Sweet itch? has my 2yr old got it? what to use

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tinker88

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My rising 2 yr old looks like he is showing the starting of sweet itch.
Im very sad cos he was bought with the intensions to show. but obviously if a manage it ok i still will be able to.
Hes very itchy on his rump and itching behind his ears and rubbing alot. i have bough him a fly rug (not sweet itch rug) but realise i may have to invest in a better one. it seems to be doing the trick for now, hes still abit scratchy. I cover him in hydrophane fly rep (which smells toxic) and have bought some itch gone gel, benzol benzalae, and citronella oil and put loads of that one too.
he hasnt rubbed any hair off yet but i have found a few (odd one or two) lumps that have a tiny red blood mark in them.

for now im treating it as sweet itch. i did oncehave a pony with it, i used "switch" on her but apparently they dont make it any more?

does kill itch etc work?

also at work we have had a few horses injected with cattle wormer (decomax?) and 3 out of 4 have stopped itching?!!! and the other not half as bad. apparently it kills the midges>?

any other help?
 
horses normaly get abit itchy when they are changing into their summer coat. it could be all the dust in his hair and he feels like a good rub. its like when u havnt changed clothes in ages and u feel a bit itchy and nuurggg!! if u know what i mean. if it was swweet itch it only rub the top of his tail and mane. check his mane for dusty particles. if u are worried bath his mane and til and even his body in tee tree shampoo!! does the job!! hope this is help...
 
Hopefully it will only turn out to be what the previous poster suggested - he's a bit itchy due to changing his coat and the change in season.

Still, the midges are murderous this spring and I've found Deosect really effective. 10mls in 500mls water, sponged on all over - keeps the pesky bugs away for up to a month, but I do mine every two weeks if they're really troubled, as it suggests on the tin. I've tried just about every fly/midge repellent and home made recipe imaginable, and none seem to be really effective for more than an hour or two, so not much good if you can only apply it morning and evening as they'll have stopped working long before the next application. A decent sweetitch rug will undoubtedly help, but persistent insects simply fly up underneath and bite the exposed belly, sheath and inner thigh areas - so you'll need to use something topical as well.
 
Both Killitch and Nettex Itch Stop Salve are very good, the itch stop is very gunky so great if you aren't riding (which I assume you aren't!) as it stays on for a few days easily, the Killitch is more liquid than gunk!

We have our heavy cob injected with Dectomax against leg mites, which he appears to have had for many years, it definitely helps for that. Have a look at http://www.sweet-itch.co.uk/
 
it could be due to the mold try adding oil to his diet for the rubbing bath in an insectisedatal shampoo then apply a good fly spray but with the fly spray add vinger because it is acidy as such it takes the itch out of the bite!
 
It is not correct to say that horses with sweet itch only rub their manes and tails. Those are the classic areas that they rub, but its not an exclusive thing. my TB mare does not rub her mane or tail, she will rub her shoulders and flanks and head, bite holes in her chest and her belly is a mass of sores if she is not covered up.

For me, the only thing that works is a Boett rug which physically keeps the flies off.
 
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