Sweet Itch - to rug her now or not to rug her now, that is the question!

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Kirstyf

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Hi. This is probably a question that has already been answered on another thread so please excuse me if this is the case - I have not been able to find anything during my searches!

As you can tell from the title of this thread my poor little (albeit tubby) girl has for the first time in my 4 years of ownership developed sweet itch. She does not appear to be in any distress other than being very itch but I am in distress! She used to have a lovely mane and now all but 1/4 of it has gone!

I have tried the d-itch supplement as someone recommended this and this does not appear to be working - I gave it enough time to work but as she doesn't like it and it is not working I have not perservered with this. I have tried various gels and creams, including the d-itch spray but to no avail - she dislikes the d-itch spray as it runs down her neck and makes her even more itchy. I have now bought some Aloe Vera shampoo and Aloe Vera Gelly to soothe her rubbed raw (but thankfully not bleeding) neck.

I have now bought a Bridleway fly rug and mask (she looked like a storm trooper when I tried it on, it was ever so funny!) but am not sure as to whether I should forget about using it for the rest of this fly season and just keep soothing her and use it early next year or to put it on her now (hoping that she will not shred it!).

The other thing is, I have been advised by an Aloe Vera seller that I could give my horse 250ml of Aloe Vera Gel (liquid) in her daily feed - has anyone tried this and if so what was the result?

Any help will be greatly appreciated regarding to rug her now or not to rug her now!
 
well normally you would rug before the flies and the itch starts! i would suggest a good worm with ivermectin and a good wash with selsun (vets sell as seleen) you can buy 1% selsun blue of the shelf but the 2.5% selsun is better. wash then rinse (normal shampoo) thn aply selsun 2.5% leave for 10 mins rinse well, then rinse again. Check your pony doesnt have extra friends! aloe vera will soothe broken skin but IMO doesnt solve an itch problem. rug well with a fly rug,, wash weekly in selsun, you could feed some garlic.
 
ofcourseyoucan said:
well normally you would rug before the flies and the itch starts! i would suggest a good worm with ivermectin and a good wash with selsun (vets sell as seleen) you can buy 1% selsun blue of the shelf but the 2.5% selsun is better. wash then rinse (normal shampoo) thn aply selsun 2.5% leave for 10 mins rinse well, then rinse again. Check your pony doesnt have extra friends! aloe vera will soothe broken skin but IMO doesnt solve an itch problem. rug well with a fly rug,, wash weekly in selsun, you could feed some garlic.
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Agree with the above poster but wouldn't bother with the garlic, it made no difference to my two.
 
I feel your pain. My boy started to develope sweet itch as a 3 yr old, and his lovely main quickly became like most sweet itch horses, terrible.
We actually have two on the yard with it, the old pony being a lot worse. She will scratch her tail and main into oblivion. Both are on Teeburb wich is meant to keep flies away. Its horrid smelly stuff but they do get use to eat and it seems to work.
Both are rugged also. Pony needs a new one as she managed to trash hers, but my boy wears a sweet itch buster from premier equine. Its a very good rug, and keeps him well covered. Its like the rambo one, but cheeper.
 
Thank you for your comments. She has never been sweet-itchy before so there was no way I could rug her before the fly season - she will, however, be rugged next year regardless!! Prevention is probably best! There are so many things out there and some fly repellents work with some horses and some with others. We bought quite an expensive one, newish to the market, and it worked great - by the 3rd bottle it wasn't working anymore. I swear that flies have a laboratory somewhere and take back a sample of the fly repellent that you have put on your horse and develop an antidote within 24 hours! They have to!! Sorry, rant over!!

Just a bit of an update of my poor little girl - I had a call this morning from my friend who said that I needed to get over their ASAP as my little girl had rubbed herself raw on her shoulder. She was such a sorry state when I got there so we put ice packs on her for about 5-10 minutes on both sides - I think she really enjoyed that part! With my friend holding her I have also bathed her in Aloe Vera (not too happy to start with but she was as good as gold!).

Thankfully I have an old fly rug, so I don't mind if she rips that one to pieces for the rest of this season. I will save the new one now til next year and put it on her from March. I have had a text from my friend to say that I now have a happy and contented mare, so hopefully this has worked. Oh and a whole container of the Jungle Formula Extra Strength midge repellent was sprayed over her! Apparently this is proving to work for horses as well as humans according to the local saddlery shop! - just wish that they did bigger containers in Boots and it wasn't quite so expensive!! Tip though, don't buy the spray! Not too keen as I found out!!

