What shampoo do you use for sweet itch?

My horse gets sweetitch and also used to have a very scurfy coat so bought from chemist a strong dandruff shampoo called Nirozal (vet recommendation) about £10.00 a bottle and that stripped out the scurf and then I use a product called Beezlebug/Bug wash which you can use as a wash / spray etc and for the first time for years he is out without a rug !! You need the concentrate as that seems to work best - it absolutely stinks but does the job ...
 
Dead Sea Magic. It's a human shampoo available from health stores. Very gentle and soothing - good for animals that may also be allergic to ingredients in some shampoos.
 
Thanks for the replies. He will definitely still be rugged and managed appropriately, but I know that some shampoos are very helpful in keeping them comfortable so I thought I would try a new one. Will have a look at your suggestions.
 
My old boy suffered realtively mild sweet itch but still enough for it to be a problem. I tried all sorts of very expensive products but my vet recommended a bath at least twice a week in Head and Shoulders and a twice daily application of a home made potion of 50% calamine lotion, 40% benzyl benzoate and 10% meths. This all worked as well as, if not better than, all of the off the shelf products and costs a fraction of the price. This was in the days before Boett blankets etc and it kept him pretty comfortable.
 
Hi, for the first time this year I've managed to leave my mini unrugged during the day - he suffers badly and we are in a very high risk area ( valley with woods, bogs and river running through ). I've had real success with Biteback Sweet Relief cream and I wash his mane & tail weekly with neem shampoo from Pro Equine - it does stink but as he's doing so well now I'm not changing a thing!
 
I've "cured" a 13yr old who has had chronic sweetitch from being a youngster. Hes gone from being rugged 24/7, smoothered in kill itch and sudocreme, being bathed every 3 days or so and still having bleeding sores on his mid line and scaly lesions all over his face etc as well as being dangerous to handle due to how itchy he was :( to being turned out 24/7 with no rugs and just putting diluted benzyl benzoate on once or twice a week and not itchy at all:) I dont want to type it all out if your not interested though!
 
I use this:

http://www.cleanround.co.uk/product/horse-shampoo-body-wash/

It isn't specifically for SI and I don't use it as any kind of 'cure' but it doesn't dry the skin out when washing which is so important. Whenever I bathed my SI pony he would itch even worse after because his skin dried out, but this seems to just clean him without causing any irritation.

Its almost £50 for 5ltrs but my local tack shop does it for £18!
 
Apercrumbie said:
Basically as title. Would love to hear what people have had success with.
Click to expand...

Topical applications are all very well but I have had excellent results with feeding garlic. 7 years ago I bought an elderly mare when she retired from the riding school where my other horse is at livery. She had been, as they say, a "martyr" to sweet itch all of her life. I bought her in the winter and immediately put her on Lincoln 100% garlic powder at the dosage recommended by the manufacturers. I did it because my other horse had garlic to back up his wormer and keep of flies and did well on it. As summer went on I kept inspecting her mane area for signs of sweet itch which never appeared. I carried on with the garlic and the next summer - no sweet itch. At that point a friend was looking for a companion for her horse so I lent her my mare for the duration. My friend discontinued the garlic and the sweet itch came back with a vengeance!

Garlic is well known as a fly deterrent which is why I gave it to my first horse (and it's good for all sorts of other things too). There has been some suggestion that ingestion of garlic can cause haemolytic anaemia in horses. However, the report on the research pointed out that the anaemia did not begin to show until the horses in the study had been fed 750 grs of garlic a day!!! Given that the dose recommended by the manufacturers of the powder is a 5ml teaspoonful a day I don't think we need to be /too/ influenced by this!
 
FrankieCob said:
I've "cured" a 13yr old who has had chronic sweetitch from being a youngster. Hes gone from being rugged 24/7, smoothered in kill itch and sudocreme, being bathed every 3 days or so and still having bleeding sores on his mid line and scaly lesions all over his face etc as well as being dangerous to handle due to how itchy he was :( to being turned out 24/7 with no rugs and just putting diluted benzyl benzoate on once or twice a week and not itchy at all:) I dont want to type it all out if your not interested though!
Click to expand...
Topical application of benzyl benzoate is often recommended and is excellent for treating sweet itch and similar conditions.
 
FrankieCob said:
I've "cured" a 13yr old who has had chronic sweetitch from being a youngster. Hes gone from being rugged 24/7, smoothered in kill itch and sudocreme, being bathed every 3 days or so and still having bleeding sores on his mid line and scaly lesions all over his face etc as well as being dangerous to handle due to how itchy he was :( to being turned out 24/7 with no rugs and just putting diluted benzyl benzoate on once or twice a week and not itchy at all:) I dont want to type it all out if your not interested though!
Click to expand...

