OBSESSIVE Itching!! PLEASE HELP

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blue89

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Hi I am at my wits end
My mare will not stop ITCHING!!! I have noticed she has what looks like bad dandruff, so I have used medicated shampoos, sweet itch lotion, main and tail conditioning spray and OTT grooming.

But nothing is working! My fencing looks like the leaning tower of Pisa, and snapped in places and the icing on the cake,,, tonight she broke my stable wall :S within 5 minutes, as you can image she is living out tonight as I can not risk any more damage.

Do you have any tips on how I can stop her from itching!! As obliviously my stables can not take no more of it lol

help please :)
 
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Might be worth getting the vet to do a scrape test for mites if you haven't done already - just so you can rule it out. If it is mites it can often be treated just with an injection.

Oopsy at breaking the stable walls - what a nightmare!!!
 
I would wash her in a mild shampoo and then treat for lice if it has started recently. If it has been going on for the summer then it could well be sweet itch, in which case I would wash as above and get a sweet itch rug (not a fly rug) and fence off anything she can scratch on. I would treat her with something like Stop Itch Salve Complete which will sooth the itch and help her to heal and use a repellent such as Coopers Fly Repellent Plus.
If you have changed anything in her feed then I would perhaps change it back to see if she is perhaps allergic to something she is eating.

If you can't find a cause then I would treat it as sweet itch...
 
Like Jill C says, I'd be calling the vet to help detect the culprit but my guess is she's either got a problem with midges (sweet itch), mites or lice OR she's allergic to something in her field, plant-wise.

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
Is she itching all over or mainly her tail?
Herbs has sweet itch but afew months ago seemed to be rubbing his tail worse than ever. I treated him for pin worms and now he has stopped itching :) Just a thought as the lady in the shop said pin worms were perticualy bad this year. Herbs has never had them before, but in one night he rubbed the top of his tail red raw :(
 
LauraWheeler said:
Is she itching all over or mainly her tail?
Herbs has sweet itch but afew months ago seemed to be rubbing his tail worse than ever. I treated him for pin worms and now he has stopped itching :) Just a thought as the lady in the shop said pin worms were perticualy bad this year. Herbs has never had them before, but in one night he rubbed the top of his tail red raw :(
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She only itching on her tail and main but mostly on her tail, constant. Its been happening for the past 2 weeks and getting worse. I am willing to try anything so I will pop in the shops tomorrow and treat her for pin worms while I am at it.
I just feel really bad because if its annoying me, god knows how frustrated she is :(
 
Laura's right about pinworm too - if it is just bum scratching. Tell tale signs of pin worm is yellow goo/crust round bumhole - where eggs have been laid. Vet can check that at same time by doing a tape test (literally putting sellotape over bumhole and putting under lense to look for eggs).
 
Try using Deosect Shampoo - Shy has been itchy the last few weeks almost immediately after we went on stubble fields - definitely mites and stuff out there. The deosect works really well, used it both times he started itching, and I'm now using the pig oil, but if it is really bad, your horse may need injections to calm it down.
 
If it's not lice or mites, and it's focused mainly in her mane and tail it could be eczema caused by an allergic reaction to midgie bites, especially if she's shedding thick scurfy flakes. A quick vet trip is probably your best bet just to get it correctly diagnosed, and then there's lots of antihistamine creams and lotions that will kill the itchy sensation pretty quick for her. Whatever turns out to be the cause I hope she stops itching soon! Good luck :)
 
Thank you all, everyone. I think the best bet is to get the vet down and get it sorted once and for all. I will keep you posted and let you know what the final diagnose's is :)
 
Sorry...just one more thing...had to post this. Someone gave me theirs as my boy likes a good scratch. You screw it to the stable wall as a scratch pad for them (stops them breaking all the hairs on their tail...and their expensive haybar!) My boy ignored it at first (even when I gave him a demonstration on how to use it!) then the other day he happened upon it as he was scratching on the wall and his face really did light up!

http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com/scratch-patch-pair-black.html
 
VERY common ! It's the time of year for them. It in no way reflects the way the horse is cared for - they just turn up in autumn and cause havoc. x
 
Jill Crewe said:
Sorry...just one more thing...had to post this. Someone gave me theirs as my boy likes a good scratch. You screw it to the stable wall as a scratch pad for them (stops them breaking all the hairs on their tail...and their expensive haybar!) My boy ignored it at first (even when I gave him a demonstration on how to use it!) then the other day he happened upon it as he was scratching on the wall and his face really did light up!

http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com/scratch-patch-pair-black.html
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hey thank for the link, but it can not find the page :( what is it called, you got me intrigue :)
 
Not saying at all that this is your horse's problem, but when it comes to mites, all horses have a small, resident population. Mostly, the horse's immune system deals with the irritation of their presence, but sometimes that balance shifts, for a variety of reasons.

