drug for sweet itch/mites/lice

She needs to tell her vet that statements such as that will have the side effect of losing him custom.

That's just not true!
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Sorry-not quite right, heres an extract from the Data sheet published by the makers

"Caution: DECTOMAX injectable solution has been developed specifically for use in cattle only. This product should not be used in other animal species because severe adverse reactions, including fatalities in dogs, may result. "

Basically if your vet uses an unlicensed product on your horse and your horse has an adverse reaction, your vet would be liable to legal action because he has used a drug offlicence.
Legally to even use the dectomax he should warn you of all potential complications, including death, and you should sign a disclaimer.
Yes 99.9% of horses will be fine with it but the odd one might not be and if your vet doesnt want to take that chance, hes not doing it to be vindictive or lose business! Just looking out for your interests-who knows perhaps he saw that 0.01% horse have a bad reaction.
 
Not sure how relevant this is (given the cost of the animal involved) but a few years ago I signed a disclaimer allowing my (small animal) vet to give a drug which was not passed for rabbits after we had a bunny that developed an inner ear infection after having what they call 'the sniffles'. Apparently the reason it wasn't passed though is because people generally don't bother with rabbits because they don't cost much (they just let them die :mad:!) so the necessary trials never took place. Yes I did pay €150 to treat a rabbit that cost me £7 but it was worth it to me.

Horses though are a completely different thing and I'd be quite interested to find out the reasons why this drug hasn't been passed for horses :confused:

My gelding is unbelievably rug shy (he leaves the planet if he catches a glimpse of one) I'd like to find out a bit more about this before investing a fortune in other 'treatments'. Will start making enquiries :cool:
 
hi
exactly the same as the drug in rabbit thing, basically licensing a dru has to be done individually for each species and costs a fortune, so its only done if there is a big enough market. Buckets of dectomax is sold for cattle because farmers inject it themselves as a herd treatment measure, it could never have the same market in horses so its not economical to licence it
 
The vet checked on my girly again last week.

She's fine. hasnt scratched a bit in the sweet itch areas and I'm really pleased with it.

One of the herd who usually suffers badly has been ok too. He is usually in full boett nearly all year, stabled morning and evenings etc. He has not been scratching and is not so hasty to come in again at night.

These next couple of days with the warmer weather will be a testing time though and I will be keeping a careful eye on manes and tails.

However, the dectomax has not completely deterred those small, nuisance flies that seem to get her ears and I am still spraying her forelock with Phaser to get rid of the bu..ers.
 
LinzCos said:
That is really interesting. I have just started to use Deosect on my cobs feathers and it is superb but he does get Sweetitch too so I might follow this up with my vet.

Thanks for the tip!
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Just a warning with this, used it on my cob for just over a year and worked fantastically at first but it stopped working recently, turns out mite can over come it in time, just started using dectomax thanks to peops on this site!! and works a gem with no side effects!!
 
update.

It's all been going so well.

Then, disaster.

Over one day my poor mare started to scratch the mane and tail. I was devastated.

Now, due to the bank holiday weekend, the vet couldnt come until Tuesday and poor neddy spent the weekend scratching and I spent it will fly spray and fly sheet.

Turns out, due to the excessive rain we had last week, it is rain scald! Well, I was surprised. I always thought rain scald affected the rump area mostly but apparently this is not always the case.

So yesterday I spent the afternoon with the medicated shampoo and a hose pipe and today, no more scratching.

Unfortunately, we now have to wait for the mane to grow back again.

I wonder if this has been part of her problems for years and I had never thought of questioning my initial diagnosis of it just being the dreaded sweet itch.

Lastly, the other horses are doing fine.
 
update.

One month later...

She's back in her fly rug, neck cover and face mask!!

Damn.

Underneath it all she is doing quite well. She's missing a bit of mane and has rubbed her tail. I have been shampooing her sore bits with the medicated stuff from the vet which eases the skin but I dont think this is a cure.

She is not itchy anywhere else. Does anyone with a sweet itch horsey find that they itch all over or is it very localised to the wither and tail?

I am going to ask my vet for another dose of the dectomax and see how she goes.

Typically, ALL of the other horses that have had the injection for sweetitch are doing fabulously. We have the severe case who now has a flowing mane and tail, well 2 inches of hair, and all the hairies have lovely feathers free from mites.

I do wonder that just maybe, she is a little sensitive to the heavy rain that we've been having. I also think that most of the rugs that she's had in the past have made the itching worse around her wither, poll and bottom/tail. I make sure she has time without them and have noticed that unlike some of the horses, when you remove her rugs, she doesnt immediately go for a roll or scratch her bottom/ears/neck etc.

