Anyone have good results using allergy meds for IAD?

[sascha]

Environment changes have been made but its looking like PonyPants needs additional support. Steroids (at least systemic) are not a good choice, but feel free to convince me that inhaled are safe for a horse who foundered a few years ago.

Ventolin caused worsening of allergies (but this does mean I own an AeroHippus inhaler facilitator thingy for administering other inhaled meds if suggested)

Ventipulmin does not seem to be quite sufficient on its own.

Regale me with your success stories, I beg you!

[Gardenhorse]

I think it probably depends a lot on what they’re allergic to and how severely.

My horse was on Albuterol briefly, but is now doing well on Zyrtec (20 tabs once/day), SmartBreatheUltra, and steamed hay. It was really the steamed hay that made the biggest difference for her. But I do notice some coughing if I take her off the Zyrtec for more than a few days.

[jennycash]

Zyrtec is a game changer for my horse. I buy the 500 count bottles from Sams Club, cheap and effective. I tried taking him off when the weather started getting cooler, noticed coughing within a couple days. Back on and not a single coughing episode.

[sascha]

Question for both of you but I can’t figure out how to tag both of you - 5mg tabs or 10mg tabs x 20/day?

I have it in my head that someone told me she was using just 8/day of the extra-strength but that was months ago and my memory for that sort of detail might be, er, terrible lol

[Gardenhorse]

I do the 10mg tablets. I get the generic cetirizine from Amazon. It’s around $15 for 365 tablets. My vet actually started her on 20 tablets twice/day, but after a few months I dropped her down to 20 tabs once/day and she’s been fine on that.

[sascha]

Thank you!

Mine got started yesterday afternoon and thankfully gobbled them down in a half cup of soaked feed. Hoping she eats the medicated breakfast I left for BOs to give… I haven’t attempted to feed her breakfast in years because she is "too busy. I have things to do in the morning. I don’t have time to eat. Eating is for relaxing at night when I come in from a long day of hall monitoring! This is BS! Now kindly open my stall door, and take me to my place of employment. The water cooler awaits. I have tales to tell and gossip to hear and rules to enforce! "

It’s also a half cup of her favourite feed with a couple of mints for extra tempting flavour so, maybe. Fingers x’d lol I was certainly pleased when I saw how small the tablets were!

[OTTBs]

Wow, 20 tabs is quite the dose! I have no experience with IAD, but my horse had a good amount of goop in her eyes daily so I decided to try the loratadine I had on hand. I figured 2 tabs wouldn’t hurt her, and it ended the goopy eyes. So I wonder if y’all could try tapering down the dose of the Zyrtec… My mare is not tiny, being a Cleveland Bay x TB, though vets only give her a couple more SMZ’s than my TBs get. Former owner thought she was 1600 lb, wish I could weigh her easily.

[JB]

The studied dose of cetirizine for horses is .2-.4mg/kg 1-2 times a day

Some people use less with results.

[Gardenhorse]

I’m following my vet’s guidance, but thanks.

[JB]

@Gardenhorse

I’m following my vet’s guidance, but thanks.

I didn’t say you should ignore your vet

I made that comment because everyone was talking in terms of X number of pills. OTTBs specifically mentioned that 20 tabs sounded like a lot, and I made a point to state that was the studied dosage.

@Gardenhorse

I do the 10mg tablets. I get the generic cetirizine from Amazon. It’s around $15 for 365 tablets. My vet actually started her on 20 tablets twice/day, but after a few months I dropped her down to 20 tabs once/day and she’s been fine on that.

You’re using the above studied dosing protocol

1100lb horse (500kg) at the .4mg/kg dose is 20 of the 10mg pills, and twice a day is also the studied amount So, 10-20 pills, 1-2 times a day, for a 500kg horse is what’s been studied.

[Gardenhorse]

@JB

I didn’t say you should ignore your vet

I made that comment because everyone was talking in terms of X number of pills. OTTBs specifically mentioned that 20 tabs sounded like a lot, and I made a point to state that was the studied dosage.

@Gardenhorse

I do the 10mg tablets. I get the generic cetirizine from Amazon. It’s around $15 for 365 tablets. My vet actually started her on 20 tablets twice/day, but after a few months I dropped her down to 20 tabs once/day and she’s been fine on that.

You’re using the above studied dosing protocol

1100lb horse (500kg) at the .4mg/kg dose is 20 of the 10mg pills, and twice a day is also the studied amount So, 10-20 pills, 1-2 times a day, for a 500kg horse is what’s been studied.

JB - I’m sorry, I’m still getting used to this new format. I meant my reply in response to OTTBs’ comment that it was a high dosage based on an anecdote about the use of a different antihistamine, but I should have quoted their comment instead of just "Reply"ing to make that clear.

