Sweet Itch - diet change?

linspuk

New Member
Apr 16, 2009
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Chesham, UK
We've recently acquired a cob gelding, 13yo, who has a bit of sweet itch. It seems to have been well-enough managed to date (we've known him for nearly a year with his previous owner), but I'm wondering about supplementing his diet to help with it. He's on a basic diet - hay, pony nuts, chaff - but I'm thinking of adding some garlic granules to make him less attractive to flies and midges (in theory at least), and linseed oil. I'd welcome any thoughts on this and any alternative suggestions.
Cheers,
Lindsay
 
They've done tests and apparently Garlic has no effect on flies at all!! :rolleyes: Ive also read somewhere that alot of horses have a slight allergy to Garlic and once sweated out it can make them itchy, lol :cool:

Scratch is fab. Works a treat. Tried Marmite, gave up when i found the spoon covered in midges, they loved the stuff :(:(

Will be watching with interest to see what other use!!
 
You should PM popularfurball, she seems to know alot about it as her girl has/had sweetitch. She was on here researching linseed or omega oil not long ago... someone also linked on a thread which was really useful!!

:)
 
*flies in* (no pun intended) _- Im here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Garlic is a heating supplement, as in body temp not fizzy - but being hot makes them more prone to itching.

Regular grooming to help any loose hair to be removed, I tend to groom with a shredder or plastic curry or sweat scraper as it pulls the loose stuff out more efefctivly.

I also wash her tail twice a week, or more depending on how itchy she is - and maintain it at once a week-once a fortnight all through winter. I use supermarket anti dandruff with menthol shampoo. Menthol has a cooling effect, and I comb it with a human hair comb to pull off all the scurf - less scurf = less itching (or at least for us its the case).

I tried Skratch Plus which is the stronger version of Skratch and smelt like it would work, but unfortunatley shes a fussy eater!

Anti-histamines generally have no effect - I was feeding 8 human tabs a day last summer to no effect.

I also tried benzyl benzoate which works brilliantly for some but to no avail.

I make up a home made fly spray as they just wash off in the rain anyway lol. I also keep her rugged 24/7 as shes so bad with it. She has two snuggy hoods and I change her rug twice a week (same time as tail wash and thorough groom!). I have also put boots on her back legs as she gets badly bitten on isides of back legs and scratches them til she bleeds. Ive found that even if she is fully rugged, if a fly lands elsewhere, it still sets her off itching, but its much shorter itching time and there is no bite to keep it itching for days after.

Advice is to stable during sunset and sunrise, although I find she is better out at those times providing there is not much to itch on - in the stable she itches more out of boredom I think.

Phew!
 
Oh and oils - its the GLA in Linseed oil that is supposed to reduced allergic hypersensitivity in the skin cells - however someone else last year bought up ALA in some other oils being beneficial - the NAF Omega Oil is a good all round oil supplement and contains linseed.

Beware though as may cause increase in weight
 
Fingers crossed I seem to have fixed my cobs sweet itch this year, although I don't know which thing to put it down to, basicaly I have given his diet a complete overhaul:

He used to have Haylage, Alfalfa (dengie Hifi light) with a broad spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement and piriton.

I have read that allergic horses can be made worse on alfalfa, so this year he is now on: hay, A & P fast fibre, A & P ride and relax mix. A herbal shine supplement from natural horse supplements that contains Linseed, Brewers yeast and sea weed. extra brewers yeast as I hear it is this that really helps with itchy horses and the new sweet itch supplement Cavalese.

For the first time in years he is not itchy at all, and his mane is growing back. Like I say, I don't know what to put it down to, one single thing or a combination.

If I were you I would deffinatly think about researching brewers yeast for your cob.
 
i too had a really successful year last year with my cob by feeding her Brewers Yeast. I also feed her A&P Fast Fibre, tiny amount of Dengie Good Doer and a general vits/mins supplement.

She is also rugged up in a Boett type rug and does get washed every other week. I thoroughly groom her as per PF with a metal scraper type thing to remove all the winter hair stopping her being so itchy.

I also do try to keep her in an elec paddock which also helps.
 
*flies in* (no pun intended) _- Im here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ROFL.... nice one pf :D.

The oil research on here been very useful and I've also found out something about copper as I was surfing away on the issue last night.

Copper deficiency can be an underlying cause of skin problems e.g. sweetitch and mudfever. No real proof on what this is founded on but there's been recent research on sheep and flystrike and feeding enough copper. It affects cows and sheep more but since M had such AWFUL mudfever last year I might supplement a bit of oil and check copper levels in his diet.

By the way, I also read last night about soya meal for O3 + O6 oil and weight gain (should you need it) - not good for horses though, causes impaction colic as too heavy for the gut to move along.

Did you know?? Grass actually has an oil content!!! I never knew that, it comes from the lignin that keeps grass upright. Crazy.
 
Fantastic replies, thanks. Especially about the garlic - I'll scratch ('scuse the pun) that idea, but Brewers Yeast sounds a good one. He's been treated previously with Benzyl Benzoate successfully, so we'll keep that up anyway, and I'll get him the best most effective rug I can. He's recently been clipped so not much moulting to do, but I've noted the washing/shampooing ideas and we'll follow that up.
Thanks again all - this is a fantastic forum for learning stuff.
 
We've recently acquired a cob gelding, 13yo, who has a bit of sweet itch. It seems to have been well-enough managed to date (we've known him for nearly a year with his previous owner), but I'm wondering about supplementing his diet to help with it. He's on a basic diet - hay, pony nuts, chaff - but I'm thinking of adding some garlic granules to make him less attractive to flies and midges (in theory at least), and linseed oil. I'd welcome any thoughts on this and any alternative suggestions.
Cheers,
Lindsay
I have a little mare with me for 17 years severe sweet itch pluss anything that stings or bites are really a problem to her and has induced colic on many occasion. Tried everything over the years that you could think of. She has the boett rugs I have tried others but they dont perform as well. She is on pirition all through the summer and sudacrem and washing with tea tree shampoo. Although these help the condition over the years has got worse. She constantly bites at her udder and will rub on anything she can find. Last resort was going to be steroids but neither I or my vet were keen to follow that path. 8 weeks ago I put her on calvelese at about 6 weeks there was a marked improvement 8 weeks in she is no longer biting her udder is much calmer and is not so bothered with flies etc. Her cheeks that were sore from rubbing have heeled and she is not constantly looking for something she can get to to scratch on. It may not work for you horses for courses as they say but def worth a try.
 
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