Has anyone tried the sweet itch vaccine ?

[Mareish]

Only heard a little about a new vaccine for sweet itch sufferers this week so thought I would ask if anyone has any good info on it or better still has anyone tried it ?

[Kanuma]

It is still in its trial stages and isnt available to the general public. stan was on the trial and whilst his sweetitch didnt go away completely it did improve alot and i know a few people whos horses appear cured. stan is on this years trials as well
go here to find out more
http://www.sweet-itch.co.uk/

[varkie]

It is still in trial stages, but it IS available to the public now - but for a price. I'm dithering at the moment about whether to give it a go or not.

[teabiscuit]

kanuma where abouts in N.Wales are you? i'm on Anglesey and i'm sure i know someone who knows someone who's trailing the sweet itch vaccine ???

[Kanuma]

teabiscuit im in between llanelian and colwynbay.

Varkie the vaccine is available to a limited amount of people and there has been a very high demand, so if you are going for it then you need to phone them by the end of this week as the first injection is given in early feb and they have a limitged amount of places. I signed up for it in on the 3rd of Jan.

[teabiscuit]

ooh not far then - let us know if the vaccine works, sweet itch is a real pain in the backside :(

[Kanuma]

it seemed to help last year, stan made it through the season with only some relatively minor (for him) scratching and that was without any lotions or his boette

[fitz]

How can you vaccinate against an allergy???

Werner had an injection last May I'm pretty sure it was the corto-steroid injection, and he didnt start to itch until August and it was pretty mild. He had no side effects, but I believe a lot of people are reluctant to use it.

I'm interested in this new injection...

[Kanuma]

i believe it works along the lines of desensitiseing the immune system to the bite so that they dont get the large recation to the bite.
it is not a steroid in any way or manner as i compete my pony and it is safe under the dopeing rules, steroids arnt. It is a course of 3 injections and 7 edible tablets for the horse to take and is supposed to completely remove the allergic reaction. they have a similar thing for people with severe allergies

[fitz]

i believe it works along the lines of desensitiseing the immune system to the bite so that they dont get the large recation to the bite.
it is not a steroid in any way or manner as i compete my pony and it is safe under the dopeing rules, steroids arnt.

I never thought of the doping rules, thought people didnt use it cos it supposedly makes animals more susceptible to laminitis. Gosh I'm a dope (pardon pun). Its a good job I dont compete him (or havent yet)

[Mareish]

Interesting - many thanks :)

[augermoon]

I did consider it this year, as heard about it a few weeks ago via the Sweet Itch newsletter. Have decided not to go ahead as having looked carefully at the results, I have decided they are not yet conclusive enough for me to go with it. At a cost of £235 for the vaccs plus 3 separate vet visits for the vet to administer the injections, I feel it is just too costly for only a 50% success rate. But they are hopeful that this year's trials will give them more info and up the success rate even more so hopefully next year or the year after, it might well be a viable alternative to the boett. Fingers crossed :D

[Kanuma]

i decided to go for it, because even with a boette on we normaly spend £500 a year on stans lotions. when he was on the trial last year, he needed his boette towards the end of the year, but was fine at the begining, we spent less then £180 so we are going to give it a try again this year! luckily we live very close to the sweetitch center so we go to them and not the vet and it wont cost us as much because we were on the trials last year.
i think we are getting this year for £160

[augermoon]

Would be great if you could let us know how it goes again this year Kanuma. Would really love not to have to use Arnie's Boett so have everything crossed that they get the results they need. I agree, living near the centre makes a big difference - Id be paying £50 per time just to have the vet out to administer the flippin injection :(

[Kanuma]

for us its a 30 min trip to the center, stans a good traveler, will stand for hours in a trailer. the car is very efficient, so it probably costs abot £20 a trip includeing snacks for mum whilst we are hanging round waiting for the vet to do the other horses! mum being her own boss helps as well. but now that mum has been ill a friend of mine has agreed to take him down untill mum is well enough!
Id love to be able to not use his boette at all as his annoyes him behind his ears so he rubs a chunk out there simply because something is sitting there!
your vet sounds very expensive! ours said he would come out and do it for the standard call out charge of £35 and if we took him to the vet for £15. but as the vet would take almost the same amount of time to get to we decided with the center.
stan also looks much better after a little bit of sun bleaching!

[augermoon]

mmmm, my vet is expensive :(

[Anna**]

I consider it too but decided the same as you augermoon looking at the results versus expense but fingers crossed for the trial this year. Kanuma and anyone else on the trial this year please keep us fully informed on how you're getting on.