Sweet Itch How Are You Doing??

ibot

ibot

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Morning all

So we are finally approaching the end of a very very long sweetich summer :mad:

How did you get on? did you discover anything new which became your new best friend ?

This year is the first year that my poor boy got attacked all around his sheath and his tummy area :(:( but his tail was mostly untouched (i quickly run and touch wood) :D:D his mane is crap but i have done a little deal with god :rolleyes: that next year will be better.
I think i have only cried once this year and that was when paddy came home from the field and on either side of his neck he had massive sores :mad: :mad: so next year i also plan not to end up in hospital with an op and then i can manage him better.

so maybe these are my new resolutions

over to you :D:D
 
Only new addition is the sweet itch hoody, bought around Feb. It's made life a lot easier and she has a full mane and tail. Otherwise regime is unchanged. Neem oil, benzyl benzoate and sudocrem for udders if they come under attack! Feed involves restricted grazing, oat straw chaff, brewer's yeast and linseed. Unchanged from last year. :-)
 
This year was my first experience of sweetitch. brought a pony for showing but they didnt mention his sweetitch and the fact that they rugged him. soon found out when half his mane was gone. rugs have been brilliant though. he has a weekly dosing of itch stop salve and killitch. do you normally stop rugging in october?
 
Another year of wrecked rugs(expensive) had to start stabling her early mainly because of gypsy kids rabbiting in her field with lurchers and ferrits and that she'd lamed herself galloping about. Cann't put lotions on her of any kind as I value my life to much, :):)so have tried the marmite route as she will eat anything you put in her feed only I've put it on her carrots, I've been doing it for only 3 weeks and she's not so itchy(touch wood) so will keep it up. :):)
 
We have coped much better this yr, had a boett last year but it kept getting ripped. This yr used a combination of sweet itch hoody, a supplement called hippo eczema and a topical treatment called hippo itch care gel.

He has a full mane although thin in places and although he rubbed a section of tail early on in the summer, this has grown back with the use of the itch care gel.

Very importantly found out that he has an allergic reaction to benzyl benzoate so any cream that contains it is no longer used ( inc sudocrem)

Also I have him in a paddock fully enclosed with electric fencing so nowhere to scratch although next yr I will add a sand pit with a little smooth gravel so he can relieve his itch a little without causing himself any damage.
 
We took on a sweetitch 22yr old pony in July who we were told we had to rug to save his mane and tail. Touchwood we have managed to break the cycle, not quite sure how but I watch hima lot and he rubbed more when hot. He was switched to a molasses and alfalfa free diet with balanced minerals and added brewers yeast, came into a small bare paddock with field shelter during day and out in track system at night. Washed him with tea tree oil about once every 2 weeks and sprayed with coopers fly repellent under his belly and girth area in the evening before he was let out if there were a lot of midges (only fly repellent I found that actually worked but blooming expensive) I left his rug off more and more particularly on windy days. On sunny days we used kill itch and tried to leave his rug off during the hottest part of the day where possible. He still rubs his face a bit but no where nears as badly and he hasn't had a good rubbing session for a month or so and hasn't had his rug on for about a month. He gets very scurrfy on his mane still but I gently will brush that out. He used to go mad for you to give him whither and belly scratches, would sway and everything but he seems to not feel the need for that anymore either.

I think the diet had a lot to do with it and keep my fingers crossed that something has helped him. Not looking forward to the spring when it kicks in again.
 
I've had mine for 5 years. And always struggled with his sweetitch, no matter when I had him stabled, what rug I used or what I sprayed on him..

This year he has been out 24/7 with no rug just a full face/ear fly mask, and we have had very little itching!

I have changed to molasses, cereal and alfalfa free diet, and added brewers yeast and linseed!

Its made a huge difference, he's also changed to a much darker colour!
 
oh that is intresting paddy gets fed with the rest of the yard so i don't feel like i have much choice over it i have asked them not to use sugar beet but maybe i should speak to them about everything and try get him on very simple stuff
do you think nuts and chaff is ok??
 
ladydoone said:
. do you normally stop rugging in october?
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Um, hate to say this, but nope!!!

Last year I was out on Xmas Day faffing around with a sweet itch rug; it was a muggy/midgey day here....... so there was I out in party outfit & stilettos putting on a rug. Hilarious.

