Pollen and anti-histamines / supplements?

Fruitcake

Fruitcake

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Does anyone have experience of using anti-histamines in horses? Horse has pollen allergy and vet suggested Piriton. Started him on 10 today as vet's advice with a view to upping to 15 if needed. Not sure if there's any difference though. When I take an anti-histamine, I feel a difference within an hour. Should I expect to see an improvement this quickly if it's going to work?

I also considered a supplement like Global Herbs PollenX. Does anyone have experience of this?

Thanks in advance.
 
Yes! My horse has terrible allergies, last year he was so bad he was dangerous (didn't realise it was allergies, we thought he had a brain tumour or something he was so miserable/unpredictable!). This year I started him on cetirizine at 10mg per 50kgs body weight in the mornings. There was only slight improvement initially, not that noticeable day to day, but over the weeks he had improved drastically, stopped headshaking (well 90% improvement), is brighter eyed, much less stressy and anxious, I can ride him out safely, ride him tackless in the arena again and he is a much much happier horse. So I assume it has a sort of cumulative effect. If he's a bit snotty or dull looking in the evening I give him the same dose again in the evening but I'm hardly having to do that. They have turned my horse from a miserable lunatic into a much happier slightly less lunatic! Vet had prescribed a different type which would have cost me £300 per fortnight. Cetirizine I can buy 52 boxes of 30 10mg tablets for less than £10 from a registered online pharmacy.
 
We started Pollen-ex a couple of days ago and I think it's having more effect than human hay fever tablets. I'm also using human eye drops and pollen barrier cream, and will be getting a nose net later today. Poor chap is really suffering this year.
 
I can't remember to be honest. I think I googled online pharmacy, a whole bunch came up and I checked which were registered and then went for those and looked up cetirizine hydrochloride. I'll look up names when I get back tonight. I tried some global herbs stuff but it didn't seem to help (and he hates new things in feed) so definitely horses for courses. The nose net really helps, plus one for the field when he's really bad.
 
My boy has pollen allergies and gets very sore weepy eyes. He is currently on 14 ceterizine a day but has been on pollenx for the last couple of months. Took him off it at the beginning of the week as didn't feel it was working as well as it had been. It's also fairly expensive at 25.00 pound per litre every three weeks. My boy also wears a fly mask 24/7 when turned out. I get the antishisamines from B&M or Poundland cheaply.
 
Thanks everyone.
I gave him 12 Piriton this morning. Think there may have been a slight improvement. I'll keep them up to see if it has a cumulative effect. I did ask the vet about Cetirizine as had heard of it being used before but he said he'd recommend Piriton (or non branded version) as that was the drug that had most research behind it (even though non are licensed for horses).
I don't really want to go down the steroid route as he doesn't seem quite that bad and, as he's a native I'm concerned about triggering Laminitis. Apparently, a steroid inhaler is an option if things don't improve or get worse as this way the steroid doesn't get into the blood stream. Has anyone used one on a horse?

He has a nose net for ridden work. I know they're not supposed to work but I do think it made a big difference to his head shaking and sneezing.

He seems much worse this year than in previous years. I wonder if the pollen is particularly high. Also think our hay field isn't helping. Hoping for some nice dry weather to get it cut!
 
We use a steroid inhaler and bronchodilator inhaler on our companion pony as he has copd and the pollen seems to make massively worse (our hay field also not helping), it does give him temporary relief. He gets really wheezy and raspy in summer so can't be exercised when bad. Bronchodilator opens his airways followed by steroid inhaler to reduce inflammation of lungs. My next step is to try him on cetirizine as well, I had only tried it for a day with no major improvement in his breathing but now looking at this thread has made me realise i didn't try it for long enough to have a cumulative effect like in my horse. The nose net for companion pony really helps too as he also head shakes and sneezes like mad when ridden. I read somewhere that nose nets do not 'filter' pollen but instead disrupt the flow of air into the nostril which somehow reduces the airway irritation. Not sure how.
 
I get cheap ones from Tesco too. If he's struggling I'll give 10 twice a day, but once they're in his system he seems to cope well on 5 a day. The other thing I found to really help him, and they were suggested by my vet after ventapulmin etc did nothing & the hayfever tablets were having limited effect, were Chinese herbal biscuits made by Lenrys. They're really helpful people who are happy to advise which product is likely to help & will post out directly to you if there isn't a local stockist. Their number is 01406550590.

By the way I did try a steroid inhaler when he was very bad & will never do so again. After the first dose his pulses were up slightly, but I was told not to panic & it was coincidence. After the second dose they were high & he was reluctant to walk on anything but a soft surface & wrong on a turn.
 
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Well, it seems that although the anti-histamines seem to be helping the sneezing and snotty nose, they're not having much effect on his breathing. It's not dreadful but I can hear him wheezing and his flanks are blowing more than I'd like so I haven't worked him for a few days.

Am going to speak to vet again tomorrow and perhaps go down the inhaler route as vet wasn't too keen on giving Ventipulmin due to colic risk (?)

Any experiences with all of this? What tends to be the best option? If you give something like PollenX, do you give it alongside anti-histamines or inhaler or just by itself?
 
Fiona36 said:
Does anyone have experience of using anti-histamines in horses? Horse has pollen allergy and vet suggested Piriton. Started him on 10 today as vet's advice with a view to upping to 15 if needed. Not sure if there's any difference though. When I take an anti-histamine, I feel a difference within an hour. Should I expect to see an improvement this quickly if it's going to work?

I also considered a supplement like Global Herbs PollenX. Does anyone have experience of this?

Thanks in advance.
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You have to experiment with Piriton. If horse not adversely affected (sleepy) gradually up dose until they have an effect. One of ours is now on 40/day this year as allergies seem much worse than in previous years. They are fairly cheap to buy in tubs of 500 on-line.
 
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