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Fly sprays-what makes sense?
I have been wondering a while now about whether having insecticides in fly sprays make sense. (I realize there are sprays made of essential oils only and this is what I now use) It seems to me it makes sense to repel the flies only as trying to kill them with a chemical when they land on your horse is not likely going to be successful-they will bite anyway and be gone before the neurotoxin has the desired effect of killing the fly. Insecticides such as permethrin work as a neurotoxin (paralytic for breathing) and are not specifice to flies only. My concern is the horse absorbing or ingesting the compound when they scratch themselves or allogroom each other. So for this reason I question the logic and sanity of using something that 1. seems to be the wrong approach (using something meant to kill as a repellant) and 2. is potentially harmful to your horse’s nervous system
I will say I used this stuff to kill chewing lice that came with my horse and it worked great.
I wonder if anyone else is questioning this.
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3 Replies
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Hey Doc T
could you please weigh in on this? Thanks. Angela
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I thought I had answered this so I apologize for any technical glitch that evaporated it!
Dealing with flies has always been a problem. However I have not seen a problem with horses ingesting any significant amount of residual sprays. My wife has been spraying our horses for decades. But this really doesn’t prove anything so I would also agree with you that if there is a chance…. I personally became ataxic (walked like a drunk) when some overhead “natural” fly spray dripped onto the base of my neck while working in a stall. Another time I inhaled it along with the exhaled DMSO from a horse also making me ataxic. This “barn perfume” has always been a concern of mine for the health of our horses.
The most effective fly control I know of is high velocity fans. Second to this is extreme cleanliness in the barn, removal of all organic material (manure) to a place far from the barn and the use of fly predators. The few barns that have installed the chain link curtains on the windows and doors seem also to help reduce the numbers.
But I agree that the daily and hourly use of repellant sprays may not be the healthiest solutions. But on the flip side, I have seen horses driven through fences running from flies. The spray may be the lesser of 2 evils.
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Specifically I am asking about using something that is supposed to kill the fly (which takes time through paralysis of breathing) as a repellent. It doesn’t make sense to me since the purpose of a repellent is to make the fly not land in the first place.
Most fly sprays we have seem to try to kill the fly (albeit a delayed effect), but it still can drive your horse nuts by biting him. Maybe they die later but I wonder if anyone has looked at how effective they are (how much of a dose do they need, do they live long enough to make eggs etc?) Just seems like a backward approach. And a bit like grain ingredients-not the right tool for the job.
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