Sweet itch suggestions

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vikkibeth

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Hi, I have just rescued a welsh cross who is in quite a state after been left for a while just tethered up in a field not far from mine and after a lot of pestering I got the owner to let me have her. She's now had her feet done and wormed and a few days on she's looking a lot happier but she does have a sweet itch problem in her tail, any suggestions on best course of action and products etc as don't want to end up buying a lot of products that claim they work only for them not to. So was hoping that some tired an tested ideas and products might spring to mind :-)
 
With our old sweet itch ponies we used the following -

Aloe vera gel soothes the itch. We used an aftersun one.

Equimins do a cream for Biting Insects, we used to put that at the top of the tail and crest of the mane.

A Sweet Itch Hoody is the best thing ever for sweet itch. They're expensive to splash out on, but so much better than regular fly rugs. Ideally have two - so if they get wet you can swop them and dry them off. I used to get second hand ones from ebay. They really need the rugs on from about March to November.

Wash the mane and tail regularly in lavender or tea tree shampoo (although if they have sore scabs they really don't enjoy this, so be gentle).

Remember to lather on the cream when you're riding and they have no rug on.

Good luck, once you get it managed (and the above worked for us) its quite easy to avoid.
 
I use netex summer freedom cream (something along those lines!) It's the one that you apply once a week. Helps heal, hair re growth, soothes and does stop them from itching.
It does leave them quite greasy so once a month I'll bath hoss with avons skin so soft.
Can't even tell she has sweet itch
 
I use Sudocrem on any bites, or alternatively every other day apply benzyl benzoate which you can get online - it stinks a bit, but does the job of putting the little biters off and soothing the itch.

I'd be careful with Tea Tree Oil as my pony comes up in huge lumps if I use it - could just be his allergies, but I've heard of others having the same trouble - so try a small area first.

I also use bug rugs (cool combo) and several fly masks to stop pressure areas being the same.

Bathing in head and shoulders original or menthol seems to be appreciated as well when I need to remove all the gunk that's been applied.
 
Ditto what others have suggested.

"Killitch" is a good thing to have around with a sweet itch. Basically its just the product name for benzyl benzoate which you can no doubt get much cheaper on-line. It really does soothe an itchy problem!!

Ditto Rambo sweet itch hoody; Premier Equine do a very good range as well as, cheaper and very serviceable rugs indeed.

Eliminate sugar/mollasses as far as possible; check feed-bag labels as sugar tends to sneak into things.

Avoid garlic like the plague and any supplements containing it. What it does is to stimulate the immune system, which might work to keep away flies etc on "normal" horses, but NOT what you want to do with a SI, coz this is basically an immune-system overload syndrome.

You can get ride-on fly rugs - Horseware did one last year. Absolutely invaluable for riding out when the midges are biting; also my loan mare gets seriously attacked by horse-flies and so I got one for her too.

Please avoid using pig oil and sulphur - probably someone on here will advise it. Can bring horses up in awful allergic reactions, mine did. If using, patch-test for 48 hrs FIRST.

Oh and also consider where yours is turned out: worst places for SI's are in lowland, wet/marshy areas where midges will gather. Best sort of grazing (if you can find it) is the highest up you can find where there's a nice breeze, away from forest and woodland/common land areas.

Good luck! Sweet itch isn't half as bad once you get used to the routine of it. My loan mare follows exactly the same routine - its just easier.

You may find you have to stable yours to keep them in during the "dawn to dusk" periods, depending on the weather. As its been quite windy this spring/summer, mine's been able to be out more than he would normally, which is a help :)
 
If she was in a real state then I would suggest she may well have a worm burden. Maybe a double dose of Panacur or 5 day Guard may help with the itching also, which could be down to worms. Good luck OP.

Sorry just reread and see you have wormed her. Wormers work for 3 weeks on average - so you may see an improvement if that is a cause.
 
if it is only her tail then i would be suspicious it could be pin worm, i see you have wormed her but they can be a nightmare to get rid of.

a pony at work had them and we ended up treating them with a paste you smear round the anus that kills the eggs as they hatch and and the females as they lay the eggs
 
Could be pinworm which is a sod to get rid of

Sudocreme is good for sire sweet itch as it contains Benzyl Benzoate so has an extra effect. Always patch test as the pony may be allergic to BB but the Sudocreme is much more gentle than the pure stuff on broken skin

When I got my pony he was sore and red raw and the vet gave me aqueous cream with Baytril in which is awesome stuff, we bought a large pot very cheaply from them, that heals any sore spots up pretty quickly if you can break the itch cycle

We did end up resorting to steroids last year to break the itching. Vet said not to try a rug until the itching settled down or the pony would just wreck it

Once the itching stopped (took about a month) we started feeding brewers yeast at double recommended dose and use rugs that cover him up. It's only crept up on us once so far this year when I was preoccupied so don't take your eye off the ball!
 
Marmite sandwich every day for our little shettie. Year round, not just SI season. He's so much better, he's like a new little man.
 
One other thing we used to do that I forgot to mention was give them piriton on really itchy days, in fact quite often most of the main summer months. For ponies 3-5, for horses 5-7. We are lucky in that our country chemist sells us pots of 500 for about £7. Other chemists react as though you're asking for heroin!
 
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