the doom of sweetitch is soon to return

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littleladylou

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what have you found effective in the past? I got my pony during the summer when he was already suffering so I couldn't do much more than soothe him with aloe Vera and baths in sweetitch shampoo. I would like to combat it early this year, his coat/mane/tail and face hair has grown back and he looks lovely it would be nice to keep him handsome and without discomfort. He always wears his sweetitch rug but I wondered what oils/homeopathic remedies you guys have tried?
 
The thing witih Sweet Itch is that you can never, actually, relax, at any time of the year, unfortunately.

Like at the moment where we've got temperatures of 11 - 12 degrees here, which is the optimum time for the dreaded cullicoides midge to appear!!! Oh joy.

What I do with mine is basically always - whatever time of year - have a sweet itch hoody ready and waiting to slap on just in case; OR a Snuggy Hoods hoody thing.

I feed: one scoop of Brewers Yeast per day (maintenance dose, will increase mid-Feb to two scoops per day), plus a drizzle of Linseed oil in his feed (once daily, again, will increase mid-Feb). A marmite sandwich and/or some beer added to the feed has the same effect! Come the sweet itch season (mid-Feb to end Oct - 'ish) I will add a tablespoon of Cider Vinegar to each feed (2X daily) plus occasionally, say every other day, a sprinkling of Seaweed.

Apparently Clivers (the sticky stuff you find in hedges) is also good for SI's so I'll be adding some to the haynet when it starts growing in the spring - you can also buy as a supplement from Global Herbs, I think.

IME you can spend a lot of money on the latest "fix"/supplement etc., and basically its just throwing good money after bad.

The best thing you can do is to keep the midges from biting in the first place, i.e. using a sweet itch hoody and/or an oil such as pig oil (please note NOT pig oil with the sulphur added as some people will recommend you to do - this can be nasty stuff and you need to be careful and patch test first if adding sulphur to it). Midges hate landing on an oily surface, and you can add Neem Oil which parasites and midges etc hate!! Any oil will do - baby oil is cheap and cheerful, but be careful if putting oil onto the coat and turning out in direct sunshine - poor horsey will fry!!!

Good luck anyway. Have a look in the archives on here, there's a lot there too.

It just might pay you to get your vet to take some bloods to find out what degree of sweet itch yours has got? i.e. mild, moderate, severe etc etc., coz then you'll have some idea of what you've got.

For spring summer riding, you can get "flyrider" rugs from Horseware (think that's where I got mine) - they're like a fly-rug basically but split so the saddle goes in the middle - best investment I ever made was to buy one for my boy, plus Premier Equine last year were doing a really nice little summer exercise sheet made of very light material which was an absolute godsend to my boy, plus my mare as although she hasn't got SI gets stressey when flies/midges are around and this product was fantastic.
 
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Boett rug from February to October (although this winter it hasn't really got cold enough to kill off any midges and they were defo around the muck heap yesterday :eek:)

Have 2 rugs so that when one is in the wash, you have another one to put on.

Contact the sweet-itch centre as the vaccination does work on some horses and they are great for advice. http://www.sweet-itch.co.uk/

Don't bother spending your money on supplements/miracle creams - they don't work apart from soothing somewhat.

Good luck!
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Sorry meant to say that the ONLY thing I've found any good is "Killitch", which is basically Benzyl Benzoate (you can buy on-line).

The rest of the gunk, as previous poster has said, you can forget about and save your money.
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totally agree with this - expensive but worth it - especially on mains and tails
 
Can I just say please please please patch test 'killitch' my boy had a horrific reaction as in throwing himself on the concrete to 'killitch'. I'm not saying it's bad at all and have seen really good results with it just be careful and patch test before you smother manes and tails in it :)
 
After 12 years I couldn't see her suffer so much, but she didn't help as she wouldn't let you put anything on her, except for the rugs and then sometimes that was a battle, so last autumn I did the kindest thing and had her pts. The winters are now so mild the midges are about so you have to rug up 24/7 12 months of the year, 1 small tear on a rug where the midges can get in,is your summer ruined.
 
I have my sweet itch hoodies at the ready!

Could someone post a link as to where the best place is to buy brewers yeast?

Mine also had a very bad reaction to benzyl benzoate and it is really difficult to find sweet itch treatment without this in it! What is the best oil to use? I need to protect his face and forelock from getting bitten but he can't put up with a full face mask
 
We just keep a bug rug clean and handy in the tack room. Works for our mare, who I noticd was scratching her mane in a very sweet itchy like stance this afternoon.
 
thanks for all of the brilliant tips. I am going to buy a sweetitch hoodie as well as his rug. thank you for the advice regarding supplements in his feed, I think I will give him the ones suggested in the first post. do you buy them from Holland and Barrett? has anyone tried the homeopathic remedies such as culicoides insides 30c or anti histamines? is there any difference between killitch and just benzyl benzoate as it is about £10-15 cheaper? I have also heard that Avon' s so soft bath stuff is good?
 
Wheels said:
I have my sweet itch hoodies at the ready!

Could someone post a link as to where the best place is to buy brewers yeast?

Mine also had a very bad reaction to benzyl benzoate and it is really difficult to find sweet itch treatment without this in it! What is the best oil to use? I need to protect his face and forelock from getting bitten but he can't put up with a full face mask
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I've bought Brewers Yeast at local branch of Mole Valley. Sorry can't help with on-line.

You could try putting Sudocrem on the face??? Keeps the flys away too!
 
