Fly Allergy - Any Advice?

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millitiger

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Millie has been suffering from big lumps for the last few weeks and the vet has been out now and diagnosed an allergy to fly bites :(

She is stabled during the day, wears a fly sheet and hood in the field and is covered in fly repellent for exercise but is still covered in lumps.

Not only does it look very unattractive, the ones on the saddle area have hardend up and turned into scar tissue which may not ever go down.

Vet wasn't able to come up with any new treatment apart from what we are already doing.

I am going to buy a sheepskin numnah to help with the lumps in the saddle area and he said I could try piriton or similar to see if it makes a difference.

Has anyone got any other bright ideas to help?
Vet said the allergy will develop year on year so will only get worse :(
 
my horse gets these - i've found coopers wiped on neat over the sensitibve areas everyday really helps to prevent them - and if she gets one then which hazel and then aloe vera really helps :)
 
thanks for that- do you give your horse anything to ingest to help?

I have googled and some people feed Aloe Vera juice to help?
 
millitiger said:
thanks for that- do you give your horse anything to ingest to help?

I have googled and some people feed Aloe Vera juice to help?
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hi - no i havn't tried anything as i find the cobination of coopers neat and then naf deet or barrier super fly spray all over works well....

but i have heard of different fly supps but never tried them...i found garlic the sqw root of useless tbh!! she was covered in flys when her field mate (who was not fed any) was not :rolleyes:

she's also a headshaker though and i am going to try some of the supps for that - i wonder if the two extreem reactions (the lumps and headshaking) are jsut her nervous system in overdrive?!
 
Do you have a proper fly rug or just a normal one from the saddlers. The only one that stops the flys around my chestnut mare is the Boett rug. I dont know what she would look like if she did not wear it as if she gets one bite, she comes up in lumps all around her body which eventually burst and pus comes out. Its really horrible and she has to be covered up all the time from about march til october. They are an expensive outlay but mine is on its third year now and is worth its weight in gold!
 
Oh no nightmare trying to control that. I know from pony with sweet itch and a horse with allergies in summer which we now think could be from buttercups and flies!

I use a Rambo Flybuster which is tight under belly and is infused with fly repellant and flyspray but also now use a herbal lotion that I dab on her effected areas to ease the sores and take swelling down and it seems to act as a fly repellant too (she wont eaty garlic unless a lyx).

I also use a sheepskin numnah and sheepskin girth sleeve xx
 
Do you feed garlic? As its good for keeping flys away.

Bloss is also allergic to fly bites - if she wears a fly rug it gets worse though as the flys get underneath and then get stuck under there. Shes better without one on. For treatment she has bute in the morning, evening and then morning again and by that time all the lumps have gone.
 
have been feeding garlic but tbh it's done sod all.

can't feed bute as she is BE eventing.

the steroid cream the vet has given me seems to help bring the bumps down but it's not meant to be used long term.

tempi- interesting about not having a fly rug on- i was looking at getting a 'proper' one with the elastic so there aren't any openings the flies can go down.

also looking at getting a stronger fly repellent- i use Deet at the moment but think i may need to experiment with some others.
 
My event mare had bad reactions to some fly bites last year. She had to have steroid injections to get them to go down. She was kept in during the day, and out at night with a rambo sweet itch hoody. Tea tree/lavender shampoo after exercise (she is a swaty mare, which won't help... Good luck..x
 
Topically it sounds like you are doing all you can (apart from perhaps a Boett blanket). Feeding wise, the amount of garlic that you actually have to feed to have any real effect, is actually far more than anyone does feed their horses, or more than most would actually eat! Try feeding Brewers Yeast, or even Marmite Sandwiches - though BY would be cheaper. I feed it every year from March onwards and only this year has one of mine had any kind of reaction to fly bites and I am convinced that is due to lack of a fly rug!
 
Perhaps try Flyfree by Global Herbs? I currently use Skratch for my itchy pony which has similar ingredients and he doesn't seem to get as many flies on him now, perhaps ring them and see what they recommend?

Pony does seem to have a strong smell about him since starting it a month ago, the physio thought he smelt like KFC but I think he smells like cat pee :D
 
unfortunately she doesn't like anything even vaguely herb flavoured- she is a very fussy lady about supplements and we are just getting her to eat her Oestress so don't really want to try another and put her off.

thanks anyway :)
 
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