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Horse is insanely itchy.

3K views 25 replies 9 participants last post by  rambo99 
#1 · (Edited)
My gelding is having trouble with being super itchy. Has big welts on his side under belly on hindquarters. Welts under belly are kinda scabby.

But his itchyness has him bitting at his belly trying to reach under himself to scratch. When I'm doing anything with him, he constantly side stepping into me wanting scratches,I do scratch him. He literally shakes with head sideways an lip stretching.

Have called vet twice now hasn't returned my call. Receptionist that answer ,say they are leaving him a note to call me. If it's like it was when I needed vaccines ,it took him two weeks to finally call me back.

So need ideas on what to do to relieve his itchyness. Things I've tried equiderma ,Benadryl spray neither have helped much. A few pictures of effected areas.
 
#2 ·
Ouch...
Some of those look like urine burns...
Does he lie down where he has peed and if in a stall he is in soaked bedding cause drainage is not good and bedding not deep enough to absorb and shield him?
A good bath of maybe something oatmeal based as those are supposed to be soothing components... ??

Do you have access to Gentocin spray?
It might help to control some of the itch and assist with healing...common for dogs hot spots given by vets.
There is also a spray called "ICX" which is given for horses suffering from sweet itch this time of the year down by me from some vets.
It works to soothe, help the heal and control the crazy itchy but it must be applied daily to help and it isn't cheap.
A injection of antihistamines would help and think fed Benadryl can help to but I don't know a dosage amount.
I'll tag @walkinthewalk and @Foxhunter cause I know both have mentioned what they have used to help their critters deal with this in the past.
Best of luck...that looks painful for the horse.
:runninghorse2:...
 
#4 · (Edited)
For most part he lives outside I do bring in when nasty weather. Stalls are big an kept clean dry. He's really neat, poops along wall pees towards back of stall. He doesn't lay in his pee spot when in.

Whatever it is wasn't there Saturday night that I saw. I rode Saturday and no welts on him hosed him off also.

I tried witch hazel on him here seems to give some relief. He's miserable trying to itch on anything an everything. Then biting at himself.

Didn't know you could give zyrtec to horses I'll have to check into that. Here's another few pictures one of his side, other of under belly.
 
#6 ·
As per the vet we keep the 8 ounce children's liquid in a flavor the horses like. I actually keep several. They can have one bottle without consult for hives if close to 1000 pounds. if over that they'll need more. I have a large syringe and they take it readily if needed.
 
#7 ·
I hate to this but don’t give him anything orally until you’ve talked to the vet — which do you have another vet in the area that is better about calling back.

He has had an allergic reaction to something. If you don’t have new hay, you haven’t changed anything in his feed pan, he has either rolled in something like stinging nettle, or he has eaten something.

If you knew for sure he rolled on an ant hill or got stung by bees, or got bit by a nest of baby spiders, I might say to give him something orally. If that were one of my horses looking like that and I didn’t know the cause, I would not give him any oral meds.

You might sponge him down a few times daily with a mix of cool water and apple cider vinegar to see if that helps.

If the flies are getting bad, keep him in if you can. I wouldn’t even put a fly sheet on him.

Can he eat ok? He isn’t having breathing issues, I hope. If you have a thermometer, take his temperature just to be safe and to have something to say to the vet.

If you have a stethoscope, listening to his heart rate would be good. There’s a way to do that without a stethoscope but I don’t know how.

I am so sorry but that’s all I got:(
 
#8 ·
He's on 4,000 IU of vit e a day. Only thing changed. Is I added a pound of empower boost to his diet. Hay is the same as is everything else.

No flies so far,no ant hills in pasture or dry lot. His breathing is fine ,normal heart rate no fever.

Bought the empower boost on 5-19-20 so would it take 9 days, for an alergy to show up?? Nothing given orally only have done topical stuff.
 
#9 ·
I would think a reaction to the Empower Boost would have come sooner than nine days.

Is this the PSSM horse or do I have the wrong member? If this is the PSSM horse, maybe he did have a delayed reaction to the Boost.

I guess for now, I would:

1. Wait for the hives to start going down. They should start shrinking if he rolled on something (like nettle) or got bit.

If he is eating something, the hives likely won’t disappear until culprit is removed from his diet.

That could be anything from something in the pasture, to something in one or two bales of hay (generally the hay from the edge of the field), to maybe the Empower Boost.