Sudocreme contains Benzyl Benzoate so provided your horse isnt sensitive to that it works to soothe and keep the bugs away

I have only had my sweet itch boy since August and only had about 6 weeks of the sweet itch season with him really. the best thing I found was Neem oil, the stuff I bought was a thick paste that I thinned down with baby oil and applied to his forelock and poll, the rest of him was covered with a rambo hoodie

I also cut as much sugar out of his diet as possible which seemed to help

For this year I have a snuggy hood set and a Masta set at the ready to catch it before it causes a problem

A friend swears by an Aldi antihistimine tablet given in a marmite sandwich every day!

I will be getting some other checks done though as I am still not convinced its sweet itch
 
Blinkin tight jods - can't use sudocrem, even the small amount of benzyl it contains gives us inflamed skin and hair loss
 
littleladylou said:
what have you found effective in the past? I got my pony during the summer when he was already suffering so I couldn't do much more than soothe him with aloe Vera and baths in sweetitch shampoo. I would like to combat it early this year, his coat/mane/tail and face hair has grown back and he looks lovely it would be nice to keep him handsome and without discomfort. He always wears his sweetitch rug but I wondered what oils/homeopathic remedies you guys have tried?
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Garlic. I used to have a horse who had appalling sweetitch for years before I bought her. I fed her Lincoln 100% garlic powder everyday and she had no further problems. I find it works against all biting flies.

Start now so it has time to build up in the horse's system and then continue to feed it all year round. It has all sorts of other health benefits too - from respiratory benefits to backing up a worming programme.

Don't be panicked by the reports that garlic causes anaemia in horses. The research that "proved" this theory involved feeding huge daily amounts of garlic to the subject horses and the researchers themselves said that it didn't prove that there was any problem with normal doses in healthy horses.
 
Thats really interesting. I've been told never to feed garlic as it boosts the immune system so have purposefully avoided it ever since

Its interesting that its worked for you though, maybe I am worrying too much!

I have a huge tub of the stuff too as I give it to my chickens

Did you use it at the doseage on the tub or at a higher dosage?
 
WelshD said:
Thats really interesting. I've been told never to feed garlic as it boosts the immune system so have purposefully avoided it ever since

Its interesting that its worked for you though, maybe I am worrying too much!

I have a huge tub of the stuff too as I give it to my chickens

Did you use it at the doseage on the tub or at a higher dosage?
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Yes, it is supposed to boost the immune system but surely this is a good thing?

I follow the recommended dosage given on the pack. I've experimented with other brands but I find Lincoln works best (and it's cheaper than most!). Whilst I wouldn't give more than the recommended amount, IIRC the study found that the horses had to be fed the equivalent of 700 grammes of garlic A DAY(!!!) before serious problems arose.

By the way, The horses don't seem to get any garlicky BO so they are still "nice to be near" as the deodorant advert used to say.
 
I used global herbs super scratch last year and really noticed a major difference (once in convinced him to eat it). He also gets brewers yeast, linsead oil and cider vinegar we have also cut sugar from his diet.

He wears a snuggy bug body from feb till October/ November but it is always on standby.

As I mentioned I cant use killitch, I use wonder gel (I should have shares in the stuff in summer) and also children's excema cream.
 
My old horse i used global herbs super scratch. It made a massive differnece to him, before he couldnt be without a rug/neck cover, soon as i took it off he would just shake and shake he couldnt bear it! He would always icth himself raw But with superscracth he changed he was a different horse :), luckily he wolfed it done as he was a pig! It does have a rather strong smell about it
 
I use a Rambo sweet itch hoodie. Benzyl benzoate on mane and tail. Feed brewers yeast and use nettex itch stop cream on her face and inbetween her back legs.
 
Besides always having rugs on we have used the Bioeos capsules from http://www.sweet-itch.co.uk/ for the past two years and they really seem to be helping. The first year I wasn't totally convinced they were doing much but this last year both ponies are reacting a lot less and have stopped mutilating the parts of their bodies not covered by the rugs. I like Nettex itch-stop too.
One has brewers yeast in his food as well but the other won't eat it.
Boosting the immune system isn't a good thing because it is the immune system's overreaction causing it in the first place so we don't feed garlic.
 
Rambo Sweet Itch Hoody best thing ever it going back on her today. I feed brewers yeast i scoop twice a day and touch wood she is fine. I have a fly rider for when we ride as I dont see the point in keeping her wrapped up only to ride her in the woods naked( her not me).
Good luck
 
pigpony said:
I used global herbs super scratch last year and really noticed a major difference (once in convinced him to eat it). He also gets brewers yeast, linsead oil and cider vinegar we have also cut sugar from his diet.
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I used flyfree on a couple last year and couldn't believe the difference, lots of flies still about but not one bite. So may give Skratch a go this time round. Everything loved the flyfree apart from the greedy SI pony *brick wall*

I use Benz..... (treatment cream) and occasionally pink lotion (very occasionally). Much better last year and this year should be even better as moved onto clay grounds with a lake and hundreds of midgies.... yet not one bite, so hoping they are not the SI ones.
 
What joy :(

I'm wondering what my plan of action is this year too! Night time turnout seemed to make a difference last year. I think I might go with the brewers yeast this year!

Out of curiosity - for those who feed brewers yeast, when you you start adding it to feeds? Or do you do it year-round?
 
Brewers yeast all year round for me, as well as the super scratch, oil and cider vinegar. With mine I do think it's for fear or him not eating it when he needs it, don't want to stop then start again. He always had very dry skin in the previous winters however this year using all the supplements his skin has been a million times better, fingers crossed for a good summer!
 
Rambo sweet itch hoody is a must have and I tryed most of the lotions and potions and they didn't really help. I even tryed cavalas (sp) and not sure that helped either. I bathed my boy every day after work and with the hoody had no problems but the mule won't have a rug on and was just on supplements and she really suffered.
 
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