Horse insect bite - swollen sheath!

spotty_pony2

spotty_pony2

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Poor Puggy has had an allergic reaction to fly bites! (I think from horse flies) He had a reaction on his shoulder and chest last week which I think I mentioned and the Vet was at my yard for another reason and so I got her to take a look and she prescribed him some steroid cream. This seems to have stopped him itching these patches but there are a couple of pimples there which are like when we get bitten - the sort that cannot be squeezed (not that I was going to!) but there is some yellow stuff in one. I’m hoping it will go down/burst on its own and these don’t seem to be bothering him. He is itchy all over though so I’ve given him a cold bath today with some insecticidal shampoo and found he’s been bitten right up at the top of his back leg on the inside and his sheath is swollen on one side. 😞 he is really itchy there and I think that’s what he’s been trying to scratch when he’s been rubbing his a back and tail.

I washed it with the shampoo and cold hosed it - it doesn’t look infected just scabby but was wondering what the best thing to put on it to keep the flies away might be?
 
Battles fly cream is good, if you don't mind having a horse that's covered in yellow goop stains. It's cheap and easy to slap plenty of it on. I can't put a fly rug on my older boy this year (baby horse would joyfully destroy it) so every time he gets a bite, I smother it in yellow goop. It does seem to stop them being too troublesome.
 
Widgeon said:
Battles fly cream is good, if you don't mind having a horse that's covered in yellow goop stains. It's cheap and easy to slap plenty of it on. I can't put a fly rug on my older boy this year (baby horse would joyfully destroy it) so every time he gets a bite, I smother it in yellow goop. It does seem to stop them being too troublesome.
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thank you, the flies seem to be worse than normal here this year!
 
I'm using the nettex one now. The battles one I have is very solid and harder to apply, it's years old so a newer one might be better. Nettex doesn't stain my horse or me!
 
I'm also a fan of the Battles yellow fly cream! We have 4 geldings and a mare and flies aren't usually too bad where we are, but this year they have some bites like those you've described and all four geldings have had slightly puffy sheaths from it! I've been putting on lots of the Battles fly cream (which we use from time to time anyway) and it seems to work great and be quite soothing. I also use it on my mare, in front of her teats essentially, as she gets bitten and sore there.
 
The horse flies are the size of elephants, lately. I've been using neem oil around the sheath. A bugger, because he's white and it gets on his tail, but it does put them off biting, even if they land.
 
Piriton too if he's swollen. I have 2 huge lumps coming up on my arm front hacking today. One is obviously over a vein and I think is going to drive me mad itching. They seem really bad this year
 
I uses Battles cream too.
Hacking today the flies were bad. I had a bit of drama when one was on his sheath and he turned his head round and lifted his hind leg up to bite at it while we were riding down the road. I though we were going to fall over for a moment.
 
SEL said:
Piriton too if he's swollen. I have 2 huge lumps coming up on my arm front hacking today. One is obviously over a vein and I think is going to drive me mad itching. They seem really bad this year
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He’s on 30 Cetirizine per day for hay fever already - piriton makes him lethargic so Vet has suggested Cetirizine.
 
I was going to suggest cetirizine - it's been a godsend for my sweetitch boy this year. To the point that he is having a rug-free summer so far. And thankfully it's cheap!
 
We have awful horse flies here as we have a pond on the lawn and open ditches. I used to have the heavy duty fly rugs but found they even bit through them, and not all of their bodies fit under the rug!

I now have the zebra rugs and the horse simply isn't targeted half as much.
 
Red-1 said:
We have awful horse flies here as we have a pond on the lawn and open ditches. I used to have the heavy duty fly rugs but found they even bit through them, and not all of their bodies fit under the rug!

I now have the zebra rugs and the horse simply isn't targeted half as much.
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I’ve had a look at the zebra ones. so did have an equilibrium one but it was a little on the large side and rubbed him and although it provided really good coverage he still burned through it on his neck (it’s meant to be the best UV protective fly rug on the market) so I sent it back. I’ve got a le mieux one now but it is a little snug and I don’t think as well designed as it has a detachable neck and I think the fly got in there to be able to bite him on his shoulder. We also have a large pond and although the horses aren’t turned out anywhere near it at the moment the flies are still bad.

I ended up covering his sheath in e45 cream which is all I had to hand at the time and putting a layer of fly cream over the top. This morning I’ve ridden him and the swelling has gone down a bit, it doesn’t seem to be bothering him and I’ve washed it again in shampoo and gave it a good cold hose as it just feels a little warm.
 
spotty_pony2 said:
I’ve had a look at the zebra ones. so did have an equilibrium one but it was a little on the large side and rubbed him and although it provided really good coverage he still burned through it on his neck (it’s meant to be the best UV protective fly rug on the market) so I sent it back. I’ve got a le mieux one now but it is a little snug and I don’t think as well designed as it has a detachable neck and I think the fly got in there to be able to bite him on his shoulder. We also have a large pond and although the horses aren’t turned out anywhere near it at the moment the flies are still bad.

I ended up covering his sheath in e45 cream which is all I had to hand at the time and putting a layer of fly cream over the top. This morning I’ve ridden him and the swelling has gone down a bit, it doesn’t seem to be bothering him and I’ve washed it again in shampoo and gave it a good cold hose as it just feels a little warm.
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We had the Boett for a previous horse, and the Rambo and Shires sweet itch ones. But, the zebra ones seem to make them invisible to the horse flies. I also like the fact that they are lighter weight so not as sweaty.
 
spotty_pony2 said:
Poor Puggy has had an allergic reaction to fly bites! (I think from horse flies) He had a reaction on his shoulder and chest last week which I think I mentioned and the Vet was at my yard for another reason and so I got her to take a look and she prescribed him some steroid cream. This seems to have stopped him itching these patches but there are a couple of pimples there which are like when we get bitten - the sort that cannot be squeezed (not that I was going to!) but there is some yellow stuff in one. I’m hoping it will go down/burst on its own and these don’t seem to be bothering him. He is itchy all over though so I’ve given him a cold bath today with some insecticidal shampoo and found he’s been bitten right up at the top of his back leg on the inside and his sheath is swollen on one side. 😞 he is really itchy there and I think that’s what he’s been trying to scratch when he’s been rubbing his a back and tail.

I washed it with the shampoo and cold hosed it - it doesn’t look infected just scabby but was wondering what the best thing to put on it to keep the flies away might be?
Click to expand...
My horse got bitten last year on his willie which swelled up so much he could not wee, vet called straight away and gave him a steriod injection and was advised to cold wash for at least 20 minutes twice a day. It did eventually go down and I had to put Sudocream around it to keep the flies at bay.
 
Yeomans said:
My horse got bitten last year on his willie which swelled up so much he could not wee, vet called straight away and gave him a steriod injection and was advised to cold wash for at least 20 minutes twice a day. It did eventually go down and I had to put Sudocream around it to keep the flies at bay.
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I watched him carefully when I turned him out yesterday (he always wees when he goes out! 🤣) and he was weeing as normal so luckily I don’t think his is quite as bad as yours sounds.
 
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