benzoate on him in time, absolutely fine, longer it all gets, the lotion doesnt touch all of his skin, gets bitten, very itchy horse.

They do it out of habit tho after so many years......!
 
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The best supplement you can give a horse with sweetitch is a BOETT RUG. oh.. and maybe good old garlic.

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But... you shouldn't feed garlic to a sweet itch suffer!

Yes keeps big flies off, but also boosts the immune system and actually makes the reaction to the midge bites worse.
 
had this confirmed by a vet as nonsense and completely unproven. it's fine to feed garlic to a sweet itch sufferer and that combined with the brewers yeast has virtually stopped mine itching at all ...
 
I'd be interested to know what would happen if you stopped the Garlic and continued the brewers yeast (if you fancy an experiment?)

The jury seems to be out on Garlic, as now added to virtually every supplement, but no proven evidence whether it helps or hinders.

Gold label Brewers yeast is around £6-10 for 1.5kg. Its in a powder form, which is easy to mix into feeds.
 
Must admit the first thing i thoight of to give him was garlic, then i read somewhere on the forum about brewers yeast, i'v just bought a couple of tubs from holland and barret cos they was on offer, they are extra strength and he has 5 a day, remember he's only a shettie, so do you think i'll be ok to carry in with these??
 
I'm one of those ones who has tried everything too!
So far the only things that have worked are...
BOETT rug (which lasted two years before needing replaced but was by far the best remedy)
Marmite- one tablespoon in a mug of boiling water poured into a small feed of applechaff
homeopathic drops- £25 for one seasons use and very easy to administer once you can convince the horse that 2 drops on the gum is as bad as it gets!
Nettex Itch Stop Salve complete- amazing stuff and I'd have the same comments as the other lady when showing that you'd never know he has sweet itch! and he used to look like a bog brush at both ends!!

I've tried garlic, naf d itch, 4 other fly rugs, benzyl benzoate (which made it worse in his case)
 
marmite is brewers yeast. Try the stuff from gold label as it's in powder form so you can just add to your feeds, far easier ...
 
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