Very itchy Horse

RoobyDoobs

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Hello everybody, I'm new to the forum and hoping for some new ideas. I bought a gorgeous red and white coloured ID boy back in July this year, who at the time had a very itchy bottom. The lady that owned him had bathed him with an insecticidal shampoo which had made his pink skin round his back end very sore. To be safe, two days before she delivered him to me she wormed him with an ivermectin wormer because he was not getting any better and thinking his problem might also be pinworm. When he arrived at my yard, he still had a very itchy bottom, and my yard owner insisted he was wormed again... my vet said ok, and again we wormed him with another ivermectin wormer. He was then turned out. Since I've had him, his bum has never stopped itching.... I have tried everything.... creams, lotions, potions, and he has just finished a five day course of wormer that will do the back end of his gut (he was tested by intelligent worming and has no worm burden, but they cannot test for incisted (?) red worm and pinworm... so treating for that as a precaution). Oh boy he is still very itchy.... two gates and numerous fences later, he now cannot itch himself on anything in his paddock as it is all secured with electric tape (not attached to anything but it is enough to keep him away from gates and fences), but as soon as I bring him in he just wants to scratch his bum until his skin bleeds. These days as soon as he sees me walk towards his stable with a bucket he turns round and puts his tail in the air ready for me to wash him.... Any ideas anyone??? HELP!!!!! Ive just started putting a copper additive into his feed to see if that helps (an idea from a Your Horse Live stall).

I have gone down the lice route too, but used the powder so think will try the frontline option next (recommended on another thread). I'll need lots of it tho - he's a big boy! Have also put a call in to my vet... I did mention it too him when he came out in october to do his vaccinations, but he dismissed it as mild sweet itch. I didnt agree (he looked at his mane where there is a little bit missing and said he'd been itching it - actually he was a driving horse and the patch was where the gear to pull the carriage sat on him) but he was adamant and moved on. :(

I have also wondered if he as been too hot, but since about Friday last week he has been out without any rugs as his clip was almost grown back and he did feel warm. He had a full clip mid October and it made no difference. I feel really bad that hes out without a rug in the rain, but he has a fab thick coat now and doesnt feel cold to the touch, so I guess he's ok!

Still the first thing he wants to do is itch as soon as he comes into his stable to be fed and checked over. It's driving us both crazy!

Any comments / ideas would be so very welcome!!!
 

catherine22

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My mare was (and is) really itchy, was difficult to get the vet to realise anything was wrong as there were no scabs or bleeding but that is because her whole field is electric fenced so physically there is no where for her to itch she looked perfectly 'normal.' we tried all sorts of blood tests and feed tests, lotions and potions, but even when she was on only grass (she lives out 24/7) she was still itchy. Rather than allergy testing her (as the only thing she could be allergic to is grass) we have been giving her steroids (prednosdolene sp.) and she has stopped, when we stop them it starts again so it's been put down to an allergy to 'something' but as she is 20+ and retired we are just treating the symptoms rather than the cause
 

be positive

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I have used Global Herbs Restore or NAF Detox for itchy horses that seem to be itching for no obvious reason, it is unlikely to do any harm and it works fairly quickly.
 

RoobyDoobs

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Hi, and thanks for the replies. Be Positive..... I had thoughts along a similar line, and I have just spoken with an equine dietician. She has advised to change his feed to a total feed with anti-oxidants which she thinks will help. Fingers crossed! Thanks again.
 

iconique

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Sorry but my first thought is still pinworm (we have had huge problems getting rid of them and it isn't as easy as people say) and there is a very easy simple and i believe cheap selotape test that either your vet can do or you can send off to westgate.

If it is a reaction to something then you need to clean everything including brushes and rugs, disinfect his stable and then look at his feed, some horses react to sugars for example. Marmite or brewers yeast are commonly used for itchy horses, but they take time to take effect.

I've found neem oil or tea tree effective but it may be that he's now so sore and has no natural protection left in this area - so I'd avoid putting anything on for a few weeks to see if its being set off by scrubbing and lotions.

Good luck!
 

RoobyDoobs

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Sorry but my first thought is still pinworm (we have had huge problems getting rid of them and it isn't as easy as people say) and there is a very easy simple and i believe cheap selotape test that either your vet can do or you can send off to westgate.

Good luck!

Hi Iconique, thats really interesting.... I didnt know about the sellotape test... When you say 'send to Westgate', do they have a website I can look at and get details of how to send the sample? I would definitely like to try that and be 100% sure that we either have, or do not have, a pinworm issue! Look forward to hearing from you!
 

iconique

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I remember a recent post on here and the person was from a lab, not sure if it was westgate or Abbey - however here's a link and they are apparently doing thme for free! http://www.abbeydiagnostics.co.uk/pricelist.htm

As you can guess I'm feeling a little fragile about pin worms as we could not get rid of them and it was purely by chance i found a worm, which led us to this test to see how many were infected - all normal types of count were clear!

Our vet did the test but it was very simple, strip of selotape, pad round the anus, place on slide, count under mircroscope - assuming you have a good sample then they should see them.

This led to a very intensive period of worming, cleaning, putting in place seperate grooming kits and creosoting everything to make sure we did this once. We also painted something under the tail (vet gave it to us) for a couple of weeks. He also gave us a copy of a recent research paper (not sure if published yet) which took a number of horses and different treatments, with what we did as the sucessful treatment outcome from the research - if you are interested pm me your email address and when i find it I'll scan it for you)
 

ILuvCowparsely

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i am getting vet up next week to do a skin test on my donkey , who for the third year running was itchy, took her rug off she has loads dry crusty scabs
bathed her tonight in absorbene lice shampoo. Cant believe the amount of scab areas there are again :(
 

RoobyDoobs

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Iconique, thats absolutely brilliant, thankyou! I spoke with a chap at Abbey Diagnostics this morning and is emailing me instructions so that we can do the test. Hopefully that will give me a definite yes or no. He did also say that the 5 day Panacur treatment that my boy has had is normally very effective against Pinworm, but it may be that the pinworm is gone, and his continual rubbing has left him with an infection! Blimey.... will it ever end!?!?!?!

Leviathan.... I hope your donk's ok.... I love donkeys :)
 
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