Cautiously optomistic…tomorrow is 1 week since double dosing the ivermectin. Tucker is itchier than normal. His sheath is not as swollen and he let me touch him without raising his hind leg at me. His habronema is funky looking too…well, different funky than normal. I wonder if that is from the ivermectin too. Tail and mane look better too. Keeping my fingers crossed and can’t wait to do the double equimax next week and see what that brings!
After treatment, horses often become intensely itchy within 24 – 72 hours, causing severe skin abrasions and mutilations, and damaging feeders, walls and fences on which they rub
- The itch may be controlled by prednisilone granules added to the feed for 3 – 5 days (consult your vet for advice).
Lori, This is what I found on a previous post. I still can’t tell if it worked on my mare or not. She didn’t seem neither more or less itchy. I just did my second double dose yesterday.
New here! Tons of bumps after second worming…
Hi guys! Well I haven’t posted here before but have been reading this thread since Chocomare posted the link over on HorseCity.
Anyway, my horse has this problem. Not quite “sweet itch” but just about. Two different vet’s told me he is allergic to fly saliva and gave him vetalog shots.
I did the first double dose of equimax, and saw much improvement. Usually behind his knees is a bloody raw mess that is always covered in scabs. He also gets it on his neck, chest, throatlatch and muzzle. So after the first dose, forelegs and muzzle cleared up, chest/neck looking at least 50% better.
I did the second double dose of equimax on Wednesday. He was still looking good. Well when I went out to feed him this morning, I find him covered in welts/bumps! :eek:
Could this be from a massive die off of the worms, or unrelated to the worms all together? He seems slightly more itchy than he’s been, and the bumps are a lot more spread out than usual. If it is a die off I’ll just let it run it’s course. Has anyone else had this happen after the second round of worming? 
UPDATE on my guys.
Well, it is now a few days since the first double dose.
About 72 hours after I thought I would be building a new farm-the itching was like a panic attack across the board.
As of today, things have quieted down. Milo (the worst) has no new oozing wounds, the old ones are healing and he is not scratching the walls off the barn.
So far this is the dream treatment for him.
The others would not as compromised so nothing exciting to report.
Hugo, the one with 3 spots of scratches, has not made any improvement on that area, so this does not seem to have any effect on scratches-on him at least.
Anyone else ready to report in on their horse’s condition?
Would also like to keep this on Page 1 to keep educating the masses 
Jake: 14 YO QH with sudden onset balding on his hips, very itchy chest and face. Puffy eyes. Never seen this horse blow up like this…owned him 11 yrs 
occasional late spring allergies, but this is awful) never done this before. Was itching his fanny on the barn wall, looking to scratch his gaskins clean sheath, in otherwise excellent health and fitness.
He’s been started on AniHist AND I did the double dose Equimax today.
Chippy: 6 YO TWH with normal itchies and some pea sized lumps (since before I bough him in 06) on his chest/lower neck.
Double dosed him on Equimax today. This was in Ivermectin month anyway so this is neato-mosquito
I did the double dose of ivermectin two weeks apart, and I have seen quite an improvement in my gelding. The hairless spots on his neck and chest are almost gone, and the hair on his face is starting to grow back in. His sheath is still swollen, and he still has some icky scratches. Overall he seems much less itchy. It has been raining a lot here recently, so I haven’t even been able to keep fly spray on him.
I ordered 3 tubes of Equimax so I can double dose him with that next week. Hopefully that takes care of the issue.
He does still get welts occasionally, but so does my mare. I feel like the welts are probably from the bugs being worse at certain times because they are not consistent. A good dose of benadryl clears them up within a couple hours.
I think it also helps a ton that I now have him at home because the bugs are not as bad with 3 horses on 2.5 acres. 10 to 12 horses on 3 acres at a boarding barn… lots of flies and gnats to irritate already sensitive skin.
Hey - I told a friend about this on Saturday - she takes excellent care of her horses but has been fighting with sweet itch every summer.
Told her about the Ivermectin and she was going to go get some. I’ll check in with her and see if she’s done it yet.
My guys are all fine and I’m thankful the Percheron Cross has finally stopped rubbing his tail raw. It was starting to look like a rat tail with a few long strands. Skin is all healed and there is new healthy hair growth.
I’m impatiently waiting for my equimax to arrive… the price the feed store wanted was highway robbery.
I did double does EquiMax Thursday. While I don’t see her covered in any bumps, I HAVE noticed that she isn’t rubbing her tail at all AND she’s also no longer frantically rubbing her neck against the stall wall. I will do the second double dose in 10 more days and report back.
I have to say, my mare tends to stumble out on trails…I figure it’s because she’s not paying attention AND her shoulder has been giving us problems AND her feet are bigger than the ruts that she’s sliding into. I still think that these are in fact some of the causes of the stumbling BUT I rode her out on trails last night and only 1 stumbling issue. Coincidence?
My local farm store wanted $16 a tube for it :eek: so I ordered from Country Supply.
My mare I double-dosed 5 days ago and I’m going to say there is improvement. Not Hallelujah, this was THE answer improvement, but there is improvement and I can tell she feels better.
My 24 yr. old gelding I double-dosed on Saturday so I’m still waiting to see there. Because of his age I was nervous about the double-dose but he seems to have handled it well.
