hives

[little_Christmas_monkey]

I posted a thread not that long ago about my mare coming out in hives like welts well they started to go down nothin has changed feed wise bedding wise ect. went out this morning and she is covered every where! She was clearly uncomfortable so vet came out, vet was lovely but very young obviously newly qualified he was lovely and thorough! He couldn't understand why she was covered in hives as nothin as changed regarding feed etc. he gave her steriod injection and penicillin injection, am to ring him back Monday as he is gonna research it more and find out wat different allergies testing can be done through blood testing and a skin test done to .mean while her rugs are being wash with just water and bedding will be changed from shavings to paper. has anyone else experienced this with there horses and is there anything else i should be asking the vet to do

 

[threeponies]

My Highland had a reaction that sounds similar to your horse, she came up in hives overnight on her belly and neck ( clipped areas). My vet came out and said likeliest cause was the bedding (easibed) not the actual bedding itself as she had been on it for months, but the chemicals used to treat it, anti-mould or whatever, which could have changed dilution. He was going to give her steroids but due to the risk of laminitis, I opted for changing the entire bed and monitoring her closely. The lumps and bumps went down over the next two weeks and have never been back but she's never been back on easibed.

 

[little_Christmas_monkey]

I have had the mare 10 years she always had reactions like this but no where near as bad as this time around aol far i no she is allergies to bluechip buttercups thistle and bees and wasps!

 

[little_Christmas_monkey]

Sorry about spelling using my mobile phone lol

 

[treacle_beastie]

Mine gets them when she is overrugged. If she gets too hot overnight she comes out in hives and is ridiculously itchy until for about 2 hours until they go down. She doesnt have to get that hot either, I'm not talking sweaty, just the temp what most people would consider the norm temp under a rug!

Also she is hypersensitive to other things now including a lot of antibiotics so I wonder if something else has triggered it to make her react to the AB's as well!

 

[jenie]

hello , my horse has had a similar thing started late september , my vet has said my horse has a condition called erythema multiforme ?? , i have literally tryed everything i can think of but he still breakes out hes now on steroids we are trying to reduce them but he keeps getting them still its a knightmare !! aparentley it can last for upto 3 & half months then can spontaniousley go ?

 

[Jojo_Pea4]

My horse has the same problem. It a end of September just a few lumps on his off side. I clipped him to get a better look. Everyday he got more lumps. I had the vet out and tried some drugs, no change, then I had a swab taken when a apple core sample was taken leaving him with four holes and now scared him. They came back clear, so we tried him on dectomax for mites, it went down slightly but then came back up after his second inject so ruled this out. Then had him allergy tested, came back with a high count for dust mites which is in everything and is everywhere with horses. So changed his bed to shavings, wash his rugs weekly, dampen all the feed, hay down, de cobwebbed his stable weekly. Now waiting for an inject to come which he needs monthly vet will do till confident I am capable to do. The inject is being made to his individual needs.

Last week his lumps came up badly and now spreading to the other side and up his neck. I can post a photo I took while clipping him.

 

[popularfurball]

Allergy testing by serum is often inaccurate - throws back a lot of false positives and equally false negatives so just be wary of it an treat with a little caution.

For auto immune conditions it takes an average of twelve apple core type biopsies to get a positive test in a horse who already is confirmed to have auto immune.

Have a look on the pemphigus foliaceous yahoo group for a comparison. My little girl has pemphigus, and it's hard work but not the disastrous prediction that usually gets given

 

[little_Christmas_monkey]

Please post a pic jojo
my mare is so itchy she has scratched the top rite of the hives now has bald patches

 

[be positive]

Have you tried a de tox? I use either NAF or Global Herbs Restore both have worked well on skin conditions of unknown origin.

 

[little_Christmas_monkey]

My mare is so fussy she won't eat anything in feed at all! she has gone for days with out eating if two haylage net go in with her at nite u can guarantee they will still be there in mornin!

 

[Jojo_Pea4]

I will post a picture this evening as at work today and on my phone.

 

[little_Christmas_monkey]

Thank u i will get pics of missie she is bay mite be hard to see in pics

 

[Jojo_Pea4]

Theses are from a week ago, they were sore but I needed to clip him as he is getting hot when ridden, he was fine to clip just a it itchy.

This is today after the lumps have gone down but left scabs along his spine.

This is today its scabbed over and left white scar.

 

[Jojo_Pea4]

The lumps were up before I clipped him for about a week, I could feel them under his coat.

 

[jenie]

this looks exactley the same as what my horse has ?? i was wondering do you have any farmers feilds near your horses feild ? if so what did they grow this year ?

 

[little_Christmas_monkey]

jojo the lumps look similar to missie's lumps i will try get some pics up
jenie missie is kept on a farm but its a small diary farm the only thing that was grown was haylage

 

[jenie]

hi , i was wondering because rape seed was grown by our felds , & aparently theres a 6 mile ban around newmarket because some tb"s have a reaction to it ? im not sure ?? i just want to find the cause of these horrible lumps my poor boys had them on & off for ages

 

[little_Christmas_monkey]

my mare has had these hives before but usually just in one area its been a few months since she had some that's when she was being fed blue chip which we found out she was allergic to but once it was cut off her a few days lumps were down this time they appeared on her back then few days later she was covered and they r still there

 

[jenie]

i have literally done everything you can think of to try to find the cause but no luck every time i think weve found the problem they come back .... im thinking maybe its airborn if even possible ?? ? my vet dosnt really say any thing its so fustrating .... i no how you feel ....

 

[popularfurball]

Jenie if you have tried everything, then I would get punch biopsies.

 

[Natalie_H]

My horse gets hives every winter. Used to always be November, but he is clear at the moment. They started later last year too.

They are worse than the ones in your picture - much bigger & more of them. I clip him out every year now before they arrive as it seems to reduce the severity of the reaction. I have actually had some success with anti-histamines - though you have to feed a hell of a lot. They do reduce however when I use them.

He had blood tests & had positives against loads of allergens. We removed them all, but he still broke out in a rash. It is a nightmare getting to the bottom of what causes it. 8 years later, and I still don't know. Fortunately he is not bothered by them, and the clipping and antihistamines does make the condition more manageable.

It is a really frustrating condition, and I wish I could offer a more positive solution, but I can only sympathise!!!

The steroids were useless because as soon as they wore off, the rash came back. The rash is normally evident in varying degrees for about 2 months, then it just disappears.

ETS - he also had punch biopsies but nothing came of those either.

 

[jenie]

my vet said that about the tests thats why i havent gone down that route , were currently managing on 70 predi 5 tablets a day they seem to be keeping the lumps away i also give him a nettle stew as thats a natural antihistamine , we were trying to reduce the tablets but when i get to about 55 a day they come back .... my vet said it could be a seasonal thing ? all i no its a knightmare .. lol .. i did speak to a very nice lady who said it could possibley be a problem with the gut ?? & said to try her feed & suppliments , so i may give that a go

 

[Jojo_Pea4]

Yes he's kept on a farm we rent the stable blocks. Our fields were turned from crop fields to grass fields they were changed 5years ago and my horse has grazed them for 3years. he was still in his summer field when the lumps started and been moved to winter since.

The farmers fields which and right next to all our fields are barley and oat and we do have some rape sees near by. It could be the problem but doesn't explain why 3years it's now come up.

 

[squirtlysmum]

One of my boys gets them if he has oil in his feed, no oil no hives!