My poor itchy girl

kerrieberry2

kerrieberry2

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My 28 yr old mare has come out in some sort of allergic reaction. lumps/bumps at the top of her back legs, worse on her left! a patch on her neck too! she is so itchy she was harassing me for scratches. Vet came on sunday and gave her a steroid injection. Had to call them back on Wed coz she was just as itchy again. another injection and 100 steroid tablets a day for 7 days then 50 a day for another 6 days, so 1000 in total!!

they also took 3 lots of bloods, one's been sent today for cushings testing, she doesn't think its connected but it is likely she has that too!! other test results for the rest of the bloods show that she's been eating well, she's slightly low on sugars (wonder if that's coz she's on molasses free feeds??) and her liver enzymes are slightly raised! she'd had issues with this in the past when we were on a yard that was slowly poisoning all of the horses! so because of this the blood has been sent for further tests! but the vet says there is nothing that screams out to her as a cause for the reaction!

so mean while the last injection doesn't appear to have helped as she was harassing me again today, so just hope that the tablets will kick in!

She's due another clip but I don't want to irritate the bumps?

just want my girl to feel comfortable again
 
Might they be some kind of heat rash? One of mine gets itchy sores when too hot so I'm going to clip and rug at the weekend. Hopesshe's feeling better soon.
 
texas said:
Might they be some kind of heat rash? One of mine gets itchy sores when too hot so I'm going to clip and rug at the weekend. Hopesshe's feeling better soon.
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would be awesome if it was something that simple! she is a warm horse so is naked! she's had a light weight on a few times when its been really wet but is naked at the moment as its mild despite the rain!

I hope they can find out soon! as I don't have a never ending pot of money as her insurance wont cover once they are over 16 :(
 
A friends horse came out in hives and had the same course of action as your horse. It became worse before it became better and the steroid tablets took a while to work but they did in the end. So fingers crossed the same happens for you. I think it took 4-5 days before it started working.
 
Elvis said:
A friends horse came out in hives and had the same course of action as your horse. It became worse before it became better and the steroid tablets took a while to work but they did in the end. So fingers crossed the same happens for you. I think it took 4-5 days before it started working.
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oh good, thanks for that! was worried it wasn't going to work if the injections hadn't made any difference! fingers x'd she'll be okay then :)
 
Talk to trinity consultants. They provided a solution when one of ours had urticaria which steroid injections did nothing for
 
Are you feeding alfalfa? I know of several that have come up in hives when fed it, even those who have been ok with it for years.
 
Ladyinred said:
Are you feeding alfalfa? I know of several that have come up in hives when fed it, even those who have been ok with it for years.
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No she's on molasses free hi fi and has been for 2 months and was last yr too. I did notice it smelt different this time. Slightly minty?? Not sure if it could be a dodgy batch?
 
Mine is itching for England too - I put it down to the flush of grass. He is a summer itcher, grass related, I manage him throughout the summer but I took my eye off the ball once we were into October. Sounds like he has the same steroid tablets - 50/day for 10 days, then 50 every other day for 20. He has been on them for four days now and not much improvement if any - I have reduced his paddock size and given him haylage instead.
 
I would recommend giving 2 tablespoons of salt in the horse's feed a day. This seriously saved a friend's horse who itched so badly it had to be turned out into an electric fenced paddock only and was on the point of pts. She tried the salt and within 2 weeks her horse was normal again for the first time in 18 months.

http://www.calmhealthyhorses.com/
 
JillA said:
Mine is itching for England too - I put it down to the flush of grass. He is a summer itcher, grass related, I manage him throughout the summer but I took my eye off the ball once we were into October. Sounds like he has the same steroid tablets - 50/day for 10 days, then 50 every other day for 20. He has been on them for four days now and not much improvement if any - I have reduced his paddock size and given him haylage instead.
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Does your boy have the hives too? My mare always likes a good itch but I've never seen her so stressed by it. See looked at me with such despare this morning

Someone at work has just suggested it could be something in the hedges? Do you have hedges in your field?

They have just got some fresh grass as my pesky youngster trashed through the electric fence. But it's only been rested for a month so not so long
 
He had a nettlerash (urticaria) all along both sides of his neck last week, he hasn't had access to a hedge since then. I fenced off the top half of his paddock, and most of it has been fenced off for a good couple of weeks because of acorn drop from the oak tree there. He has been itching all over so that I couldn't ride him, he just couldn't concentrate. (He has been on salt for most of the year YasandCrystal) I know his is grass related because any time he has got onto good grass it gets much much worse - the vet did offer a blood test at a cost of £250 *gulp* but I would still have to find a way to avoid whatever allergen is causing it
 
Sorry can't help with regards to what might be causing it but I hope you get to the bottom of it soon. Bathing with a mild shampoo (e.g. with tea tree and/or aloe vera, or similar) might help soothe the itches in the meantime though?
 
JillA said:
the vet did offer a blood test at a cost of £250 *gulp* but I would still have to find a way to avoid whatever allergen is causing it
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Christ. I hope my 3 blood tests aren't that much. I'm scared now. With 2 call outs 2 injections and 1000 tablets as well :/

I will try bathing her tomorrow but haven't wanted to this week as it's been so wet she wouldn't have been able to dry off. Guess she will just have to deal with waiting in her stable
 
My lad has a weird thing going on this last 3 weeks, it started with very small pea sized lumps (very itchy for him) and then each lump started weeping/going crusty, he`s still a bit itchy now but not as bad as he was, it`s just scabby now. He seems to get this every year at about this time though, i`ve never got to the bottom of why it happens, it`s very odd. The year before last i clipped him out, but tbh it didn`t make any difference. I wonder if it is something to do with the changes in the grass this time of year? I don`t know, but at my new place he can only get grass as he doesn`t have access to hedgerows now.

A couple of people have suggested rainscald, but it`s confined to the underside of his neck, stops at his chest, and comes round a tiny bit to one shoulder. That`s all ... it`s not on his back, sides or flanks. Plus the fact we`ve had hardly any rain here in motnhs, it`s been like the sahara up until last week when we finally got some rain, but this started about 3 weeks ago, so before the recent rain. He occasionally gets it to the top inside of his legs to, but hasn`t got it there this year. Last year i had the vet out to him who said we could do a million different tests at the costs of ££££ but not ever get to the bottom of it .... She suggested that i just accept it has being a part of who he is lol
 
Thanks daisy. That sounds very similar. My mare has then on her back legs and a bit on her neck. So defo not rain scald. Plus she goes straight into the barn when it rains. Maybe it us just where she's got to the fresher grass and as she's getting older she's reacting differently

So where the lumps ok when you clipped? She is due a clip but I put it off last weekend as I don't want to make them worse
 
He really enjoyed the clip, as he was so itchy, being clipped kind of scratched the itch so to speak lol ..... But it didn`t change how weepy/scabby he was, so i haven`t bothered for the last couple of years. The worst couple of scabby bits i put some IV fly gel on it, it has aloe vera in it and soothes as well as keeping the flies at bay, but other than that i just leave him to it and it sorts itself out. It`s coming up 4 years i`ve had him, so i just know it`s a part of him. He had it last year in spring too for a couple of weeks, but didn`t have it this year in spring, or the years before last ... i do think it is most probably grass related.
 
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