Sweetitch

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maxweg

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The age old problem of sweetitch!. I just would like some thoughts from others who have been in this situations.

I have a mare who I have owned since a foal, she is now 9yrs. she developed sweeitch as a yearling and since then I have TRIED to manage this horrible condition.

I watch her suffer year after year, she has never really been rideable as so itchy its uncomfortable for her
Please before any suggestions I have tried, lotions and potions, supplements, trial injections and now capsules. she wears her boett from Feb to Nov .
I love this mare dearly and want the best for her.
Has anyone else been in this similar situation where it has been so bad that they have had to call it a day?
My vet is of the opinion that we have done everything
 
My gelding came to me with severe sweetitch and was prescribed steriods to control thr condition.
Over the years ive managed to control it by-
1. Having his bug rug on from feb to october 24/7
2. Keeping his mane and tail clean
3. Applying fly spray to legs and tummy

Seems like your horse has an extreme reaction to flies and i can understand how distressing it is to see them that bad.
 
thanks, we have tried steriods ,not a huge difference and the side effects out weight the benefits. its very difficult to maintain her weight so we run the risk of laminitis, I cant keep a grazing mask on as she can either get it off or tr rubs her face, cant stable her as she will rub herself raw and a small paddock is not an option. I have tried various yards due our jobs we have relocated several times from the sth of England to scotland.
sorry to moan but quite nice to off load as I find it very upsetting to see her like this with no real possibility of improvement and I am so close to having her PTS
 
Apologies if you've tried it already but just a suggestion. I've found Global Herbs Skratch Plus to be absolutely fantastic! (All the other supplements, lotions etc didn't seem to make any difference). Apparently it works on the immune system to stop the reaction. I must say, I'm usually quite skeptical about herbal stuff but I was really pleased that I gave this a go. Wouldn't be without it now and have my little Sec A on it from Feb to Nov.

Good luck with your mare.
 
I bought a young horse cheap directly from his breeder because he had sweetich. I eliminated as much sugar from his diet as possible ie. minimal grass, soaked hay, no processed feeds (pony nuts/mix), chaff. I had a forage/grass analysis done by www.forageplus.com and feed minerals according to their feed plan, mixed with Fast Fibre and micronised linseed.

He no longer has any sign of sweetitch at all, and I know there are others on this forum who have had the same success with eliminating sweetitch by diet change.
 
I agree with the above ^^
Sugar in the diet is something i have never considered but since having mine on a low sugar diet for lami, he is hardly bothered by flies and we now have a flowing mane and tail,
Where are the worst effected areas? ie mane, tail or body? Sweetitch should be a manageable condition, yours does sound very severe though.
 
Sweet Itch is a horrible condition, if it can be managed well I assume it is not so bad, but the thought of being so terribly itchy gives me the heebie jeebies. I have known of several ponies who have been PTS when the condition became unmanageable/unacceptably bad. I understand that with age the condition worsens generally.

If you do decide to have her PTS, certainly, I will think no ill of you. Awful decision to have to make though. Thinking of you.
 
Thanks everyone!

hate to be a defeatist but tried all suggestions! global herbs for a yr no difference and very difficult to disguise in her feed.
no hard food at all this yr apart from carrots(yes I know they have sugars), brewers yeast and blue chip for laminitics so a sugar lite diet.

my vet is as frustrated as I am as we have done everything possible and she is of the opinion that her quality of life isn't great but soooo hard! as I love her to bits but my trusted vet said its something that only I can decide
 
Sorry Blackvelvet, should of said mane and tail pretty much intact, its the inside of her legs near her udder that are mainly effected, she can actually bite the skin leaving open wounds which need treating.

Dont get me wrong there can be crusting on her mane but usually not too bad. I have had an udder cover fitted to her boett but as the sweetitch centre said as soon as they are bitten it causes this allergic reaction so the itching can appear anywhere.

It just so happens that her udder area is so sensitive and she sits in the field like a dog and rubs her udder and inside her legs until they are raw or she bites bits of skin from the inside of her legs.
so probably as extreme as you can get and yes it does get worse as they get older
 
Ouch! Poor her :(
I tried suppliments and didnt find they made any difference with mine at all unless i double dosed. Have you tried magnesium?
Must be something you can do for her, i know it is distressing to see them in such a state though.
 