I think it would be very interesting for all of us with sweet itch sufferers to read what you have done to help your horse , so please do share :)
 
Ellen Durow said:
Topical applications are all very well but I have had excellent results with feeding garlic. 7 years ago I bought an elderly mare when she retired from the riding school where my other horse is at livery. She had been, as they say, a "martyr" to sweet itch all of her life. I bought her in the winter and immediately put her on Lincoln 100% garlic powder at the dosage recommended by the manufacturers. I did it because my other horse had garlic to back up his wormer and keep of flies and did well on it. As summer went on I kept inspecting her mane area for signs of sweet itch which never appeared. I carried on with the garlic and the next summer - no sweet itch. At that point a friend was looking for a companion for her horse so I lent her my mare for the duration. My friend discontinued the garlic and the sweet itch came back with a vengeance!

Garlic is well known as a fly deterrent which is why I gave it to my first horse (and it's good for all sorts of other things too). There has been some suggestion that ingestion of garlic can cause haemolytic anaemia in horses. However, the report on the research pointed out that the anaemia did not begin to show until the horses in the study had been fed 750 grs of garlic a day!!! Given that the dose recommended by the manufacturers of the powder is a 5ml teaspoonful a day I don't think we need to be /too/ influenced by this!
Click to expand...

A change in location could be an important factor here too...My cobs sweet itch was dramatically helped by moving locations and my pony's 'sweet itch' almost cured by restricting access to grass and covering during times of high pollen.
 
FrankieCob said:
I've "cured" a 13yr old who has had chronic sweetitch from being a youngster. Hes gone from being rugged 24/7, smoothered in kill itch and sudocreme, being bathed every 3 days or so and still having bleeding sores on his mid line and scaly lesions all over his face etc as well as being dangerous to handle due to how itchy he was :( to being turned out 24/7 with no rugs and just putting diluted benzyl benzoate on once or twice a week and not itchy at all:) I dont want to type it all out if your not interested though!
Click to expand...

FrankieCob I am most definitely interested! Have sent you a PM too.
 
Bog-standard Tea Tree Shampoo: supermarket own-brand. Cheap & cheerful. I use it for the dogs too........ and myself!

Umm, re. feeding garlic. Without wishing to question anyone's management, or their expertise, I was told by my vet to NOT feed garlic: the reason given was that garlic can stimulate the immune system - and as sweet itch is basically a condition where the immune system is already in overdrive, you might not want to do that!!!

But not criticising anyone who does this so please don't take me out to crucify me on this one!!!
 
Last edited:
I didnt see a notification for a PM, but I'll reply here anyway :)

I changed his field and got him off loads of clover and rye grass. Instead of AlfaA and a cheap joint supplement, he gets fast fibre, a mineral balancer, an extra 40gms of salt, about 75gms of brewers yeast, 100gms linseed. He also gets mag chloride but thats mainly for his feet :)

I dilute benzyl with Avon Skin So Soft, any oil would do I think. I put that on if he ever looks scurfy, which he does occasionally. Probably once, maybe twice a week.

He gone from being a chronic sweet itch sufferer for 13yrs to being almost completely normal. Hes out 24/7, no rugs needed and is no longer dangerous hurling himself about trying to itch. Used to break my heart watching him rub till he was sore and bleeding :( It took about 6 weeks on his new diet for me to feel happy turning him out naked, and I built up to it in stages just in case. But hes been out full time for 6 weeks or more now and no recurrence :)
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Bog-standard Tea Tree Shampoo: supermarket own-brand. Cheap & cheerful. I use it for the dogs too........ and myself!

Umm, re. feeding garlic. Without wishing to question anyone's management, or their expertise, I was told by my vet to NOT feed garlic: the reason given was that garlic can stimulate the immune system - and as sweet itch is basically a condition where the immune system is already in overdrive, you might not want to do that!!!

But not criticising anyone who does this so please don't take me out to crucify me on this one!!!
Click to expand...
A rather belated reply - I've been out of action, sorry.

It's horses for courses if you'll forgive the obvious. We do what works for us. I had been advised by two vets that garlic was a good fly and midge deterrent and it works for me. If your vet says no then do as he says.

I can only offer you advice. I cannot (and wouldn't wish to) force you to do it. The down side to the garlic is that those pesky midges and horse flies ignore the horse and bite ME!!

I hope things are better for you and your horse next summer.
 
_HP_ said:
A change in location could be an important factor here too...My cobs sweet itch was dramatically helped by moving locations and my pony's 'sweet itch' almost cured by restricting access to grass and covering during times of high pollen.
Click to expand...
Well, no. She only moved 2 stables down the block! As I said, she had been on the riding school where my other horse was at livery and she remained on the same yard.

True sweet itch or SSRD is an allergic reaction to the bite of the Culicoides midge, not to exposure to pollen as someone suggested. The midges are deterred from biting by the smell of garlic as are other biting insects such as horse flies. Prevention is better than cure - topical creams and shampoos deal with the problem when it's there. Feeding garlic stops the biting in the first place.

As I said earlier, garlic was recommended to me by 2 separate vets from different practices. I also did some research into independent tests done on horses and could find no contra-indications at the level recommended by the manufacturer of the product I was using.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top