Sweet itch - *new capsuls released!* or Cavalesse ??

tinker88

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Im rising 3yr old suffers mildly with sweet itch,
Ive just been on the Sweet itch website, and they have now released the new sweet itch capsules
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£200 for a seasons treatment then there is also the Cavalesse treatment thats about £80 for 3 months suplly (a feed supplements and topical cream)

so apart from his blanket, stabling ....... i have no idea what to try - or can i use both??

Has anyone else used any of the above? or ..... what are you going to try this summer?

and when do you start trying to battle against the damn midges?
 
weve used the cavalesse in a pony of ours, and we found it great, the trick with that is to start the oral powders any time now before the midges start. we also use his fly sheet even when stabled in summer, he gets upset when hes in if the midges are outside even though theyre not on him and it stops him scratching out of stress. we use just plain benzyl benzoate on him if he starts scratching, rubbed into his skin of his mane, tail and rump. also an old man, whos prob forgot more than any of us will ever know, advised to pour a little olive or veg oil onto mane and tail etc if you cannot avoid being out at midge time, they land on it and basically drown before they can bite. obviously dont use if hes out during hot sun or he'l cook! its messy for riding but it works.
 
We feed 25 grams of Brewers Yeast a day to our Cob and apply Nettex Itch Stop Salve twice a week. Your right, the secret is to start before the midges arrive. The ingredient in Brewers Yeast which keeps the midges away is vitamin B3 apparently Cavalesse is also vitamin B3. I haven't heard about the capsules are they B3 too?
 
Had a look at the site and it does seem promising but one thing I don't understand - they talk about trialling one capsule a fortnight during the sweet-itch season - and then go on to say a season's treatment of 40 capsules can be had for £200+ - at one a fortnight that makes for an 80-week season ...
 
I've just started applying my homemade lotion which contains benzyl benzoate and other oils. I feed a home prepared supplement throughout the year which contains Brewers yeast and garlic among other goodies. As a former chemistry teacher, I've delved quite deeply into this and done a lot of trialling with my prone Shetland and friends' horses and the results are great. Early action is definitely the best option.
 
I won't be rushing to sign up for this I don't think. We've moved yards since last summer but we did really well last year on the following regime:

Boett rug on 24/7, changed and washed weekly
stabled overnight every night so pony in at dawn and dusk
Low sugar diet based on alfalfa and non molassed beet
daily dose in feed of apple cider vinegar (ACV) and a glug of linseed oil. Baileys lo-cal used as feed balancer.
ACV sprayed on when she was "bare" as a fly repellent/skin soother for where she'd got bitten.

The only change I am considering to this are to take out the linseed oil and put in Baileys outshine instead fed at half dose.
She kept her full mane and tail all last summer, a tiny bit of rubbing on the tail but no more than a normal but itchy horse might do.

I made sure new place is still pretty open, so I am hoping that we will be OK out in the field with the electric fencing in place.
 
My boy is 3 in April and he has been ichy every summer since he was a year old.

This year im going to try brewers yeast and cider vinegar... did think about the marmite but there is no way Im feeding my boy from my hand and dont think he'd lick it from a bucket!!!

Will be keeping an eye on this thread though...
 
there are soooo many things to do for sweet itch and i find everyone has a different potion. i am totally confused have no idea what to do for the best of my horse.
at the moment he is on d itch a scoop in every feed??? i do have sprays but i only got him at the end of the midge season last year and by then bless him he was in a heap. i now ahve him with a lovelyish mane and his tail is normal.

what should i do? i did see apple cider vinegar in the shop today but unsure????. HELP!!
 
My boy had horrendous sweet itch when I got him - forked out for a boett rug which rubbed him to death and he managed to make holes in it and everything so that got sold. Bought him a masta flyrug and have never looked back since - it has fine mesh so it's hard for flies&midges to get through and it's not the easily rippable material - it withstood 3 years and has only just been replaced. I also 100% recommend Pegasus BanItch cream - bought it on a whim and it's the only thing that stops him rubbing his tail. I use a little in his main and apply it onto the top of his tail every day during sweet itch season. The rug/cream combination work a treat - we've had a full mane and tail and no itching for about three years now.

I ran out in September and had my dad send me some asap as my poor pony lost the plot without it. I now always have a spare.
 
I've had my sweet itch boy for about 7yrs now n have tried a few things. Basic sweet itch rugging (not fly rugs which have bigger holes), turnout between dawn n dusk if possible plus sprays n a scoop of Dodson & Horrells itch free in each feed seem to be the minimum. Last year I was using Johnson's baby oil massaged into main n rump/tail under his sweet itch rug when the sun wasn't too strong n this worked gr8. If he did rub I used calomine lotion n this soothed gr8. Had a snuggy rug cos didn't c much point buying a boett since the field has the dreaded barbed wire (yards field not mine or I'd have changed it!) n it would just get ruined (exactly wot happened last season to the new style sweet itch rug I bought to try!). Really thinking about trying the bioeos capsules from www.sweet-itch.co.uk this season so will likely order them on payday n c how we do this yr!!
 
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