Brewers Yeast for Itchy Horse?

Perissa

Perissa

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My horse has a mysterious itch, he's been allergy tested and found to be allergic to a few things including dogs, wheat, maize, dust mites, horsechestnut trees and histamine.

Everything possible has been eliminated, including brand new rugs incase he was reacting to the cleaning agents to no feed other than grass, hay and readigrass.

He is NOT allergic to midges, mozzies or horseflies.

He has been bathed with Malasab shampoo every other day - now stopped as per vets instructions as it didn't appear to do anything to help.

His worm count is zero, he does not have mites or lice. He has been wormed (twice) though just in case, and has had a dectomax(sp?) injection just in case - skin scrapes negative.

He is out 24/7 as he will rub his bottom raw if he's in. Full fly rug on during the day, turnout rug at night. No fly sprays but put do put sudocream on his sheath.

He does NOT respond to steroids or antihistamines. He had a steroid injection which turned into an abcess. I posted pics of it being lanced a few weeks ago.

His itching is mainly his bottom but is generally an itchy boy all over. He's had a camera up his bottom to have a look which showed nothing out of the ordinary.

He does not appear to be worried or fretting about being itchy, nor is he rolling excessively.

He has been in three different fields since the itching started to see if he improved from being moved - he hasn't.

Phew, think that's everything.........

Someone has suggested that feeding him Brewers Yeast might help, so before I ask the vet about this do you think that Brewers Yeast will help or not?
 
Quite possibly! It's a very good skin conditioner and I feed it to mine as the only supplement when they're on oats and sugar beet; their skin gleams with health and always seems clean and supple even if they're covered in mud if that makes sense.
Like everything, not all things suit all horses but in your case I would think it's worth a try; it's also not expensive if it doesn't work, about £9 for 1.5kg from Westgate, most feed merchants can get it in for you.
Something else which is good is Kossolian it has B12 plus other vit's and minerals in, very good for when they need a pick me up or their coats are changing, Day Son & Hewitt make that I think.
I actually give our Border Terrier some Sulphur for his itchy skin but not sure it would work on horses or how much they'd need.

BTW, if you try BY, you should notice a difference by about a month if not before.
 
Brewer's yeast is great for repelling biting insects (marmite, which is full of the stuff, does the same job
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) and it won't do any harm so I'd give it a shot.
 
my friend uses human vit b tabs for her horse vet told her that these makes the skin tastes bitter so fly midges wont bite it has help her horse a lot he still gets bitten a little but they dont come up in massive hives like he did!
 
Try a bath using Nizeral - it's a human antidandruff shampoo that kills the fungus that causes dandruff. Dilute it with warm water and lather well into the skin. Allow to dry. My mare used to be a terrible bum itcher - she even managed to loosen a fence post. Since bathing her with the Nizeral she stops for a time then a month or two later will start again. I now just wash her tail with it and it seems to work.

What do you feed him? From experience I've found some horses react to processed composit feeds.

Feeding Oats and Meadow chaff with Fresh ground Linseed and Sugarbeet seems to settle them down
 
Does it matter that he doesn't appear to have dandruff?

I am willing to try anything now though because even the vet is at a loss.

For the last two months he's had grass, soaked hay, haylege, speedibeet and readigrass. He started to refuse to eat the speedibeet and readigrass so I changed (under vets instructions) to alfalfa pellets. He is currently fed alfalfa pellets, speedibeet and ground Linseed.
 
The other thing you might try is Apple cider vinegar, I am currently trying it on my pony with sweet itch, and so far, so good this year... (not 100% gone though). There are various article on the internet about using it on dogs that are itchy for no obvious reason, more on that than on horses, but worth a try?
 
Having read about BY on here lst year I fed it to a new horse that was said to have Sweetitch in her pevious home. Didn't ever scratch once last year and now they all get it, and yes coats and skin are fantastic.
 
He's been on ACV for over a year, I only stopped feeding it because the vet told me to. I swear it kept the midges from biting him so much.

I started him on a bottle of liquid Ecinacea(sp?) at the weekend. I will finish the bottle and then try him with the brewers yeast.
 
I looked at Kossolian at the weekend but sadly it has wheatfeed in it. Wheatfeed is the outer husk of wheat grains and he tested positive to being allergic to wheat.
 
[ QUOTE ]

His itching is mainly his bottom but is generally an itchy boy all over. He's had a camera up his bottom to have a look which showed nothing out of the ordinary.

He does not appear to be worried or fretting about being itchy, nor is he rolling excessively.


[/ QUOTE ]

Don't know about brewers yeast but are you feeding him garlic? I read on here that some horses cannot tolerate it and it makes them itchy. I took my mare off garlic as she would itch somthing rotton and it did seem to make a difference
 
No, he doesn't get garlic. I have not fed it to any of mine for a few years after reading about the great garlic debate.
 
My horse, grey roan appaloosa, is the same as yours!

Haven't heard of Brewer's Yeast as a cure, so might now try.

HOWEVER, be careful of Alfalfa (in any form). Someone else on here suggested that a lot of horses are allergic to it, and show this by being itchy!!!! We took our horse off it (Alfa-A specifically, but a lot of feeds have it as an ingredient) and he did seem a lot better - however that was in the autumn/winter, so it remains to be seen whether he gets worse again this summer!!

Like you, this is not true sweetitch, and not really exacerbated by midges.

PLEASE let me know if the BY works for you
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!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck - I know how frustrating it is!!
 
Brewers Yeast has really helped our Cob. We fed it all winter prior to the midge season and continue to give her yeast everyday and this year her sweet itch is vitually non existant. Brewers yeast contains vitamin B1 and B3. We feed 25g a day which amounts to just about 1g of vitamin B3. I think that this is the active ingredient as Cavalesse powder is virtually pure vitamin B3 There is actually more B3 in 25g of Brewers yeast than in the recomended dose of Cavalesse
 
I cant say for sure but he hasn't been itchy since late last year. The only thing I can put it down to is his feed.

During the winter he had Speedibeet, alfalfa pellets, Graze On and Equidermis Plus (contains Brewers yeast, Linseed and other things good for the skin). He also gets Newmarket Joint Supplement.

Since the spring he's been on cooked soaked whole oats, Readigrass, Equidermis Plus and NJS.

He has free access to a himilayan salt lick.

Touch wood he's been ok this year with only the odd rub.
 
I've been feeding a horse who I was told would rub himself into "raw beef" 50 grammes of brewer's yeast a day and he is not the slightest bit itchy. I buy from Charnwood too, and share delivery costs with friends.
 
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