She has always prefered the naked feel, even in snow and this is why I really think giving the dectomax another go might help.

We are also moving to dryer pasture in a couple of weeks so may find that we have less of a fly burden to deal with.

Any other experiences from you guys?
 
Well the sweet itch is now fierce. She is rugged, sprayed, with fly mask and neck cover. Stabled during the day and caked in either coopers or Lincoln spray (special price at Pets at home £5.99) D&H itch free and yeast supplement in feed.

She has broken the skin on her mane in a couple of places and I have been treating that with Sudocrem.

The vet wasn't keen on administering another dectomax earlier back in May thinking that she had suffered rain scald instead. However, I called the vet out on another matter a couple of weeks ago and he did give her another jab, next one on Wednesday.

So, the plan is to give her three courses of injection, spring, mid and late summer to keep the sweet itch at bay. Please note that he took some time to consider her age and state of general health before deciding so bear that in mind.

I have called friends to see how they were doing with the dectomax, differing opinions... some are itch free, others have had the same experience as me and are now thinking of a second dosage, and of course, some are back in the boett.

Lastly, a handy hint- for those with mites, the vet has suggested spraying the feathers with a dog flea spray and rub in well. Seems to work a treat on my friends hairy cob.

Please let me know how you are coping with sweet itch.
 
Rhi used to suffer from sweet itch but now we tend to pull mane and tail and that seems to help a little. Nothing else seemed to work except Lyclear and Surgical spirits. Mix half and half
 
If its mites I can def recomend coopers spot on... It is the only thing I have found has worked on my boy and he has suffered with itching, broken skin n scabs for the whole 6 years I have had him. I have tried EVERYTHING and the coopers is the only thing that has got rid of it... yes GOT RID OF, not even kept it at bay. You can get it from internet and is about £40 but is enough for about 6 months. I have used 3 doses (1 dose to his withers every 4 weeks) and he has not itched scratched or had a scab since AND i havent had to clip his feathers off since I started using it.

Again is not lisenced so just make sure u do a skin patch test, my boy has been fine with it tho no reactions at all :)
 
depressing

i have rambo sweet itch rug on my pony all the time, his face is rubbed in several places and his ears are sore from rubbing also.his legs are scabby from where he chews them. how is the sweet itch vaccine going this year
 
hi both my mares and my sisters gelding (all hairy cobs) have had dectomax injections.

interestingly i didnt know that it supposidely helped with sweetitch - my mare suffers from sweetitch and i can definitely say it hasnt helped her sweetitch at all, but it definitely kills the mites, none of them are stamping/scratching anymore.

we tend to only have them injected once a year (but with the two injections a couple of weeks apart) if they are scratching/stamping, the rest of the year its just washing them thoroughly and also using pig oil &sulphur on their feathers in the winter.
 
I too would like to know how the sweet itch vaccine is going.

I have been doing a little research over the weekend and find that a change in her diet may help. One which is as near natural as poss.

She is already on SS lucie stalks and their total eclipse but not sure if this is a registered product from the holistic people. Anyone know?

I havent fed her garlic for some time as I was told that this would make it worse. What are your opinions on a garlic supplement?
 
Giveitago said:
I too would like to know how the sweet itch vaccine is going.

I have been doing a little research over the weekend and find that a change in her diet may help. One which is as near natural as poss.

She is already on SS lucie stalks and their total eclipse but not sure if this is a registered product from the holistic people. Anyone know?

I havent fed her garlic for some time as I was told that this would make it worse. What are your opinions on a garlic supplement?
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I dont feed garlic either as it made my boys sores worse, when he had them, but dont know if that is just a thing that happens to him though. Feed wise he just has fibre fast (as do all my others) and his general skin condition and coat has been so much better.
 
Giveitago said:
I have been doing a little research over the weekend and find that a change in her diet may help. One which is as near natural as poss.

She is already on SS lucie stalks and their total eclipse but not sure if this is a registered product from the holistic people. Anyone know?

I havent fed her garlic for some time as I was told that this would make it worse. What are your opinions on a garlic supplement?
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It's certainly been my experience that a similar diet to yours has helped my mare enormously. Last year was terrible for her, itchy beyond belief, no mane/tail and just an unhappy girl.

Complete change of diet to SS, linseed oil and NO garlic has made a huge difference - top of her tail has grown about 18", no excessive itching and a much happier mare. I try to bath her once every two weeks or so and apply b/benzoate to trigger areas, but she hasn't gone into that awful itch/scratch cycle that we spiralled down this time last year. I've about 4 bottle of killitch I bought in anticipation of another bad year - unopened!.

Don't know about the total eclipse, have been considering changing from selenvite E to their Metaslim but as I've a full tub of the selen that won't happen for a while!
 
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