I loaned a horse that had sweetitch so bad he rubbed himself raw in the summer and nothing seemed to work!!!

Thee owner finally gave a lotion called Kill Itch a go and although expensive (30 pounds a bottle) it has done an amazing job and is worth every penny!
He has to have it applied morning and night and if you miss one application he will itch but if applied regulary it really does work!

Hope you find a solution
 
Um, where do you keep your mare OP??

Coz that can have a huge impact.

The best sort of field for a horse with SI would be as high up as possible and away from trees, muck heaps and stagnant water. If your field is near common land or woodlands this seems to attract midges too.

So it might be that you need to look at this???? The classic advice for a SI is to "stable between dawn & dusk" but you say you are not able to stable her.

A drastic solution perhaps: but maybe there is someone who can give her a field on high ground (or even better near the coast if possible, near sea breezes)???? It may be you have to loan her out initially, but it might be worth trying. Sorry can't be more hopeful. Appreciate that you might not be in a position to change her field/grazing situation.

Feel for you. Am sure you'll make the best decision for her.
 
Killitch is simply benzylbenzoate, which can be bought on line and lot cheaper than Killitch! Benzyl is just about the most effective, but I am sure you must have tried this. My mare gets it round her udder, but I use the itch salve from Nettex which is very effective as a repelllent/healer/soother.

However, there is a new fly spray on the market called Tri-tec 14 which I have just started using and it seems amazingly effective. You have to soak them in it and then re-apply every 3-4 days for a couple of weeks and then only once a week after that. It's been used in the USA and Europe for years, but has only just been licensed for use in this country. The only worry is that you probably shouldn't apply it to broken skin, but if you smother the raw bits in Sudocreme until they heal it might work.

Sweet Itch is the most distressing and frustrating condition.
 
So sorry to hear about your mare. It's a b***r when you feel like you are running out ways to help them.

Someone has already mentioned having your hay/grass tested by Forageplus and seeing whether the minerals need balancing differently. I haven't any experience of using that with a sweetitch pony, but I've only recently started using Forageplus, and I've been astonished by how different the levels of minerals are in their balancer compared to a lot of others on the market.

For me, most other balancers provide things I definitely don't need (like manganese and iron, already too high in my forage), and don't provide enough of things I do need (like copper, zinc and selenium). I found that Forageplus's balancer most closely met my needs, without having to mix minerals myself (although you can do that).

So before you give up, I'd definitely think it was worth a go down that route. Their balancing recommendations are based on National Research Council recommendations, so good scientific backing to it.

WIll have to see whether my sweet itch mare improves on their balancer, tho fortunately she seems comfortable at the moment as long as she wears her boett 24/7 from Valentine's Day to Bonfire Night.

Hope you find something that helps.

Sarah
 
I share your agony, I've been dealing with my youngster's sweetitch and banging my head against a wall. I've tried everything I can get hold of, nothing has stopped her yet, although some have eased the symptoms.....until now, I'm using KILLITCH, containing Benzyl Benzoate, which I didn't want to resort to, but I have to say, she's out, in the midges, no rug and has a full untouched tail and mane as I speak. I can hardly believe it, but so far so good. Been using it for 3 weeks so far, so its early days, but she has post and rail fencing and the midges are about, so if they were biting, she'd be rubbing.

If you haven't tried it, do, and it wasn't as expensive as another poster said, it was about £17.

Good luck, do let us know how you get on.
 
Tonight's observation of my youngster. I haven't put Killitch on her for about 3 days, and today she was out and it was sunny, midges buzzing everywhere. I was mucking out and she ran in to the yard, pushed me out of the way and got in her stable and started rubbing herself. I caught her, doused her in Killitch and put her fly rug on. Put her back in her stable and she just immediately relaxed, dropped her head as if to say "thank you". It was an immediate and dramatic change in behaviour, so I'm really hopeful that this stuff is going to be my problem solver.
 