For instance: my gelding, this (early) Spring, had some scurfy patches on his legs. Didn't think much of it, after the wet winter we'd had. No scabs, just scurf and a few bald bits. Unbeknown to me, he actually had early stage Cushing's disease and one of the results was his immune system was depressed.


This is him in late summer 2012:
attachment.php


And this is what he'd done to his hind legs within 48 hours this February:
attachment.php
 
Just to add to the suggestions, I bought a horse who had recently been treated for mites and the owner passed on the bottle (ivermectin I think) to me. Horse started scratching again, was treated again but carried on scratching. Was then treated for pin worms but again carried on scratching. The skin was quite damaged and presumably she was caught in a cycle of scratching the healing skin. She was treated with 1% hydrocortisone cream (from the pharmacy) and yes I did lie and say it was for my eczema.... within a fortnight the scratching had stopped and the skin had healed After that the hair grew back. She's been fine ever since. Obviously I am not recommending self diagnosis and treatment! But sometimes healing skin can be very itchy following a problem and they don't know not to scratch.
 
Mrs B said:
Not saying at all that this is your horse's problem, but when it comes to mites, all horses have a small, resident population. Mostly, the horse's immune system deals with the irritation of their presence, but sometimes that balance shifts, for a variety of reasons.

For instance: my gelding, this (early) Spring, had some scurfy patches on his legs. Didn't think much of it, after the wet winter we'd had. No scabs, just scurf and a few bald bits. Unbeknown to me, he actually had early stage Cushing's disease and one of the results was his immune system was depressed.


This is him in late summer 2012:
attachment.php


And this is what he'd done to his hind legs within 48 hours this February:
attachment.php
Click to expand...

OMG Poor thing I am so sorry to hear he has cushing disease I hope he gets better soon.
 
OP I'm so sorry you're having this problem with your mare.

My traddie has Sweet Itch so know what a nightmare an itchie can be.

Um, just throwing this out for what its worth.......... but wonder whether just maybe your mare's itching is a hormonal thing??? The reason I say this is because (any "lady of a certain age" will tell you:)) that female hormones are funny things, and especially if they're fluctuating. In humans we call this "the menopause" and I've had itchy episodes where just EVERYTHING itches (bum-hole included!!!)....... so am just throwing this out so you could run it past your vet mebbe?

Just a thought.

The other thing with an itchy is to (naturally) want to throw every lotion and potion and supplement you can at the problem; which can make the whole thing a lot worse as when my boy had itchy legs I used Pig Oil & Sulphur on him and it brought him up in a really nasty pink rash; also some shampoos & washes can cause a problem. I used a shampoo I'd bought on-line, supposed to be "good for Sweet Itch", and it made my hands itch for a week! So I chucked the stuff, but a lot of stuff you can buy might just only add to the problem.

When my boy's itchy I just give him a good old fashioned water hose-down and it relieves him very quickly.
 
UPDATE :)
Hi all wanted to give you an update she had pin worms :S not mites and lice. Got her dosed up and noticed a change in her straight away and haven't had any problems since. So just wanted to say THANK YOU ALL for all your help :)
 
Hi what did you treat her with. My friends horse has similar and was told to use embotape which kills pin worm in one does.
 
Mrs B said:
Not saying at all that this is your horse's problem, but when it comes to mites, all horses have a small, resident population. Mostly, the horse's immune system deals with the irritation of their presence, but sometimes that balance shifts, for a variety of reasons.

For instance: my gelding, this (early) Spring, had some scurfy patches on his legs. Didn't think much of it, after the wet winter we'd had. No scabs, just scurf and a few bald bits. Unbeknown to me, he actually had early stage Cushing's disease and one of the results was his immune system was depressed.


This is him in late summer 2012:
attachment.php


And this is what he'd done to his hind legs within 48 hours this February:
attachment.php
Click to expand...

Holy hell!!

Mine gets very itchy, he has Dectomax injections which resolves the itching almost immediately and obviates the needs for worming for up to 10 weeks. Handy. :smile3:
 
SKY said:
Hi what did you treat her with. My friends horse has similar and was told to use embotape which kills pin worm in one does.
Click to expand...

I was recommended a high performance horse wormer called 'Strongid-P' it was only £6 pounds something as it was on offer so I brought two, defo recommend it, noticed a difference straight away :)
 
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