I’ve been following this awesome thread thru its 12 pages and will be double dosing my draft with Equimax today! He was tested for allergies recently and will be started on various allergen shots soon, but the idea of also treating him for NTW is actually exciting for me - thanks!
My question is concerning my other healthy horses. I might have missed the discussion, but is there any concern for building up a tolerance to the wormers by double dosing a seemingly healthy horse? I paste worm 7x a year, rotating types and double dosing pyrantel pamoate.
Thanks for any input!!
I’ll be adding my results as they come in. 2x Equimax for my two yesterday, one who is highly symptomatic and one who is not. Should be interesting.
Resistance is the result of under dosing. I even remember being warned by many people, including vets, to be careful to just use barely enough, because too much wormer was bad for a horse. Scared me.
(but they test this stuff to determine a lethal dose - not even close to what we give; even doing a powerpac)
After a while people figured out that it was underdosing causing resistance, including giving daily wormers.
For the young, old or infirm - you are wise to be cautious and consult your vet. For what we’re all doing - just double dosing otherwise healthy horses - no worries.
[QUOTE=Crikett;3467063]
I did the second double dose of equimax on Wednesday. He was still looking good. Well when I went out to feed him this morning, I find him covered in welts/bumps! :eek:
Could this be from a massive die off of the worms, or unrelated to the worms all together? He seems slightly more itchy than he’s been, and the bumps are a lot more spread out than usual. If it is a die off I’ll just let it run it’s course. Has anyone else had this happen after the second round of worming? [/QUOTE]
Crikett, I am interested in this too. I double-dosed mine on Friday, and last night noticed two very large welts on the spine of one of my horses. I am wondering if this is related to the double equimax as I have not had problems with him welting all summer long?
I’m going to e-mail my vet as the welts are pretty large…the smaller is about 2 inches in diameter and the other is just over 3.5 inches…larger than I’ve seen from biting flies. EEK. I wonder if they’re going to need to be lanced. Ewww.
[QUOTE=meaty ogre;3471063]
Crikett, I am interested in this too. I double-dosed mine on Friday, and last night noticed two very large welts on the spine of one of my horses. I am wondering if this is related to the double equimax as I have not had problems with him welting all summer long?
I’m going to e-mail my vet as the welts are pretty large…the smaller is about 2 inches in diameter and the other is just over 3.5 inches…larger than I’ve seen from biting flies. EEK. I wonder if they’re going to need to be lanced. Ewww.[/QUOTE]
That is odd… Mine also had welts on the top of his back. One very large abour 2-3 inches in diameter, and a few on the top of his butt, which he has NEVER had before. The weird thing is this happened after the 2nd round of double equimax??
He is also really itchy on his chest and more sores popped up. I’m really hoping it is from a big die off of the worms. If not I don’t know what to do
I e-mailed my vet and will let you know. The welts are towards the croup along the spine of my horse as well…sounds like similar to yours. Neither of my other 2 horses has welts, and one of my other horses is much more sensitive to insect bites so I’d expect to see welts on him if they were of the insect-bite variety. I really don’t know what else it could be…there haven’t been any dietary changes.
Has anyone had a really bad reaction after the equimax double-dose?
J Swan:
Resistance is the result of under dosing. I even remember being warned by many people, including vets, to be careful to just use barely enough, because too much wormer was bad for a horse. Scared me.
(but they test this stuff to determine a lethal dose - not even close to what we give; even doing a powerpac)
After a while people figured out that it was underdosing causing resistance, including giving daily wormers.
For the young, old or infirm - you are wise to be cautious and consult your vet. For what we’re all doing - just double dosing otherwise healthy horses - no worries.
THANKS, J Swan! I was warned by my vet to be careful not to underdose as that was a common cause of colic, but resistance was never mentioned. Logically - it could be colic due to resistance due to underdosing!
Argh, tried to post earlier but lost it.
Any how, I only had two tubes of Equimax to I double dosed my 9 year old that does a lot of belly scratching and had recently started rubbing her tail. I haven’t seen her do the belly rub in a couple of days. I need to look under her belly again to see if the little bumps and scabs that are sometimes there have improved any.
I also double dosed my 6 year old with Ivermectin as I had it on hand. She is not itchy like my other mare and not sensitive to the bugs. Haven’t noticed anything other then the night after I double dosed her she had what looked like two big bug bites on her belly. They were 2 bumps about the size of a quarter with a scab. Coincidence? I don’t know. The only thing that is bad at my house right now is the mosquito’s and we hadn’t been off the property in a week when those to lumps showed up and to be honest she hasn’t had a reaction to a bug like that before. So I don’t know what caused it.
On the 3rd I intend to worm them both with a double dose of Equimax.
I double dosed one of my guys two weeks ago and will do it again tomorrow. The itching is better, but not totally gone. He has not rubbed off anymore hair and the bald spots are filling in.
This is the really gross part… He has had a horny growth on his back right fetlock since I bought him (about 5 months ago). I really thought it was scar tissue from an old injury, as I had tried to peel it off with no success. Well… two days after the double dose the thing completely peeled off to reveal relatively normal skin with a very small wound in the middle. Coincidence? Perhaps… Something living in there? Perhaps.:eek:
