Sweet Itch

Sweet Itch is an allergic response to the saliva in the bite of Culicoides Midge(gnats), affected horses will suffer severe itching as a result of such a bite.  The intense itching is followed by an autoimmune over reaction which causes a thickening of the skin and lesions.

Sweet Itch is a terrible condition which makes the life of afflicted horses a misery, particularly throughout the summer months.

Sweet Itch is characterised by constant itching and rubbing of the top of the tail and also the mane.  Depending on the severity other areas may well be affected such as the face, neck and sometimes other parts of the body.

The constant feeling of itching causes a great deal of distress and many sweet itch sufferers will spend most of their time trying to rub or scratch on anything available such as stable doors, fence posts and even rolling on the ground.  This will result in loss of hair and further soreness and damage to the skin.

Horses with untreated and unmanaged sweet itch will also tend to be stressed and moody.

There is no cure for sweet itch so prevention and good management are key to controlling sweet itch.

Prevention is Better than Cure

• Try to avoid midges coming into contact with your horse, midges feed during dawn and dusk so stable at these times and put a midge screen on the door.
• Apply insect repellent.
• Add garlic and cider vinegar to your horse's feed as these help to make the horse's skin less tempting to midges and flies.
• use a fly rug 
  

  

  Fly Rug

  and fly masks
• Keep the stable/yard tidy.  Remove droppings, rotting leaves and other vegetation as these attract midges.
• Midges like damp, humid environments so avoid grazing your horse near rivers, boggy areas and ponds.
• Midges do not fly very far and are more often found near hedges, trees and watery places so keep your horse away from these areas during midge season.
• There is some evidence to suggest that some foods and remedies can help to lower allergic response and owners find these can help horses with sweet itch.  For example adding linseed and also aloe vera juice to feed can be helpful.

One of the problems of sweet itch is, despite taking all the precautions, the horse only needs to be bitten once and an ‘itch-scratch’ cycle starts, whereby the more a horse scratches or bites at itself, the more it itches. 

To break this cycle sometimes medication needs to be given and there are two effective forms. One is a human anti-histamine treatment. But this can be expensive because of the large amounts needed to treat a horse, which may weigh six to seven times the weight of a person for whom the treatment was formulated. Also, it is not always effective because substances other than histamine are released by the immune system and it has little, if any, effect against these.

The most popular way of stopping the itchiness is the use of cortico-steroids. These are very effective in suppressing the immune system and hence stopping the overreaction of the body to the midge bite, but can have side effects. Cortico-steroids come in a number of different forms, but all need a visit from your veterinary surgeon before they can be administered.

To prevent the itchiness in the short-term, a short-acting injection is probably the most effective treatment. If itch-prevention is necessary for a few days then cortico-steroid tablets can be given on a daily basis. It is not advisable to continue with these for longer than is absolutely necessary because of the risk of side effects, the most serious of which can be laminitis.

Occasionally a long-acting cortico-steroid injection may be administered, which can last for two to three months, but the risk of this is, if side effects are seen, there is no way of removing the product from the animal. This can be cheaper than keeping an animal on prednisolone tablets, but tablets have the advantage of being able to be withdrawn immediately, if they have an adverse effect.

For long-term treatment desensitisation therapy can be tried. This involves regular small injections of gradually increasing amounts of culicoides allergen. In theory the horse’s immune system gradually reacts less to the allergen and the itchiness in turn lessens.

Fly Repellents & Products

Neem oil is a natural essential oil with a strong smell which acts as an effective insect repellent.

Citronella & t-tree oil
These essential oils are effective insect repellents, this is a good recipe for home made fly repellent:

5 caps of dettol - from a 500ml size bottle
250 ml of Avon Skin so Soft and fresh - you need to buy the 500 ml bath oil. This can be halved if midges not too bad
2 teaspoons of citronella
2 teaspoons of eucalyptus oil
2 teaspoons of lavender oil
2 teaspoons of tea tree oil
2 teaspoons of cedarwood oil
2 teaspoons of bog myrtle oil – not essential but excellent for midge protection.
Put into a 1 litre spray bottle. Top up to make 1 litre with either water or cold tea. Shake well before spraying and give a quick shake after every few squirts to make sure the oil is mixed with the water.

Biteback Sweet Relief lotion

This product provides effective relief from the symptoms of sweet itch so that the horse doesn't feels the need to itch constantly therefore allowing the aggravated area to heal.

£5.79 for 250ml
Website Biteback

Dermoline Sweet Itch Lotion Equine is recommended for use as an aid in the prevention of sweet itch.

buy from Chemist Direct









Hilton Herbs - Bye Bye Itch Hilton herbs
The supplement is rich in essential fatty acids (EFAs), vital for maintaining skin and cellular integrity and encouraging natural resistance to allergens and irritations.  The supplement also contains herbs that offer a cleansing and cooling anti allergen action.
BYE BYE ITCH is designed to be fed to horses & ponies in the months prior to and throughout the 'itching' season. The mix has been extensively trialled in the UK where 93% of the trial participants reported that feeding BYE BYE ITCH had  significantly helped their horse or pony.

If you have any helpful tips for treating and preventing sweet itch please share them by leaving comments below.