Sweet Itch, HELP

SultanaRama

SultanaRama

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My percheron yearling has developed slight sweet itch scabs (top of his tail and his mane)

he is currently kept out 24hrs on grass livery, the area is quite marshy and there are ALOT of flies which isn't going to help, also he is currently fairly out the way of where I am, work, and my other horse so don't go to him everyday. however he is going for an operation o he 6th of Aug and then will be going back onto the yard, be stabled and I will be upto him everyday. there are also alot less flies at the yard and the closer surrounding fields.

I did get him a fly rug when I realised how bad the flies where, and in the space of 2 weeks he managed to rip I to shreds, it practically fell of him and crawled into the bin!

so.....

Im considering a sweet itch rug, although not convinced it wouldn't end up wrecked, not money I have to waste....

I have got him a cream to put on it (brand escapes my mind) that is supposed to soothe and repel the flies and says only treat once a week, I cant see that being effective only once a week?

sorry for the essay but sweet itch is new to me and I don't want it to get any worse for my little guy, until I can get him away from such a bad fly situation.

what do you suggest?
 
Most 'over the counter' products can be applied more often than the label says

I feed brewers yeast to my SI pony and also Global Herbs Fly Free which seem to be doing quite a good job. I use Deosect as a fly spray.

Keeping the horse clean is half the battle so try to wash off products even if only with a damp cloth before reapplying. I'd found the dirtier and more scurfy the area the more likely the pony is to itch and the more insects are attracted to that area

Oils are good once the area has healed as they make it physically harder for mites to bite the skin, you have to be careful because of the sun obviously but I apply either oil (I use Supreme Products) or a thick cream over the itch prone areas under the rug

If the pony is itching he will almost certainly damage a sweet itch rug, my vet said it can take up to a few weeks for the itching to subside and then to rug. My pony needed an injection to get the itching under control last year - it doesnt sound like yours is that bad though but if your cream doesnt work then a cream that has worked on my pony is an Aqueous cream mix obtained very cheaply from my vet.

As for rugs my pony has a Snuggy Hoods set and a Masta set for bad midge days and a Rambo hoody, an Amigo and a Derby house fly rugs for breezier days - lots of rugs, all good in their own way, you dont need lots of course but do always have a spare rug if you can as washing them regularly goes with the whole 'clean is half the battle' thinking

Using electric fencing to restrict access to scratching points like posts and gates is a good idea and will prolong the life of any rug

Stabling during the worst times can help (I dont as my stables are next to my pig pen so its ten times worse for midges around there!) as can the location of a field, open and breezy is good if you can arrange that
 
To successfully keep your horse in a sweet-itch rug you have to be sure that he hasn't got anywhere he can rub. Electric fencing is a must. You also really need to look for a field with less flies and more of a breeze. I've used z-itch on mine this year which is a weekly application of permethrin insecticide and I think that is a help.
I've found the Rambo hoody to be the toughest rug.
If you keep him in you may find you have problems with him itching in the stable. If it's possible you could set a fan up to help keep the midges out.
 
Um, sorry hun, and please don't think I'm being ultra critical here, but there's something you said in your original post that concerns me......... not just with a sweet itch horse, but ANY horse, and there are probably others on here that will shoot me down for this, but here goes anyway:-

You said OP that you don't actually see to your horse every day?? This worries me, particuilarly with a horse prone to sweet itch as you'll need to be applying fly/midge repellant to him and also making sure he's not got tied up in his rug or anything.

Frankly, whilst appreciating your difficulties with work/travelling etc., I think your priority for now is to find livery somewhere nearer so that you CAN see to him every day. Also it would help to move him from a situation where you say the midges are particularly bad to somewhere perhaps higher up and/or not near a stream or whatever.

With ANY horse then IMO it needs to be "seen to" more that you're doing. OK yes I appreciate you may have other friends/field sharers who can tell you if something's wrong, but ultimately your horse is YOUR responsibility and needs looking after more frequently than you're doing at the moment. Imgaine if he had colic for instance, how long he'd be up in the field and no-one knowing about it? It doesn't bear thinking about.

Sorry if I'm coming across as Hag but I've got a horse with Sweet Itch and when he WAS in a situation where he was on loan and no-one was seeing to him properly he rubbed himself raw over a weekend.

Yours may well need stabling with the midges are particularly bad (like at the moment with the hot weather) and stuff like "Killitch" applying daily; and that won't happen if he's left standing around in a midgey field getting bitten to death and rubbing himself.

Sorry, but you need to radically change your regime if you're gonna survive Sweet Itch!!
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
You said OP that you don't actually see to your horse every day?? This worries me, particuilarly with a horse prone to sweet itch as you'll need to be applying fly/midge repellant to him and also making sure he's not got tied up in his rug or anything.
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the set up I have is like a full livery on grass, staff go out to all the horses daily, check them, re adjust rugs and in the winter put out hay, and text/ring with updates such as the fact his fly rug was in pieces so they took it off. I'm not just going to leave him to his own devices. I have this set up as it was the only place within 15 miles of me that would take a colt, or that did grass livery. so don't make me out to be negligent please.
 