I appreciate you providing the additional information based on the actual studies - I agree it’s useful to actually talk about the dosage rather than just the number of tablets.

[sascha]

JB, thank you for posting the numbers. I had seen them in a veterinary article but sort of filed them in the back of my head and went, yeah, 10 x 10mg pills x 2 x day sounds right. D’oh! I’m glad I picked up a crap ton of the stuff. At the high end, my 1300+lb* girlie would be getting 23-24 x 10mg pills 2 x day. So, I think I will bump her up for a couple of weeks to see if we get results and at that time, if there are really great results, I will consider working my way down to the lower end of the recommended dose. If not, perhaps a switch to another allergy med and/or having another chat about the safety of inhaled steroids versus oral/injected for a horse that had a founder would be in order.

*weighed last January at OVC so I know it’s true even if I’m all “WTF, she’s only 16hh and finer boned for a warmblood”

[Gardenhorse]

@JB

@Gardenhorse

I do the 10mg tablets. I get the generic cetirizine from Amazon. It’s around $15 for 365 tablets. My vet actually started her on 20 tablets twice/day, but after a few months I dropped her down to 20 tabs once/day and she’s been fine on that.

You’re using the above studied dosing protocol

1100lb horse (500kg) at the .4mg/kg dose is 20 of the 10mg pills, and twice a day is also the studied amount So, 10-20 pills, 1-2 times a day, for a 500kg horse is what’s been studied.

I should add that I have wondered if it would make more sense to give her 10 tablets twice/day rather than 20 tablets once/day, but it is easier for the barn if she just gets them once/day with her other supplements. I know that for people, the 24-hour dosing is effective, but I don’t know if there’s much info on that for horses.

[JB]

@Gardenhorse

JB - I’m sorry, I’m still getting used to this new format. I meant my reply in response to OTTBs’ comment that it was a high dosage based on an anecdote about the use of a different antihistamine, but I should have quoted their comment instead of just "Reply"ing to make that clear.

I’m the one who owes you an apology! I missed that you were reply to her. It’s there plain as day, but off in the corner, and I missed that bit. So sorry! You’re right, that does take some getting used to.

[JB]

@Gardenhorse

I should add that I have wondered if it would make more sense to give her 10 tablets twice/day rather than 20 tablets once/day, but it is easier for the barn if she just gets them once/day with her other supplements. I know that for people, the 24-hour dosing is effective, but I don’t know if there’s much info on that for horses.

All else equal, I would probably split a total daily dose over 12 hour dosing periods, but if you’re finding the 20 pills once a day working for her, I wouldn’t worry about it.

Horses metabolize many things differently from people, so we can’t really extrapolate. The studied dose for horses does say you can give that .2-.4mg/kg every 12 or 24 hours, which means even the lower dose, once a day, is good enough for some horses. We know the higher dose twice a day is still safe, I have absolutely no idea if a 10mg pill twice a day is safe, longer-term, for people.

[PamnReba]

Would cetirizine work for additional allergy-type symptoms?

[JB]

I have seen it listed as good for general seasonal and environmental allergies, ie hay, pollen, etc, but researched as pretty ineffective for noseeum allergies.

[PamnReba]

@JB

I have seen it listed as good for general seasonal and environmental allergies, ie hay, pollen, etc, but researched as pretty ineffective for noseeum allergies.

Well, that would be a good start. I think I’ll order some and see if she responds to it. Mostly what I’m noticing is runny eyes, and the occasional cough She got a really bad cough last fall and the vet put her on Platinum Allergy (just one container of it, it worked and was fine after that), but if I can get some kind of similar allergy relief for her now without breaking the bank, I’m willing to give it a try. We’ve had a really dry summer and fall, and her bad cough from last year did not return. Still, I’m thinking she could benefit from this. It’s worth a (cheap) shot!

[jennycash]

I’m doing the 10 mg pills and 12 pills once a day in the morning seems to work. On extremely windy days we get sporadically I’ll give him a dose morning and night.

[sascha]

Seems management and allergy meds are starting to work I’m planning on staying with the full do$e for another week or so and then seeing how far I can taper while maintaining. 48 pills a day is going to be a bit much for the wallet long term so I’m hoping I can at least half it eventually.

For those thinking about trying it but worried about fussy eaters - mine gets hers in a 1/2 cup of soaked senior with 2 (also soaked) peppermints for extra flavour flavour and thinks it is the best treat ever. Hasn’t batted an eye at the pills and definitely hasn’t turned her nose up at them. Another “pro” tip - I took a set of measuring spoons to the barn and found one that gets me a pretty accurate 24 pills per spoon. Definitely saves time over counting the stupid, tiny, jumpy little things which are especially recalcitrant when fingers are cold.