But no, I personally don't relax until the first good frost of the autumn, and even then you can get midges around on a warmer day with no wind. The damn things just appear from nowhere.

During the winter I tend to keep mine in his SI rug, just bung it on and then put turnout rug on top if needed. Although I do like to let him out naked occasionally, and to stop rug-rubs.

Basically, I don't regard the SI season as EVER over, but tend to be a bit more relaxed from the October half term break through to the following February one. I'd usually start to think about supplements (Linseed, Brewers Yeast, Clivers, Cider Vinegar) around the beginning of February time, but will probably feed a very low maintenance dose through the winter months.
 
Introduced naf d-itch this year and swapped our rambo sweet itch rug for the new shires one started wearing his rug end of february and he has hardly itched all year first year he has kept all his mane don't think the expensive ly sprays work any better than the average ones to be honest.
 
Inchy said:
I've had mine for 5 years. And always struggled with his sweetitch, no matter when I had him stabled, what rug I used or what I sprayed on him..

This year he has been out 24/7 with no rug just a full face/ear fly mask, and we have had very little itching!

I have changed to molasses, cereal and alfalfa free diet, and added brewers yeast and linseed!

Its made a huge difference, he's also changed to a much darker colour!
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I definitely think diet helps a lot, the diet that barefoot people feed their horses (mine is barefoot) like Inchy and I have found does seem to improve things for them.

Ibot - we had a Rambo Sweetitch snuggy hood rug - seems to be the most durable and very good coverage but also one of the hottest! The Boett has good coverage and not so heavy but easily gets torn.
 
Four years later I still spend summers trialling new things. She is better this year than ever before but weve had quite a poor summer (which I was quite hapoy about tbh!). The NETTEX lotion was invaluable for a horrid period where her neck ballooned and mane became crusty and vile. Im so excited about winter when she is hardly rugged at all!
 
We have been wearing the rambo sweet ith hoody, feed is chopped straw, A & P L mix and brewers yeast. best year so far we have full mane and tail still being careful though until we have the first hard frost.
 
stargirl88 said:
Four years later I still spend summers trialling new things. She is better this year than ever before but weve had quite a poor summer (which I was quite hapoy about tbh!). The NETTEX lotion was invaluable for a horrid period where her neck ballooned and mane became crusty and vile. Im so excited about winter when she is hardly rugged at all!
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yep i am the same winter comes and i get all excited to see paddy out with no rug on :D

ok i shall look into sweet itch rambo i think i have been throu most of them at this point :o
 
My Boy isn't a mega itcher by any stretch of the imagination, although earlier this year he was worse than ever...

That said, since he has been on Micronised Linseed and a low sugar, low starch diet he has been much better. I would recomend removing any mixes, sugar beet and 'chaffs' (most are highly mollassed and even the 'lite' ones have quite a healthy sugary coating...I have found Alan and Page fast fibre a brilliant alternative. Nuts aren't ideal as they are usually held together with mollasses of some description, though small quantities may be ok. Brewers yeast helped us further and the addition of Avon Skin so soft to our fly repellent (applied at least once daily) has erradicated the itch altogether.

I have been very strict with his grass intake this year too, which I am sure has helped.
It isn't called SWEET itch for nothing...
 
Mine has a full mane and tail :O) x Found my secret weapon to be vinegar!! Sprayed with 3/4 vinegar, 1/4 water mix and not a fly goes near him!! x He's had a fly rug on too x Last year when i got him he had no tail, just a raw stick, and he had about 1/4 of a mane which was all scabby! x I only feed him chaff and nuts but last winter he did have sugarbeet and conditioning cubes x
 
Definitely found that diet can be a huge contributing factor! Sooooo nothing with high sugar/starch component to the feed. Also avoid alfalfa like the plague. Keep going with the Killitch and we have a mane & tail! Mane is a bit straggly and he managed to partially destroy his forelock but this year has been the best so far in 3 years!!
 
Mt little shettie has been much improved this year and I've found him easier to manage. He has his marmite sandwich every day and he gets this all year round. Plus Nettex Itch Stop has been amazing for him. Applied to affected areas once or twice and week has done the trick as well as daily fly spray which I make myself.

