Sudden onset of sweet itch

[! Hackinghappy!]

My 11 year old cob is showing signs of sweet itch for the first time in her life this summer.

2 vets have advised it's very unlikely to be sweet itch but its got all the symptoms - rubbed hair on her neck and tail, scaly skin, dull scurvy patches.

I've been using antibacterial shampoo, neem, fly rug and summer fly cream with some success. Unfortunately yard owner took her fly rug off the other day as it was very wet and she's rubbed her neck raw today. I'd hoped we were past the worst of it now as it's been dropping down to 3 degrees overnight.

What other products might help?

 

[foxy1]

It could be lice - there are 2 types, and the biting lice only usually live in mane and tail. This type are killed by the wormer ivermectin ( you would need 2 doses 2 weeks apart to kill hatched larvae).
Also deosect should kill both types.
The other thing to think about is liver issues, this can cause sudden onset itching but I wouldn't have thought that would be mane and tail only.

Very very unlikely to be sweet itch for the first time in an 11 year old.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I agree it's probably lice rather than sweet itch.

 

[oldjumper]

My 11 year old cob is showing signs of sweet itch for the first time in her life this summer.

2 vets have advised it's very unlikely to be sweet itch but its got all the symptoms - rubbed hair on her neck and tail, scaly skin, dull scurvy patches.

I've been using antibacterial shampoo, neem, fly rug and summer fly cream with some success. Unfortunately yard owner took her fly rug off the other day as it was very wet and she's rubbed her neck raw today. I'd hoped we were past the worst of it now as it's been dropping down to 3 degrees overnight.

What other products might help?

Sweet itch can occur for first time at any age unfortunately. You are doing best thing by using rug and sorry it was removed when conditions were so midge friendly! If it is SI piriton tablets can give relief when other things have failed to help. Cheap to buy online (piriton 500). Experiment with no required to be effective - it can take a lot! Fortunately tasteless and tiny…. Good luck

 

[foxy1]

Horses can have sweet itch at any age of course, but you would know about it by the age of 4.
Unless you have recently moved yards/fields to a more midgy area.

 

[! Hackinghappy!]

Thanks all. She's been in the same field for 4 years. Vet said it was likely still related to midges but not sweet itch.

Re lice, there hasn't been any new horses come on the yard - I'd have thought she'd need to contract it from another horse?

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

It could be diet related, have youchanged any of her feed at all?

 

[Cortez]

Why is your vet so insistent that it's not SI? Sweet Itch can occur at any age, although more likely to do so in younger horses. I'd continue to treat as if SI, the midges are particularly vicious now as they reach the end of their life/breeding season. My condolences, SI is a horrible condition to have to manage (20+ year veteran here).

 

[ycbm]

I have "cured" severe "sweet itch" in an EMS horse by stripping the excess weight off him and regulating his eating.

I also used to have mild sweet itch type mane and tail rubbing problems in every horse which lived here until I started balancing the minerals in my grazing.

I suspect a lot of sweet itch deserves its name and is actually related to insulin regulation.

HH if your horse is at all fat I would get the weight off now the cold weather is here, and keep it off.
.

 

[Muddy unicorn]

My ISH has developed sweet itch for the first time time this summer at the age of 12. It is just his mane (and to a lesser extent the base of his tail) and it only started in July. We’ve got on top of it with a sweet itch hood and deosect every two weeks. He moved yards in February to one where he could be out 24/7 as he has mild hock arthritis. It’s not a particularly midgey area (hilly, no water nearby) and none of the other horses has been affected at all so it’s very frustrating it’s just him.
It’s interesting what you say about fat horses @ycbm as he’s definitely chubbier than he’s been in the past (although no chubbier than others in the field). He was supposed to be coming back into work after a soft tissue injury but then managed to impale his foot on a sharp object so several more weeks off and now it’s winter and there’s no facilities so realistically we’re looking at next spring ..

 

[FestiveG]

I agree with the feed issues being likely to have caused this, even very "sweet" grass could have an impact. I think the people who named the problem knew what they were talking about

 

[! Hackinghappy!]

No change in feed. She's a chunky cob but I wouldn't say she's more over weight than usual - I do manage her weight muzzling, stabling, weighing and soaking hay etc.

 

[ycbm]

Has she been tested for Cushings? I know the itching from Cushings is not normally sweet itch, just thinking of anything that might have changed in a horse of that age.
.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

Same thing happened to my horse (he's 9) this year. He now has half a mane and a bit less tail. Investigations led us to it being a midge sensitivity. They were fierce this year and still are! I have a tea tree oil lotion that I rub into his mane and this helps with itching.

There's nothing changed in his diet from previous years. I think he'll have to suit up earlier next year to stay on top of it. It's so sad. He once had a lovely long thick mane, looks like sh*t now and I'm thinking of just taking it all off at his next clip.

 

[FestiveG]

Our appy has been itchy recently and also spooky, so I have added magnesium citrate to her feed again. I think the flush of grass disrupted the Mg again.