severe tail rubbing

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Hiya everyone,

My cob has developed a severe itch on his tail. I was originally thinking sweet itch but just want to double check as I have been putting sweet itch lotion on and diluted pure tea tree oil on it to soothe but nothing seems to be working.

Over the last few days he has been really rubbing. And I mean putting his whole body weight into it and keeps losing his footing. I know it's common for horses to scratch this time of year but he literally wont stop. He was in with me for over an hour the other day and barely touched his dinner to scratch and was scratching the whole time if he wasn't eating. Which is very unlike him and he has never been this bad!!

I have recently wormed within the last few weeks, checked for lice, his tail gets brushed regularly, no food changes, no product changes, have done everything the same. It is only his tail and bum cheeks? (Sorry just to say its not his whole bum he's scratching)

Everyone else on the yard I've shown/spoken to thinks it's all a bit strange aswell and not sure what it could be. I know there is a jab from the vets to help soothe all itches but just wondered if anyone had an idea of what could be up or if you think it's just severe sweet itch just in that small area?

Thanks for reading :) xx
 
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MyBoyChe

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Is there any discharge around his bum? My pony developed an itch a couple of months ago, was rubbing the top of his tail and his bum. Turned out he was producing quite a lot of smegma (black gungy stuff) which the vet said was due to the shape of his anus! Owned him for 3 years and not happened before but with some antibiotic cream and special(expensive) shampoo it cleared up within a couple of days. Just a thought.
 

Mrs G

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I think if I were you I'd get the vet - even if the initial cause of the itching was something minor he is going to make himself very sore, damage the skin and then he's at risk from infection etc so you want to stop the itching asap. I only know from personal experience as I'm a ****** for scratching itchy bites etc until my skin is raw but at the time it feels soooo good....!
 

Gentle_Warrior

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The jab you are talking about is not for everything. For example it's not worked on one of mine. Just don't want you thinking it is a magical cure.
 

Borderreiver

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It certainly sounds like pinworms. You said you had wormed a few weeks ago but not what you used? Modern wormers are not very good at treating pinworm. There is more info in the notes section on Westgate FB page but you are welcome to ring for help.
 

ester

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pinworms you will need to use strongid/pyratape P for, and possibly more frequently in the first instance.
 
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Just wanted to update everyone on what's happened. Turns out it wasn't pinworms after all and he's absolutely fine now :) thanks everyone for your responses xx
 

fuzzle

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Defo pin worm!!, mine doing the same and just wormed them for pin worm and hey presto rubbing has stopped. Look on the ****** website, under wormers they do a good write up on which wormer you should use to treat which worm, Equlan and few others treat pin, skin, hair bot and worms and very cheap in price!!!!!
 

JEZA

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my mare was busy tail rubbing when I bought her recently. She was at it with her whole weight. I took selotape samples from around her anus to the vet and she has pinworms. I am cleaning her anus, dock and just around it every other day and applying NEEM OIL which I bought on the net. She is much much better. She is still rubbing a bit, but apparently they can b e difficult to get rid of. Ive been treating her for about 2 months every other day. I use plastic disposable gloves and fragrance free wet wipes. She has electric fencing so she cant rub in field, and I try not to have her in stable too much, or if I do, I make sure she has a rug with tail cover on it.
 
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It was so simple I never thought of it! I had cut off his usual water supply to clean it all out and it turns out thats what he qas using to scratch in the field! The day after I'd sorted it all out he came back into the stable and barely scratches at all now. A lot of worry over nothing hehe x
 
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But even if he's scratching somewhere less wearing on the skin it's not something to ignore .

He was using his water container as his scratch post, that's all. So when i cut it off he had no where to scratch. He's not constantly scratching on that it just means when he's got an itch he can now scratch it
 
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