Hives
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 12:31 am
Help! I'd really appreciate the thoughts of the UDBB "hive mind" on this problem.
Potters is on his third round with hives since I have owned him. First time in May, second time about 6 weeks ago, and now again. In between the second and current rounds, he has moved barns.
Vet has treated each time with dex shots, which worked almost instantly, and a follow up course of hydroxyzine.
We are now looking at allergy testing.
However, in the mean time, I'm trying to see if there is anything glaring in his diet that stands out as a potential trigger.
It's all pretty simple, and has not changed since the barn move--in fact largely has not changed in the 6 months that I have owned him apart from some minor tinkering with supplements:
Purina Wellsolve LS, which is very low grain (they say "no grain" but the ingredients list wheat middlings and ground oat hulls, so that makes no sense to me...) alfalfa based pelleted feed.
Smartcalm Ultra or regular Smartcalm pellets (dates of switching between these two do not correlate with any hive attacks, only difference between the two is increased quantity of magnesium and L-tryptophan in the Ultra)
SmartMuscle mass pellets (These are a more recent addition in August so I don't think they can be involved. I do note that these also have L-Tryptophan in them--maybe too much of a good thing?)
FastTrack probiotic
1/4 tab of previcox (vet says very unlikely to be involved.)
Hay was pure grass at previous barn, where he had 2 rounds of this. New barn is grass/alfalfa mix, pretty light on the alfalfa.
(In his previous home, he was on a much heavier alfalfa mix hay, and a strange bucket feed that was timothy pellet based with every supplement under the sun added to it as separate elements--really, I've never seen a more complicated feeding system! As far as I'm aware this is a new issue that she did not deal with.)
Previous barn, bagged shavings, current barn, bulk sawdust. Rubber mats in both.
Both barns, dry lot turnouts, but the ability to get at some weeds with some fence limbo-ing.
Both barns probably have similar insect population profiles. We've just had a major freeze here so most bugs have died, but this current round started before that. So, if it is bug-bite related (which with a May start up seems a distinct possibility) we should be in the clear until next spring now...
I wash all my pads in no added anything soap and double rinse them all. But the distribution of the hives doesn't look like that's the problem to me.
The hives are worse on his neck but spread across his torso as well. They do not appear itchy or to bother him much at all.
He is, of course, a chestnut...
Any thoughts? I'm a bit stumped. I had really hoped that the environmental change with moving barns would solve the problem.
Potters is on his third round with hives since I have owned him. First time in May, second time about 6 weeks ago, and now again. In between the second and current rounds, he has moved barns.
Vet has treated each time with dex shots, which worked almost instantly, and a follow up course of hydroxyzine.
We are now looking at allergy testing.
However, in the mean time, I'm trying to see if there is anything glaring in his diet that stands out as a potential trigger.
It's all pretty simple, and has not changed since the barn move--in fact largely has not changed in the 6 months that I have owned him apart from some minor tinkering with supplements:
Purina Wellsolve LS, which is very low grain (they say "no grain" but the ingredients list wheat middlings and ground oat hulls, so that makes no sense to me...) alfalfa based pelleted feed.
Smartcalm Ultra or regular Smartcalm pellets (dates of switching between these two do not correlate with any hive attacks, only difference between the two is increased quantity of magnesium and L-tryptophan in the Ultra)
SmartMuscle mass pellets (These are a more recent addition in August so I don't think they can be involved. I do note that these also have L-Tryptophan in them--maybe too much of a good thing?)
FastTrack probiotic
1/4 tab of previcox (vet says very unlikely to be involved.)
Hay was pure grass at previous barn, where he had 2 rounds of this. New barn is grass/alfalfa mix, pretty light on the alfalfa.
(In his previous home, he was on a much heavier alfalfa mix hay, and a strange bucket feed that was timothy pellet based with every supplement under the sun added to it as separate elements--really, I've never seen a more complicated feeding system! As far as I'm aware this is a new issue that she did not deal with.)
Previous barn, bagged shavings, current barn, bulk sawdust. Rubber mats in both.
Both barns, dry lot turnouts, but the ability to get at some weeds with some fence limbo-ing.
Both barns probably have similar insect population profiles. We've just had a major freeze here so most bugs have died, but this current round started before that. So, if it is bug-bite related (which with a May start up seems a distinct possibility) we should be in the clear until next spring now...
I wash all my pads in no added anything soap and double rinse them all. But the distribution of the hives doesn't look like that's the problem to me.
The hives are worse on his neck but spread across his torso as well. They do not appear itchy or to bother him much at all.
He is, of course, a chestnut...
Any thoughts? I'm a bit stumped. I had really hoped that the environmental change with moving barns would solve the problem.