Having trawled the internet for fly sprays and have just stunk us out at home by making my own - will see what it is like this evening when I take the concoction over to the yard! I will let you know if this works - but the smell is horrendous (but at least we shouldn't have any flies in our house today!!)

I have also been given some insecticidal ear tags by a local farmer - they are normally attached to cow's ears but you can plait them into manes and tails on horses. They have worked in the passed with other horses I have had on loan so going to try these too - you don't often see cattle with rubbed raw bodies!

I am willing to try anything, within reason, to help her even if this means getting the vet out to give her a steroid jab or similar - I just hate to see her suffering!!

Again, my thanks for your comments and suggestions - right! off to buy some garlic or marmite (what's the betting I have a horse that will eat anything but marmite!).
 
Hi. I am interested in this post too. My mare has always been an itchy horse, have been using fly spray and Netex Itch Stop. Went to see her this morning and she has rubbed loads of her mane off! Do I put a fly rug on now or is it too late?
Have got some Benzyl Benzoate and am going to start feeding brewers yeast. Any other ideas welcome.
 
We feed Brewers yeast 25g a day for every 450k of horse. You must feed every 24 hours and keep feeding from now until at least this time next year. Persevere it is not an instant fix but will help and you will see more improvement next year and so on. We also apply Nettex Itch Stop twice a week to all previously affected areas. It works as a fly repellent, soothes sores and stops itching. It can be applied to broken skin. Do not feed Garlic that will not help and may make things worse. Cut all sugar out of the diet. Good Luck!!!
 
I wouldn't bother with garlic to be honest. It really isn't enough to repel the damned midges!
I started adding the global herbs skratch plus to my mares meals in april and since her mane and tail were still intact by June I'm convinced its worked, up until now every year her tail has been raw. I'm not sure if it'd be a bit late to introduce it to yours now, as I THINK it said it can take up to 8 weeks to fully work (that's on a full scoop... and you have to introduce it very gradually as horses are not fans of the stuff!)
I would put a rug on her now, and a fly mask. even if it is late, protection now is better than none. Also, fly rugs don't actually tend to last very long with sweet itch sufferers as they are not tough enough. If you think about it - instead of going through 3 £30 fly rugs (that was a guess.... I've never bought one not sure how much they are!!) and having them ripped to bits I'd invest in a rambo SW rug or something similar. They are ALOT tougher and one lasts me the whole summer. Expensive, but I've seen on derby house they went down to £74 once :O but are generally £100. Boetts are more, as are snuggy hoods.
As for creams and gels - different things work for different horses. I find the d-itch gel works for her face and that's it. Aloe vera sooths, but doesn't prevent itching. There are all sorts of lotions and potions it's a costly process finding the one that works best.
I'm guessing she's at the point now where you cant bring her in during high-midge times as she'd just rub herself. So just try and maintain it with the shampoos, creams etc.
GOOD LUCK, its bloody horrible!
 
I'm going to be blunt here sorry.
Your horse has rubbed the best part off its mane off and your asking if you should put a rug on!!!!! It should have been put on before it got this far.
 
Def put the rug on, like yesterday! I don't know what works to sooth the itch tbh, maybe your vet can suggest something so that it can be soothed before she does herself any more damage.
Absolutly do not feed garlic, it makes things worse for horses with sweet itch. I have heard that brewers yeast helps, I have tried it with my sweetich mare this year. I'm not sure if I have really noticed an improvement, but she isn't any worse either and it has lots of good stuff in it so it can't do any harm. Don't use benzyl benzoate based lotions on her as it shouldn't be used on broken skin.
 
Rug her up, at least that will give her a chance with the midges. If she has sores where she has rubbed,don't use benzot benzolite(what ever) as it burns the skin, specially thin skinned animals, garlic I found is usless.If you can stable her at night,could be a good thing, but seeing hay is short. Just rug her up and use midge sprays like Deet.And the best of luck,but start planning for next year.:):)
 
Hi,

I know you have tried an additive already with no success but my boy is on Feedmark's Equidemis after an allergic reaction which resulted in hives. After 3 weeks of ointments and him itching and pulling his hair out with his teeth. I put him on the additive and I saw an improvement in less than 7 days. His skin still has some healing to do but no itching seen in the last 2 weeks!!

http://www.feedmark.com/Product.asp?Product=Equidermis+Plus

I think you have some good advice from 'Ofcourseyoucan' and I would try to soothe the itch and then put her rug on. If her main looks a real mess you might be best to cut your losses and hog her which will make her look smarter!!
 
