Sweet Itch

You can download the publication about sweet itch as Pdf-document from Dr. Med. Vet. Carla Olschewski. You need the Acrobat Reader, which you can install here on your computer..

Publication (German): Sweet Itch (250 kb)

Typical summer pasture

There is barely any other disease like sweet itch, which makes horses and their owners crazy. Horses have no quiet moments, especially on sunny days. They often loose completely mane and tail, due to itching. They panic when they see or hear insects flying around. Unfortunately, effects of liniments and other medications are often disappointing horses and their owners. What is sweet itch? What does it consist in? How can we help horses and their owners? Those questions are already scientifically examined for many years, but until today, they can only be answered partially.

The Trigger

It was proved that Gnats or Black fly are triggering sweet itch.

Sweet itch is not caused by the mechanical sting of the insect (size of 1 millimetre), but it is triggered by the allergic reaction caused of the salivary secretions of the gnats. Gnats sting preferably on back and belly as well as in the mane, face and tail.

Gnats are particularly active at dawn and dusk. Effected horses are more nervous in early mornings and in the afternoon, when the sun goes down, or before thunder storms. The ideal habitat for those little black flies is a humid and warm environment. We can find them especially in creeks, ponds or close to dung piles and nearby forests, where they can find their ideal biotope. Gnats are not able to fly big distances and have very few chances to live in windy areas, because of their small size. That explains why sweet itch barely can be found on horses living in Iceland, on coastal or high mountain areas.

Test action Nutripferd God winds hind leg

May

June

August

The Cause

Not all horses show allergic reaction to the sting of an insect. It is hardly possible to influence the effect of allergic reactions like eczema with conventional medication. However, it goes without saying that feeding mistakes and problematic metabolism can lead to higher disposition for sweet itch. Excess protein in feed and developing of fat in horses can be another reason, as well as lack of certain micro elements, amino acids and iodine.

Daily Life and Shelter

If horses with sweet itch are not kept under ideal conditions, their health situation develops from bad to worse. By no means should they be left grazing in humid and improper pasturages or near forests. It is difficult to keep these horses from scratching, especially in day time. However, check the area and keep them away from spiky objects, rough barks, broken branches, sharps edges. The secondary infection, which may generate is often bloody and purulent as well as persistent and everlasting.

Treatment

A balanced alimentation is a sound basis for a healthy organism. The gastric and intestinal flora is very sensitive and reacts to any irregularity. When the horse’s intestine is disturbed, there is incomplete digestion. Then the best use is not achieved for available trace elements and cell metabolism. Consequently the normal supply of amino acids, minerals, trace elements and vitamins is no longer possible. Consequence: skin metabolism is also disturbed and allergic reaction will often occur.

External lotions or ointments will give temporary relief to the sweet itch horse, but is not a long term solution and requires time consuming treatment. Dr. vet. med. Carla Olschewski made satisfying experience combining the following specific preparations:

1. “NBS horse skin care lotion”, an external preparation, applied to the skin. It is fish oil with neutral odour, mixed with plant oils. On one hand, it protects the horse from insects. On the other it has a curative function and appeases the itchiness..

2. Nutripferd™ is a pure product from nature, based on sea algae, which is administered as a feed supplement. Nutripferd™ is naturally composed of a multitude of minerals, nutrients, trace elements, vitamins and amino acids, well balanced by nature. This product contributes to the health of all organs and offers a real protection shield. This was proved during long years of experience with sweet itch horses in Carla’s veterinary day to day work. Carla supervised a 3 months independent test study (published by Reiter Revue) with 800 horses suffering from sweet itch all over Germany, Switzerland and Austria. When the group of journalists, veterinarians and people from Neomed Pharma GmbH scientifically checked the returned questionnaires, results were as follows: 21% were considered free from sweet itch and 51% showed obvious improvement. This is a success rate of 72% in 3 months only.

Test action Nutripferd



Reiter Revue 1997

The study is very realistic and is considered scientifically relevant as horses involved were

• High in number = 800
• Different horse types were treated, from ponies to Frisians
• Coming from lowland to highland from coastal areas to inside county

Nando since 1995 free from sweet itch

Carla’s experience showed:

“Without using dubious cortisone, with all known negative side effects, the combination of “NBS” care lotion and “Nutripferd™” algae feed additive (10g/day) is for sweet itch horses a lucky chance to get finally rid of this horrible disturbance for both, horse and rider – in a natural way!”

Signed: Dr. med. vet Carla Olschewski

Field of Brown algae before harvest

Some information about algae

For more than 2000 years Romans have already known the curative effects of plants from the sea. Nowadays almost 25,000 algae species are identified, divided into four big groups: blue, brown, green and red algae. Around 4.5 millions tons are harvested every year; approximately half of it is used as sea vegetable. More than 2 millions tons go to feed and food industry, pharmaceutical products or medicine.

Apart from positive effects on metabolism, algae have also a particularity; they assist the body decontamination from excess heavy metals. Thanks to some brown algae, even heavy metals and radioactive isotopes can be eliminated through the intestines.