Antihistamine (sp) for horses?

[kayleigh_and_rocky]

Rock suffers from really bad allergies - hay/straw mould, wheat, barley, molasses, maize, pollen...the list goes on

I was wondering if there was some kind of antihistamine for horses? The vet has never mentioned one, only put him on ventipulmin which did absolutley nothing!

 

[spaniel]

See my reply to the piriton post!!

 

[Natalie_H]

I think I have posted to you before about this one if I remember rightly as my TB is the same - wheat, barley, oats, rye, linseed, soya, peas etc etc.

I actualy have had success with anti-histamines, but as spaniel says, you do have to feed a lot. I started with atarax (expensive) but the pharmaceutical company stopped making them for a while, so switched to tubs of piriton (£10 for 500). When his urticaria was bad, I was feeding 10 in the morning & 10 at night, and the rash reduced considerably.

Hope this helps.

 

[kayleigh_and_rocky]

Ah so you can actually feed human antihistamines? and thats safe?

 

[spaniel]

Quite safe but a very expensive way of treating something!

 

[Natalie_H]

Yes they are safe. You can buy the piriton over the counter. I get a bit of a discount as my mum is a nurse, and it is the pharmacist she uses. As a guide, when he is at his worst (Winter months - he has no issues at all at the moment and is not on them) £10 = 500 = 25 days. I thought that was pretty reasonable for a months supply. Is is urticaria he gets? The problem is that the vets draw a bit of a blank regarding solutions to it

- I don't know if you have found this? They can undergo immunotherapy which is more expensive, but they have had some success with the treatment. This requires an injection every month.

 

[kayleigh_and_rocky]

The vets have given me NO help whatso ever except for saying 'dont let him come into contact with what hes allergic to' but its just not that simple when hes allergic to EVERYTHING lol he comes out in little tiny lumps like fly bits and also has problems breathing. I'm at my witts end!

 

[Natalie_H]

Yes - know exactly what you mean!!!!! They have been very little help to me too. I fortunately don't have a problem with his breathing - just the lumps & bumps - and only in autumn / winter - so it appears to be hay related. The problem is that I get the "keep him away from everything" but every time he has had a blood test it has revealed a new allergen so you can never really be sure you are eliminating everything when they are that hyper-sensitive.

Having spent hours on the internet looking for solutions, I read about immunotherapy / hyposensitisation. Liphook do it. I called my vet to ask him and he said it only works on small animals. I told him that Liphook had done it with good results, so he said he would ask them

I thought vets were supposed to be aware of all new treatments!

Anyway, this was at the same time I switched to piriton and his lumps had virtually disappeared after their introduction so I never pursued, but may do if he is really bad again this autumn. They basically inject them with the allergens to teach the immune system to cope with them (like a vaccination). I think it starts with very frequent jabs, then decrease the frequency through the course of the year.

However, would be worth giving the piriton a go as they are not expensive and may work. If they don't you won't have spent much. BTW - had no side effects - he certainly wasn't drowsy as many predicted. If anything I was questioning how full of beans he would have been without them as he was so lively - LOL

 

[Wishful]

Vets are supposed to keep up on continuing professional development - go to lectures, read journals etc - BUT there are only so many hours in the day, so the ones I know read what they can and what interests them and have the usual - I know I might have read something somewhere - feeling that you get when you work in a field where it is impossible to know everything.

In comparison, human doctors don't know everything - they specialise a lot, and GPs don't do anywhere near as much as vets - if it is remotely specialist you are referred. For vets they do most of the operations necessary, and many have to keep up on more than 1 species - for on call if nothing else.

Most of them have colleagues, former colleagues or lecturers they contact if they get anything particularly unusual - my OH has been known to speak to his ex for an area she's particularly interested in and phones his lecturers where the case is particularly unusual.

The problem is there in all professional fields - as a lawyer I may well know a fair amount about general stuff and my own field, but throw a tax question at me and I run straight to a tax lawyer!

 

[mystiandsunny]

Would piriton be a good idea for a pony who gets a runny nose type allergy in the summer?

 

[mitchellk]

local honey is also woth a shot if he has pollen allergy -just a thought!

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

Yes i know of someone who feeds their horse piriton for allergies too