Now gone 24 hours with rug on - raw areas not looking so angry, my girl is looking happier and more relaxed. Katherine1975 I would highly recommend you put a fly rug on your horse now - as Echo Bravo said it will just help with the midges for the rest of the season. My view is that the rug is going to help her raw areas to get better and not get aggrivated any more.

I know that ofcourseyoucan and monsters you both mean well by your comments, but my girl has never suffered from this before so how was I to know to rug her when she (being a native cob that does not get rugged in the winter) has NEVER suffered before? OK, I could have put a rug on beforehand but hindsight is a wonderful thing but I will be rugging her before next fly season starts from now on - I have learnt a very upsetting lesson here (which has reduced me to tears over the passed couple of days).

I will look into this Equidermis though because it sounds very good!

Just a quick update - homemade fly spray seemed to work this morning! OK so she smelt like a fish and chip shop but I really don't care if it works!!

Thanks again for your comments, they are really appreciated.
 
I'm glad it has worked. Give her a good bath and maybe something soothing if she looks sore and then rug until winter. Mine lives in a fly rug.

I always think with additives - buy at least a months supply... try it and if it doesn't work then don't bother. You never know what will work for yours but my lad could model for before and after photos!! I might write to feedmark and see if they'll give me some freebees if I share the phots!! lol!
 
Thanks kirstyf my horse was the same as yours, never had a problem before just went up one morning as usual and she had rubbed some of her long mane off. She hasn't rubbed the skin raw just a big patch of hair missing. Have covered her in Netex Itch Stop cream and pagony rug. She is a traditional cob who had never had any rugs on before I got her. I will also be putting a fly rug on all season next year.
Am going to buy brewers yeast tomorrow and start feeding it.
 
if your horse has sweetitch rather than another skin condition they will need a proper sweeticth rug rather than a fly rug as the midges can still get to them through the larger holes in fly rugs.

the avon skin so soft green colour dry oil body spray works really well for my horse. i spray along both sides of the mane tail and then lightly over the rest of the body.

unfortunately it is trial and error in most cases. what works for one sweetitch sufferer may be useless for another.

hope you get things sorted.
 
You might need to spend a while sorting out your itchy problem, but its not too late IMO.

Personally I've tried every blimmin supplement on the market and they're about as useless as a f@rt in a gale; someone's mentioned garlic as being inadvisable, and its the thing to avoid if this is sweet itch as it does something to the immune system, which is basically what sweet itch is about, and immune system disorder, so garlic won't help and may well make things worse, so best avoided.

What you can do is to give her a bucket wash/bath in something like Tea Tree shampoo (cheap & cheerful from supermarket), or there's a lovely "Lavender Wash" that's a specifically horsey product, which mine loves, and lavenders good for keeping things away.

If you can, it might help to keep her inside as much as possible (with a fly rug on), just so's you're minimising the opportunity for her to get all hot and itchy, and rub.

If you've got a cheapy fly rug all well and good, plus I'd use a fly mask whenever she's out (with covering for the ears as well).

Within say a week/ten days I think you'll notice a difference. There's no one thing that's the "fix", coz if you've got a sweet itch its really a matter of total management rather than one single thing.

Also, if you can keep her in from the "dawn to dusk" period, which is when the cullicoides midge (the one that causes sweet itch) is active, that would help a lot. Like I say, total management rather than quick fix, but it is manageable, despair not.

Then next year, you could try Linseed & Brewers Yeast, plus apparently Clivers (the sticky stuff in hedgerows) is v. good for sweet itches, and cover her up with a sweet itch hoody, but you need to start EARLY, i.e. Mid-February onwards - I usually take stock during the half term and see if there's any midges about.

The best time to buy fly rugs/sweet itch hoody's is in the autumn sales; incredibly, you can't get hold of one for love or money in the sweet itch season - just when you need one! So have a look at the on-line sales coz you'll save yourself some dosh.
 
we used to have a sweet itcher. The only thing that worked was a boett rug on all the time the temperature was over 12 deg C. None of the additives made any difference. Watch the weather forecast for the temperatures - even Feb can have some warm days. It is also worth trying the pony in a windier field, if you have access to one, where there will be fewer midges.
 
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