Skin allergy treatment?

[rolsterlady]

Okay so, my mare gets a skin rash every summer.. starting in may and usually ending in september/october. She gets lumps mainly on her sides but also a few on her back, under her belly and on her neck. The lumps are hard-ish and usually turn into scabs after they've been there a couple of days.. before disappearing. They are most often about the size of a 5p piece but can be bigger or smaller. We have never had the vet out for it as it doesn't really cause much of a problem... she only gets very slightly itchy and we control it by giving her Piriton tablets (between 4 and 10 per day, depending on severity of the rash). Anyone have any opinions on this and other ways of treating it? Does anyone know if there are any other allergy tablets that can be used for horses that can be bought over the counter? Thanks

 

[Natalie_H]

Could be very difficult I'm afraid! Mine gets a rash every winter & has done for the last 8 years. He has had the york test which is a blood test that tells you what some of the allergens are. He had reactions to numerous stimuli, but despite removing them all, he still gets it. He had skin biopsies with no conclusive results also.

I do get some improvement with piriton, but it only reduces the severity of the inflammation & rarely makes them disappear. Had some luck with cetirizine di-hydrochloride (longer lasting than piriton) - but although you can buy over the internet, it is harder to get the quantity than you can get of piriton.

It may be worth doing the blood tests, and it may be more straightforward then the results we had (allergens included wheat, barley, rye, oats, linseed, peas, soya & storage mites). I assume you have tried removing any changes that have been introduced in the diet? Stripping the feed right back & re-introducing things gradually can sometimes have results, but ideally you need to remove everything & see the rash disappear in order to then re-introduce things to watch for a result.

Good luck whatever you do! It is most frustrating!

 

[popularfurball]

Is she rugged in summer? I would start there - and not a fly rug - something. Heavier like a cotton sheet like a Rambo hoody or a weatherbeeta summer sheet combo (ripstop one) to remove any allergens from coming into contact with her skin. That way you can deduce if it is a contact dermatitis (Ie its an allergy to something touching her) or an inhaled dermatitis (as says on tin). It doesn't help you tell what is causing it specifically, butruggingnis often the most simple and effective management.

If she stops comin out in hives, then that would be your answer - and allergy test if you want though IMHO and existent its a wate of money - it throws back so many "allergies" and often doesn't match the clinical presentation (I'm 110% my pony has sweet itch - yet she is allergic to 10-15 things on the testig... But not midges!). I think it gives people too much to focus on and removes value and importance from removing inidividual triggers.

If she continues to get the hives, I would get biopsies taken to consider auto immune stuff - but you need a lot of samples. 1 in 12 samples on average taken from an AI horse will show the AI condition! From my pony we took several normal skin smaples, several unbroken hives, and several broken hives as samples. She has one of the rarer AI conditions but it took two lots of samples (ironically totallig 12 in the end!!).

I have also found global herbs Skratch to be a big help - it deters the flies but also soothes the skin and has an anti inflam effect for the skin.

 

[rolsterlady]

Thank you both, that's all really helpful info. I use a fly sheet through the summer but i will put a cotton summer sheet on her starting tomorrow to see if this makes any difference... I'll let you know how it goes and may have to go down the vet route if nothing improves

 

[popularfurball]

Midges and pollen are so small they go through weave fabrics hence using a tight weave fabric even a light weight turnout with neck would do