I wouldnt put a rug on until you get the itching under control he will just wreck it, i wash my mare about every ten days sometimes more often with a medicated shampoo, i then put on nettex summer cream everyday and she only has it mild, this year she has hardly rubbed so has been rug free as its been so hot.

I would bath him them apply something for sweet itch, will the people who check him not put something on him it only takes a few minutes.
 
SultanaRama said:
the set up I have is like a full livery on grass, staff go out to all the horses daily, check them, re adjust rugs and in the winter put out hay, and text/ring with updates such as the fact his fly rug was in pieces so they took it off. I'm not just going to leave him to his own devices. I have this set up as it was the only place within 15 miles of me that would take a colt, or that did grass livery. so don't make me out to be negligent please.
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OK, that's good, I didn't mean to slag into you! Honest, BUT I am a YO and you'd be surprised what some owners do. My traddie boy has SI so I know what its like. A nightmare until you get it sorted, then you get into a routine and things work out.

Have a search on here re. Sweet Itch, there's loads in the archives that might be of help?

Unfortunately when my boy was at a yard on loan they didn't exactly look after his sweet itch terribly well and contrary to my instructions was put out without his rug on.

As others have said, you'll need to get the itching under control before you get any rug to stay on him; difficult one this, as he might need to be stabled for the interim to just stop the itching. THEN you'll still have the problem of where he's turned out, which by the sounds of things is in the worst possible situation which attracts midges.

Feedwise: eliminate as far as possible anything with sugar or mollassess (think "sweet" itch), mine has brewers yeast, Clivers, cider vinegar and linseed oil daily - seems to work for us. Avoid garlic like the plague (check on proprietry feeds & so called "fly" remedies". Garlic stimulates the immune system, which isn't what you want with SI! So you'll need to check EVERYTHING, a total pain.

Appreciate your difficulties if yours is on a livery set-up; unfortunately a lot of yard staff just don't know how to deal with a horse with Sweet Itch properly. Its about total management not any one "fix".

Is there any other field yours could go in?

PS meant to say it might be worth asking the vet to take some bloods? Coz then you can determine whether the SI is mild, moderate, severe, or what.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
OK, that's good, I didn't mean to slag into you! Honest, BUT I am a YO and you'd be surprised what some owners do. My traddie boy has SI so I know what its like. A nightmare until you get it sorted, then you get into a routine and things work out.
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I appreciate you concern, and I know what you mean about some people, grass livery for me was supposed to be a sort term fix to get my yearling over here, get him castrated let him summer out then bring him to other yard when he was a bit older and a little more handled, but there are people that chuck them on grass livery and staff say you don't see or hear from them for 6 months they just pay there bills and don't really care!!

however so far its all going a bit wrong, he was castrated fine and we have had no problems with that at all, however he has a bone chip floating around in his stifle which is going to have to be removed next month and now the sweet itch to contend with, I am hoping its more of a mild case as hes been out there for over a month and the flies have been just as bad as they are now since hes been out, the cream I have is the Nettex one and im hoping that will bring it under control if not just stop it from getting worse for the next few weeks until I can bring him back onto the yard, its not really ideal as the fields are on a country estate and miles away from the yard, but once he comes back in in a few weeks he will be on box rest after his op and then in hospital fields where the flies are no where near as bad and defo wont be going back out on the park now we have sweet itch.

he isn't currently fed as he has more than enough grass but thank you I will bare that in mind for when he comes back in and for the future.

thank you for everyone's advice, I think ill be ordering a sweet itch type medicated shampoo and if it does continue to flair up with more scabs I will just have to arrange for him to come in sooner away from the flies where I can treat it more intensely.

does anyone have an opinion on fly repellent shampoo, does it actually work?
 
I just use the dermoline horse medicated shampoo, not tried a repellent one but I really dont thing most fly repellents work anyway plus my other horse has a reaction to most of them, even if you just wash his mane and tail for now and smother the skin under the hair with the nettex it will help, then just put some on each time you go see him, then when he comes in you can give him a bath and get on top of it, I find some years my mare is worse than others, last year was bad but i moved house about 30 miles away so not sure if it was that but this year she is really not that bad. I found linseed helps and brewers yeast but dont feed garlic if his itchy it makes them worse, keep to a low sugar diet too it all helps.
 
I also use the Dermoline medicated shampoo, it's cheap enough and rinses out well. I tried a fly shampoo but it was a little gloopy and took ages to rinse out

Any remaining shampoo after bathing can make things worse so rinse, rinse and when you think you are done rinse again!
 
If a fly rug got ruined then chances are that a sweet itch rug will too. The only real way to stop that happening is to use electric fencing to keep your horse away from anything that may rip the rug.
Sweet Itch is an allergy to midges and a marshy field is probably the worst place he can be. You need somewhere away from water sources, muckheaps etc and preferably nice and exposed with few trees.
I've found Coopers Fly Repellent Plus to work best and I use the Rambo Sweet Itch hoody which is excellent and one of the toughest around. It will withstand normal rubbing (on smooth surfaces), grooming etc unlike alot of them.
It sunds like you have Stop Itch cream which is good but very messy.
 
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