Deosect reaction? - after previously being fine.

[Haphazardhacker]

Last summer I used deosect quite successfully as a fly repellent, I then drifted back to power phaser and after yesterday’s relentless flys I thought why not give her a deosect sponge over as yesterday the power phaser seemed to last about five seconds.

Diluted it down as per instructions popped it on and within about 2 minutes she reacted, wanted to roll, was very uncomfortable. Her neck started coming up in welts, so I immediately took her to the hose and just kept rinsing then gave her a shampoo for good measure. Spoke to my lovely vet and apparently some horses can react to it even if they didn’t before.
I feel bloody awful but just wanted to see if anyone else had similar and wondered how long it took for swelling to calm, and also to let people know to be aware that even if they have been fine with something before, they may develop a reaction.

 

[Coblover63]

Oh gosh! Thanks for the warning. I use diluted Deosect on my mare (carefully!) but I will definitely be vigilant now.

I hope your horse doesn't suffer any further problems.

 

[BeckyFlowers]

I used Deosect on mine quite a few years ago. I applied it using a nebuliser-type spray canister, and it was diluted appropriately as per instructions. Within a couple of minutes H was reacting in a similar way you described, kicking at his belly and just acting generally irritated and uncomfortable. I put the hose on him straight away and washed it off as best I could. Never used it again. He has sweet itch so don't know if that has anything to do with him being over-sensitive to it.

 

[Red-1]

Yes! I doused one of mine in it, and definitely had diluted as per instructions. He started to fidget before the first side was done, but I couldn't see anything wrong, so told him to stand still.

Bless him, he did as he was told, and I doused the other side. By the time I had done that he was jogging on the spot and the welts started.

I doused him under the cold hose for about half an hour. Did some shampoo too, and rinsed again.

It was pretty much normal by morning, but I did also give 10 piriton.

Threw the stuff away!

(ETA, by 'doused' I mean I left go faster stripes on, he was not literally covered).

 

[ponyparty]

Not deosect but my boy was fine with neem oil one summer, same product the following summer blistered his skin ? I felt awful, didn’t think I’d need to patch test again for the same product!

 

[meleeka]

Mine have always been fine with Deosect but I will definitely be more careful. I did them yesterday and they were fine. I bought a cheap gel once and my poor pony ended up with go faster stripes of swollen skin. It’s the only time she’s ever reacted so goodness knows what was in it.

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

If your horse did have a reaction to Deosect which has the active ingredient cypermethrin you need to make sure you avoid it in other fly products such as Tri-tec spray which is often recommended on here. Also anything with Vamoose technology (permethrin) another pyrethroid insecticide would need to be used with caution or avoided.

 

[cauda equina]

Not deosect but my boy was fine with neem oil one summer, same product the following summer blistered his skin ? I felt awful, didn’t think I’d need to patch test again for the same product!

Mine was similar with neem; fine for years, then this year came up in big flat lumps

 

[Haphazardhacker]

Oh gosh! Thanks for the warning. I use diluted Deosect on my mare (carefully!) but I will definitely be vigilant now.

I hope your horse doesn't suffer any further problems.

Thank you, yeah the welts have gone down a fair bit but they are warm to touch and I think I will feel terrible for some time to come.

 

[Haphazardhacker]

Ah thank you for that Sussexbythesea I was thinking I may get her a fly rug and try reduce any fly repellents we need to use so will avoid any with Vamoose and we did used to use tritec so thank you for making me aware to avoid anything in that chemical family.

Thank you for your responses, I feel absolutely terrible about it but I don’t feel alone now and it has certainly made me very cautious about stuff in future and I guess I just wanted people to know that reactions to stuff further down the line can happen, even when you have used them for a while successfully, I’m just so glad she reacted so quickly to it and not say 20 minutes later when I possibly would have already left the yard. I had thought- “right the suns up let’s get her fly repellent on then go home” I’m so glad I’m never one to just chuck out and rush off as I wouldn’t have been able to act fast and get it off of her.