I would hate to think it’s the Boost; I would rather believe he got hold of something in the pasture. Are your buttercups blooming? We are polluted with them down here. They can be toxic and from what I’ve read are bitter so horses stay away from them.

However, if you have him on a pretty small grazing area, he may have eaten some if there was good grass mixed in with the buttercups.

If the hives don’t start reducing in size, I guess I would take the Empower away for a week to see what happens. Process of elimination has to start somewhere IF this is food related:(
 
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#10 ·
Yes it's my pssm horse. I have kept him on a forage based diet since last fall. Only thing he was getting is vit/min from horse Tech. Alfalfa cubes, Timothy pellets and grass hay. No commercial bagged feed until 5-19-20 empower boost.

He needed a little more I felt for energy plus to put a little more bloom on him.

To my knowledge no butter cups in pasture, possible I haven't seen them. For now I'll keep him off pasture see how it goes. Welts are huge yet on belly. Shoulder an side welts have gone down some.

He's so so itchy i put more Benadryl on him here. Seems to help some.
 
#11 ·
#12 ·
I would say this is an allergic reaction to something.

I would use Neem Oil as a wash, it will not stop the allergy but it will relieve the itching and stop flies.m

Mix 2 talblespoons Neem, same of liquid soap to 4 pints of warm water and wash him with that and leave on.

This is stronger than I would normally say but needs to be to relieve the irritation.
 
#16 ·
We Dom not get the terrible flies you can get over there! Heck it is like comparing a house cat to a tiger as far as I'm concerned! They are voracious monsters.

I played around with the mix quite a lot. What I did find was that with some horses it lasted longer than others.

If a horse has sweet itch then I would rub it neat into the itchy area. However I would be very careful over using plain oil in sunny weather as it may cause burning. Not sure as we don't get it that hot!

Add the note - everyone of complaining on how hot it is and temperatures are in the mid 70s. What wimps we all are.
 
#15 ·
@Foxhunter I will definitely do the been oil bath today.
@Txshecat0423 thanks I'll look into getting the coat defense powder.

Vet called this morning I had texted him the pics. Said to give Benadryl either liquid or the pills. 25 mg pills said 20 twice a day for 5 days.

Then see how he is after the 5 days,if not improved then he'll come out. Said wouldn't hurt to take him off the empower boost. It's to high NSC for him.

Have a coffee grinder so grinded up 20 pills and put it in his morning feed. He ate it ok did spill some feed pawing at pan.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Couldn't find neem oil at any local stores. Asked an employees had no clue as to what neem oil is. Checked feed store also didn't have it.

So have to order it online here's what I found have picture. Had another but apparently file isn't valid,so wouldn't upload.

Gave him Benadryl this morning seems to have helped. Still huge extremely itchy welts on belly though. Will give him a bath here with cowboy magic shampoo it's what I have on hand. Or would something else be better?
 
#19 ·
@walkinthewalk yes I have cider vinegar. I gave him a bath with ivory soap rinsed him really well. Wash under his belly really good, he's got it raw now.

Did the vinegar water mix on him then let him dry. Still really itchy poor boy.

@Foxhunter can't get image to load. What kind of liquid soap should I use ?,when I mix it with the neem oil. Or does it matter.
 
#22 · (Edited)
He's still itchy welts are smaller then they were yesterday. It's almost like rain rot scabs that come out with Tufts of hair,an oozing yellow watery stuff.

I'll try and get pictures today. It's under his belly so not easy to get good pictures.

Think bath helped an the vinegar/water mixture.
I've put him back on his forage only diet and the vit/min. Not sure if empower boost was the cause or not.
@Foxhunter ,thank you not cold here so warm water should stay warm. Ordered the neem oil today should have it Monday.

Here he is after his bath yesterday.
 
#23 ·
I ordered the Neem oil too. Will be interested to see the results. Mine don't have as many welts as poor Ice does, but the blackflies are intense and relentless. This time of year (the next month or so when the blackflies are the worst) is the only time of year I will see all three of my horses spending significant time standing in their sheds. I worried one was colicking last night until I realized she was standing still with her head hanging low jammed into the back corner of the shed because it was the only way she was getting relief from the bugs.



Hope Ice feels better soon!
 
#24 · (Edited)
Here's a picture of his belly not sure what's going on. Maybe a bug allergy more and more little welts are popping up. They seem scabby.

It didn't start out like it is now,was big hive like welts no scabby stuff. At rate it's going he'll be covered in it. I'll do the vinegar/ water mixture again here.
 
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