I wonder if it isn't sweet itch... You could have been me two years ago. It's soul destroying watching them.

My girly actually has pemphigus - an autoimmune disease. Have a look for my threads though I'm not sure my "sweet itch" photos are there.

Global herbs Skratch Plus fed in a marmite sandwich has really helped us - though tumeric seems to be having a similar effect. I also use cotton combo sheets instead of fly rugs as they protect from uv and rip less easily.

I came close several times to having her PTS - it's not an easy choice to make but sometimes it's the kindest
 
Our mare suffers from moderate sweet itch, we give her a good blob of marmite in her morning feed. has to be done early in the season or seams not too work quite as well. Brought Benzyl from the chemist before used marmite. Slightly random i know :) Hope you find something that works for yours.
 
Thanks everyone for the messages and suggestions.
Again I am being a defeatist! everything suggested has been tried , we live very close to the beach, dry grazing no trees, plastered her in benyzl benzoate for the last few yrs , with no difference, fed supplements, we did a trial for hilton herbs and this didnt work either lots of advice from sweetitch centre who are always very helpful but nothing working.
like everyone we have had a lot of rain so she isnt too bad at the mo but dreading the hot weather.
was interested to read a suggestion that it might not be sweetich but an auto immune condition, any more info on that greatly appreciated
 
Hi Maxweg - I share your pain - 365 days a year Boett Rug with udder protection and Camrosa on other areas that get bitten. It's a pain as you have to put on weekly then once a week wash with special shampoo, let dry and reapply. My mare was fine until 18 months old when I moved to England with her. She's 19 now and I have been close to PTS at times, crying when I saw her distress and have tried everything on the market.
I thought sweet-itch was an autoimmune 'disease' rather than 'just' an allergy but could be wrong.

Just wanted to add, that she's ok with the above treatment and lives out 24/7!
 
It is an immune problem in that a bite on the nose can cause an itchy bum so the reaction is systemic (body wide). However an autoimmune problem is where the body attacks it's self - in the case of my pony, she reacts to something, and she rejects her skin. Vaccinations are our trigger I think. She then loses skin and hair and swells up in various places (mostly joints, which presents as lameness. However this is her winter reaction. When she was vaccinated in march, she would develop uncontrollable sweet itch. She wouldn't eat because she couldn't stand still, she cut her legs and face open rubbing. She was rugged religiously from beginning feb - endnovember - even when working she was rugged. She had lotions and potions and all sorts - to no avail. sorry some pics might be a bit gross
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This was a day that I phoned to discuss PTS - she was utterly miserable.
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I got to the point where i made her trousers so protect her legs!
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Then I moved her vaccinations from march to October... And had a horrendous winter and minimal problems last summer (vaccs aren't the trigger for all horses each one is different).
 
So January she started to swell
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Vet thought it was heart failure, took bloods. Bloods identified severe allergic reaction. Swelling grew and grew - she couldnt put her head down to graze or walk about. Started her on prednisolone (make sure you used this or dexethasone - not prednisone as its nt absorbed well by horses but some vets still prescribe it). She was much happier in 48hours. Her hair fell out all over, coming up in hives and listening and then falling off.

We had all the tests you could imagine ending in 12 plug biopsies which finally diagnosed pemphigus foliaceus and pemphigus erythematosus. I have got a thread called pemphigus with pics in it but can't get photobucket to work ATM.

So to manage this, I stripped diet right back to hay only (no hard feeds or supplements or grass - had to anyway to minimise lami risk in steroids). I then rebuilt diet gradually. She does not tolerate mollases or moglo, alfalfa, garlic and grass. So she has turnout on a bare field with hay, in her bucket she has halleys chop (plain chop no oil mollases garlic etc!) with 200gm micronised linseed (100gm per 100kg vodyweight), 20-30 gm tumeric, 10gm magnesium, 2gm copper and 4gm zinc. She also has 20hm brewers yeast.

She is in on very sunny days as sunshine makes her skin worse and turned out at night. She has a thick cotton sheet with a snug hood on her face. She is also reactive to metal in headcollars in summer too so anther reason to have snuggy hood on face for us.

Hope this helps
 
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