sweet itch

[charliejonny]

:mad: Our mare has got these bald patches all over her body,on her tummy front legs,chest and neck by her main,shes been rubbing her tail the last few weeks,we have tried treating everything inc lice,mites etc.Our vet now thinks its a form of sweet itch which does make sence,iv been on the net and found some really good sites which adv horses can develop bald patches over most of there body.
I was wondering if anybody had any good adv on shampoos and creams as theres so much out there for sweet itch.:D

[abbiegirl]

hi there
i have trouble with sweet ich with my filly
I have sectioned her off from anything she can rub on with the electric fencing and use coopers sweet ich lotion on her (its expensive so i am going to try and make my own fly repelent recomended on another thread;) ). i also give her a scoop of garlic in her feed. i have heard marmite sandwiches are good to relieve the itching so am going to try that too (aparently its the yeast in it that relieves the itch:D )
will let you know if that works;)

[Palomino Mare]

hi there, sorry about the sweetitch, its a really crumby thing to deal with but once you get into a routine your fine!

i give my pony 1 scoop/day naf d-itch all year and bump the dosage up to 3scoops during the summer.
she has a rambo sweet-itch hoodie (alot of people reccomend the boett so i would do a search on here to find the pros and cons)
i stable her at night or when teh flies are at their worst
i use teatree shampoo to clean the saliva off her skin and to soothe it (i do this whenever her tail looks very scratched)

some people hang garlic outside theri horses stable so you could try this for when she is in to warn the critters off!!

amz x

[notpoodle]

get her a suitable rug asap. not just any old flyrug (they dont cover bellies, their neckpieces are too short etc) but soemthing like the rambo sweet itch hoody or a boett. they're expensive but unless you want a blood-encrusted itchy pony by the end of the summer ....

[puzzles]

thre Boet blanket is worth every penny, the very best and most suitable fopr sweet itch.
also killitch lotion - i swear by it.

good luck hun
xx

[charliejonny]

Hi thanks everyone we were given coopers lotion of the vet but its so expensive,a few people have said killitch is gr8 so ill give that ago,also shampoos with tea tree in it also gets the thumbs up.
What would you use to help her hair grow back as at the mo she has loads of little bold patches over her tummy.:D

[notpoodle]

i found Aromaheel by aromesse (http://www.aromesse.com ) very useful for little bold patches :)

i'd still say get her a suitable rug asap. it may seem like a big expense, but if you go down the eg killitch route, you'll probably spend more than you'd spend on a rug over the summer :o (because you always need a lot more than they tell you on the bottle .... i have tried a variety of lotions and potions)

Julia
x

ps: forgot to say ... about tea tree shampoo. there seems to be two schools of thought on this:

1. very good as soothing, refreshing and flyrepelling

2. not good for sweet itch because it really dries out the skin and since the skin is already taking a bashing from the itching, tea tree is too aggressive for it.

personally, i'm with school nr 2 and only use eg baby shampoo and really mild stuff to wash my pony, but i think both schools of thoughts have very valid points!

[martini55]

Get a good rug. You can spend all the money in the world on lotions and potions but you will still get those determined little buggers that still bite. The only way to stop the bald patches and give the existing ones a chance to heal is to rug her up! This is really the only way to stop the midges from biting and the sooner you get one, the worse it is likely to get and the more comfortable your pony will be.

[charliejonny]

Im looking for a good rug as we speak but when shes stabled at night would you keep her rugged up or just drench her in fly rep?
I have heard you can get a thin mesh sheet that goes over the stable door so you dont have to shut the door on these nice nights but where can you buy them from?

[Nik-n-Kia]

i totally agree with the kill itch lotion!!! I even dilute it with t-tree oils and citronella and water and use it as a fly spray!!!

Oh and By the way!!!!! benzyl Benzoate from the chemist is a hell of a lot cheaper and the same product!!!!

shhhhhhhhh.....................;)

here is a piccy of Kia in his rug!!!

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p120/Nik-n-Kia/Lookitme.jpg

Cute huh????

Nikki xxxxx

[martini55]

Im looking for a good rug as we speak but when shes stabled at night would you keep her rugged up or just drench her in fly rep?
I have heard you can get a thin mesh sheet that goes over the stable door so you dont have to shut the door on these nice nights but where can you buy them from?

I'd do both, keep her fly rug on and put some fly repellent on too :)

[toohorsemad]

I have benzyl benzoate but I dont know how often to put it on!!!