horsey antihistamine?

[Nina76]

I'm just starting to ride my mare after 3 months off. She had fly bites around the saddle area and eventually they became granulated (hard) and after cortisone injections failed to reduce them the vet surgically removed them.

I have been using a lot of fly spray since especially in the saddle area to try and prevent the bites but with the recent showery weather its not sufficient so I am buying a flyrug too.

However she is still getting bitten and they are still swelling more than on other horses/ponies at the same yard. I take an antihistamine every day as I am allergic to pretty much everything (including horse hair lol) Is there are horse version?

Or does anyone have anything similar they use on their neds to lessen the swelling/inflamation of any bites?

Thanks all

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

Have a look in vet section - has been a few posts in there about antihistamines recently.

 

[hairymolly]

A few people at my yard give their horses the human ones, they just use the cheap ones you get from the supermarket.

 

[Nina76]

Thanks very much to popsicle who had posted this in thread in vet section -

"CETIRIZINE is a suitable antihistimine for horses and they last up to 12 hours in the system with no apparant side effects. The dose is 0.2 to 0.4mg per kg of body weight every 12 hours. So in my horses case she will want about 12 x 10mg tablets (I figure once a day, whilst the pollen is at the highest) should do the trick. I hope this is a help for some of you"

Yes it is very helpful, I'm off to wilko's to bulk buy in my lunch break!

 

[fruity]

Periactin. My horse has been on these for 2 years and starts on them in March and comes off them in October. She is allergic to all grasses and headshakes very badly without this,it also relieves her itchyness. You can get them from the chemist cheaper than the vet i think. I also use a product called Nostrilvet which is a nasal spray for horses that headshake/react to allergens.
She has 6-8 tablets a day for maintenance and it can go up to 15 a day when she is very distressed. She is a 420kg. Holsteiner x T.B.