Need advice re fly bites!

[Laura2408]

My loan horse seems to be having some problems with flies at the moment and i would appreciate some input please

He hasnt had a problem before, but about 3 weeks ago he happened to have a reaction of some sort and came up with lots of small itchy lumps mainly around the neck and face, and a couple over his body. He scratched them and they were weeping and scabbed over. Within 48 hours they died right down and dissapeared.

However, last weekend it happened again and i called out the vet who suggested that they are a reaction to some sort of fly, gave him an antihistermine and suggested a fly rug. She also said it could be an allergy, but its unlikley since he is 10 and it would have shown by now.

Now he has had the rug on for a couple of days now and has been quite sweaty in it in this heat and I am not sure which is worse!
I am now looking for some other solution to keeping the bloody things away, as i dont want to rug him all summer due to the heat and also the fact that these bites dont happen every time he is out, as i said its only happened twice so far this summer and they go down within 48 hours (unless he has scratched them and they take longer to scab over) but they do look quite bad when they happen.

At the moment he is covered in fly spray, avon skin so soft neither of which have much of an effect! He is also wearing the fly rug when the flies are bad, but I have been taking it off as much as possible due to the heat. He is happy in himself and isnt effected except being itchy. I am putting aloe vera gel on the lumps, and antiseptic on the scabs which seems to work. I am reluctant to call the vet out every time since she has a look and charges me £80 for nothing.

So what else can i do to stop him being bitten, or reduce the effect the bites have on him at least, would piriton or some other type of antihistermine work, or maybe a suppliment of some sort ?

Would you use a fly rug in this heat, even though its thin i still worry (its a weatherbeeta with neck cover) ?

 

[connie1288]

All my horses are out with fly rugs on, with necks. 2 are grey and would blow up like balloons.
Re allergy, one of mine had a nasty reaction to something, she is 8, never had a problem before, antihistamines and steroid injection sorted it and touch wood not happened again.
Which fly spray do you use? Atm i am using Power Phaser, which stinks but does the trick, aloe vera gel is brilliant for bites that have happened to stop them scratching them.

 

[archoak]

Second aloe vera for bites, we are keeping in during the day with fly spray and putting fly rug on at night which helps.

 

[Laura2408]

Thanks,He is a grey arab so very thin skinned and any bite immediatley shows up as one of these lumps. For some reason flies choose him over any of the other horses he is turned out with, and i have sat and watched them swarm around him!

Its just annoying since he can go days or weeks without a single bite and i think something is working, and then without warning he comes in the next day covered and im not sure what triggers it, hence me thinking it could be a reaction of some kind, but then again it could just be changes in the weather which make the flies worse!

At the moment im using lincoln ditch the itch and that skin so soft. I also have one by NAF which was worse than useless. The lincoln seems to work slightly and the avon i am not sure about but everyone at the yard swears by it so i thought id give it a go.
Any other recomendations, where do you get power phaser ive never seen it in any tack shops?

 

[connie1288]

http://www.horsehealth.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=539

Its this stuff, it really really stinks but works well. Didnt know it came in a big size until i did this search!!

 

[StinkiPinki]

Try Deet, works really well on my VERY sensitive liver chestnut. Definately keeps horseflies away. I also use a fly rug on him and hes in in the day

 

[TURBOBERT]

I echo that Deet is best - the troops use it for jungle warfare - or so I am lead to believe.

 

[helenandroger]

i've been using naf off deet on 2 ponies and 1 horse, and whilst it defi worked, the horse has had a reaction to it with peeling skin and crusty sores. i've stopped using it for about 5 days, and rubbed sudocream and bathed and it seems to be getting better. i'm going back to fly sheets and hoods - in the really hot weather (if we get any more!), i'm going to let him cope without anything, on the basis that the flies normally arn't so bad.

 

[louised1henry]

hi,ive been having problems with my cob over the past few days and it sound similar but hes got it bad. i went down yesterday to find him covered in lumps with a few weepy ones on his face and neck and then i noticed his sheath was extemly swollen like a water mellon and his bottom lip is rock solid and also he has a masive lump inbetween his front legs.so i called the vet and she came out and said hes been attacted by a swarm of something and has had a allergic reaction to it.hes a 17year old palomino and he has never had anything like this in 6 years ive had him.she gave him a shot and told me to hose it down to reduce the swelling and to clean the other wounds.which i did and as quick as i did they started oozing and dripping gunk again.i went down today and it was even worse.the other bites he has now scratched and they were oozing and his willy was even bigger like 2 water mellons.and now hes scratched it its red raw. also the skin on his chin is hanging/falling off, its raw.ive been cleaning him up but it leaves just raw skin and the flies love it.i dont know weather to leave them to dry up like we do.the vet says she cant do anything else as hes got the highest antibiotics he can have and im at aloss as what to do.im sooooooo worried hes not quite himself but is grazing a bit and is weeing so she says hes not to bad. any help advice would be great.vet coming again tomorrow.thanks