Early part of next year I will be applying itch stop before the season starts to try and break the cycle. I didn't discover it this year until he'd rubbed a bit of his tail out. All in all it seems to be keeping him much more comfortable.

Marmite is a big help though!
 
I've suspected sweet itch with my new boy. I eliminated alfalfa and sugar in his diet but this had no effect. Last week I introduced Brewers Yeast and the results have been amazing! He no longer rubs himself on anything and everything! He used to come in with all sorts of stains on him where he had found somewhere to scratch but he hasn't had these now for 4 days! He seems much happier in himself, touch wood we've cracked it :)
 
This has been an absolutely brilliant year for us. Location is excellent compared to where I had her last year. Full tail, a pretty much full mane. She is stabled overnight (wears a cotton sheet) and out during the day. Fed Brewers yeast with a handful of HiFi molasses free. That is it. Our best ever year with her.
 
its funny you ask i was just thinking how well she was doing this year (shes been rugged up all year :( ) until last week when i brought her in and she has sores under her forelock, and either side of her neck under her mane poor mare :( x
 
My 14.2 Connemara suffers with Sweet itch and this summer i brought aloe vera vetinary spray, i cannot recommend it enough- its magic, before his mane was terrible in parts and the top of his tail, all wrecked with rubbing but i have been using this stuff from August and his mane is growing back and he is scratching a lot less it really helps to soothe his skin!
 
I wish I could find something that helps Zara. I have never seen a horse with sweet itch as bad as hers. She wears a boett full time from February through until at least November but still gets bitten on her face, her front legs down to her knees, her hindlegs down to her hocks and her udder. I have tried numerous lotions and potions most of which she is allergic too - she cannot tolerate vaseline, sudocreme, neem and lots of others. In fact the only ointments I have found she can have is Nettex Muddy Marvel and Udder Cream. Unfortunately the latter seems to disappear within a couple of hours so I spend a fortune on the Muddy Marvel.

I've tried keeping her stabled during the midge period but she still has to wear her boett as the midges still get to her. She won't touch Brewer's Yeast or Marmite and is barefoot so is on a sugar and alfalfa free diet with limited grazing.

Any other suggestions?
 
Mitchyden said:
I wish I could find something that helps Zara. I have never seen a horse with sweet itch as bad as hers. She wears a boett full time from February through until at least November but still gets bitten on her face, her front legs down to her knees, her hindlegs down to her hocks and her udder. I have tried numerous lotions and potions most of which she is allergic too - she cannot tolerate vaseline, sudocreme, neem and lots of others. In fact the only ointments I have found she can have is Nettex Muddy Marvel and Udder Cream. Unfortunately the latter seems to disappear within a couple of hours so I spend a fortune on the Muddy Marvel.

I've tried keeping her stabled during the midge period but she still has to wear her boett as the midges still get to her. She won't touch Brewer's Yeast or Marmite and is barefoot so is on a sugar and alfalfa free diet with limited grazing.

Any other suggestions?
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Have you considered going down the forage analysis route? It could be that a mineral imballance is affecting her tollerance to certain things... Also consider trying Spirulina (sold by forage plus - a few people have tried it with good effect. Have you tried introducing BY really gradually? maybe use mint to disguise the taste? That said, some of the cheaper BY can be quite bitter so watch who you buy from - I've never had a problem with Feedmark...

Also feeding Micronised linseed has greatly improved my boy's skin which was always quite scurfy even after removing alfa-alfa products from his diet...
 
CBFan said:
Have you considered going down the forage analysis route? It could be that a mineral imballance is affecting her tollerance to certain things... Also consider trying Spirulina (sold by forage plus - a few people have tried it with good effect. Have you tried introducing BY really gradually? maybe use mint to disguise the taste? That said, some of the cheaper BY can be quite bitter so watch who you buy from - I've never had a problem with Feedmark...

Also feeding Micronised linseed has greatly improved my boy's skin which was always quite scurfy even after removing alfa-alfa products from his diet...
Click to expand...

I've had my forage analysed and she is fed the required amounts. I've tried introducing the BY very slowly but as soon as I get to 1/4 teaspoon, she refuses to eat, this is despite trying three different brands. And yes she's getting linseed as I feed it to help her arthritis.

Haven't tried the Spirulina though so might look into that, thanks.
 
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