Sweet itch adivce, how do you manage with it?

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sian_x101

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i've just had the vet confirm that my 2 year old definately has sweet itch.

I have never dealt with sweet itch before so im just looking for a bit of advice/ reassurance about it.

My vet had advised me to buy a lycra hood and fly rug and had also said that it may get worse over the years.

Does the type of fly rug i buy matter or would a standard fly rug be suitable?

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I have tried all sorts of rugs for my shetland who has terrible sweet itch. The only one that I have found works is the Snuggy Hoods one the covers all of her. She is so happy in this rug this year and her coat is great underneath it. She has no rubs what so ever so far.
 
How bad is it? My horse has mild sweet itch so I have a normal fly sheet (Amigo-15% off at Derby House at the mo!), but if its bad then a Boett is probably best and keep it on all the time. Also, lotions with benzly benzoate are good, I use Carr Day and Martins Killitch which seems to work. It might not get worse-we have had a few youngsters at work that had it bad as babies, that grew out of it after a couple of years
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She says its managable he just needs the flies keeping off him, their driving him mad at the minute!
Thats reassuring that they grew out of it
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you need to have the rug on before the midges bite(march).once the pony is itchy the midges have already bitten.
SW rugs may seem expensive but work out cheaper in the long run than lotions/potions of which i have never had much success with.
my mare has her rug on all the time and i spray her about once a week with deosect.
you will also need leccy-fence to stop the rug from getting damaged on fences,trees etc.
 
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Thats reassuring that they grew out of it
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i have never heard this before
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it can be inproved by moving to hilly breezy fields away from streams.

it is not flies,it is midges that cause it.

i think you need proper information,like from here.....
http://www.sweet-itch.co.uk/
 
A good sweet itch rug + fly mask should make no end of difference. I bought a 2yo who started to show symptoms last year. I put him in a rambo hoodie and he's been fine ever since - in fact he itches less than some horses who don't have SI! I use skin so soft on the bits the rug doesn't cover, and when he's stabled is able to have the rug off.
Totally agree with Cahill - you need to put the rug on around March to keep it under control.
 
I agree, I've never heard of a horse growing out of it. I suppose it is possible though.
To look at my horse you wouldn't know he had it (full mane and tail + glossy coat). Perhaps that's what they meant?
 
Your horse is unlikely to grow out of it, what does happen, is that if you move to a new location, she might not be so badly affected, because some areas do seem to have more midges.

There are a couple of new products your vet could supply you with. Both are given as a powder in the feed. You should ask your vet about these. You can only get them from the vet, one is called hippo-ex, google it. I think it is Dutch.
 
I had a boet rug for one of my horses that had severe sweetitch. It actually made him sweat so had to take it off. This year have been using deosect on him and he has a mane and a good tail for the first time in 6 years. Admitedly our place is hilly and you get a good breeze on the top of the hill but it is right next to a reservoir so don't know why things are different this year
 
Ive had 2 ponies with serious sweetitch, and have gone to hell and back with it. I now believe I have a pretty good solution. It involves dealing with the problem INTERNALLY.
1. As others have already said, invest in a very good (and expensive) sweet itch rug
2. Fence off field in elec tape with the elec on so they can't rub on the fence. also fence of trees etc, so there is nothing to rub on. They will prob roll really aggressively to try to relieve the itch, but I never came up with a solution to that. I found stabling them makes them rub more because there are 4 walls, so i left them out.
3. I use fly repellant for cows. (not sure if i am allowed to say the name) It is NOT licenced for horses, so if there is a bad reaction to it there is no comeback on the manufacturers (fair enough). My vet told me to use it, so the advice is from a very reliable source. PM me if you want more info on this.
4. Use aloe vera gel in horse's feed. It is a liquid aloe vera drink in a yellow bottle. (pm me for the company's name) I think i used to put about 60ml in the feed for a 11.2hh pony, daily. The relief in the pony's face was almost instant ! It is a natural anti inflammatory and deals with the irritation from the inside.
5. Use a topical cream to help heal the sores. I used aloe vera for this. Lovely and soothing.

I found that if i followed this regime to the letter, the ponies were far more comfortable. I had one pony that was on the verge of being PTS as she was is such distress, and this made her far more comfortable. I have developed this myself through trial and error, and found the most success with it. (oh, and im not a representative or any aloe vera companies - i just love the stuff)

If you try any of this, do let me know how you get on.
 
My 5yo has sweetitch but you wouldn't know it. He has no damage to his coat/mane/tail and doesn't itch or rub. This wasn't the case the first 2 years he had it, because I waited for him to itch then treated it, which is a nightmare (that's you this year I'm afraid!).

Here's what I'd recommend:

Next year, start using Benzly Benzoate early, long before any midges, as soon as the weather warms/dries up around March. Use it regularly and copiously on all affected areas (with mine this is literally everywhere twice a day as he is so severe, with a previous horse it was only the mane and tail).
Keep using it until you're sure all the midges are well and truly gone (October)!

If you do this you won't have to worry about anything else, rugs, remedies, stopping them sctratching etc.

A lot of people have a downer on benzyl benzoate and I think it's because they don't understand it. A common misunderstanding is that it soothes the itch. It doesn't - it's an insecticide. It will stop the flies getting to your horses skin in the first place. It is a strong irritant (you'll know what I mean if you get it in your eye!) so must not be used once the itch has begun (i.e. on any raw or open skin) as it will only make things worse.

As a preventative I have found it 100% effective for my 2 horses when used properly and completely frees them from the horrendous continual itch during the summer.

Also, you can buy it cheaply online, don't buy the branded ones (killitch) which cost a bomb in the shops as you'll go through it like anything.

Good luck with the rest of this summer!
 
Benzoyl Benzoate is good stuff. We had 3 horses with sweetitch, and we used this on them (before fancy rugs were common place!) We also stabled them overnight, as midges are most active at dawn and dusk - during the day they really aren't around and about. We chose to hog the manes, as it made it easy for the bb to be applied properly.

A note on getting bb in your eyes - this happened to me, emergency poison line told us that 'it should be fine if you rinse it with water, keep rinsing it' - couldn't understand why I was in agony - turns out bb melts plastic, and had melted the contact lens in my eye, rather than having that affect directly! We invested in a pair of goggles for application after that (and we always used latex gloves anyway)
 
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