Would be nice, more educational if they provided video examples
Would be nice, more educational if they provided video examples
Update: We used about 300 tablets of the Zytec. I think it might have reduced the intensity of him clearing his nostrils, but certainly not the frequency. Spoke with vet and we’re now wetting his food plus soaking his hay at night (during the day, he’s either on a round bale or grass). He also wears the Guardian mask every day. The head shaking is almost totally gone. I saw him do it the other day and was surprised. Also, the head shaking wasn’t very intense. Sadly to say, he’s still snorting while grazing and one mare has started this also. For him, the Guardian mask worked wonders. The vet had suggested I start with the most UV protection and then move down to less UV protection if it was hindering his sight. We’re really happy. What to do about the snorting??? I don’t know. If anyone has any thoughts, I’d appreciate it. Right now, he’s just a pasture ornament. Thanks!
www.calmhealthyhorses.com has some interesting thoughts of HS based upon seasonality of diet. Spring/summer grass being richer in some minerals and the mineral imbalance contributes to HS. The website advises getting off alfalfa, a very common hay for us out here.
I suppose some truth to that, given the use of Mg supplements for HS. But for us SoCal folks with year round sunshine and stabled (no pasture) horses on hay, it might not be applicable.
@Dressage59, what daily dosage did you use of Zyrtec?
I didn’t know if that was just a statement or question – but surprisingly studies have noted that ablation of those cysts appears to stop head-shaking – although the reason for removal was to address sudden onset spookiness, not HS.
It’s an interesting connection to me because my horse had both CN cysts and the allergies/headshaking. But in my case they came on during different time periods.
First the horse had the issues with the cysts and got ablation and went back to normal. Then, more than a year late, we had the allergy issues which caused the headshaking. For my horse they really seemed to be separate in time and not related. BUT interestingly, he did have both…
@BlueDrifter We used the generic Costco version per our vet. I don’t remember the dosage, but 300 pills came in the bottle and we gave 12 pills twice a day. The vet said that we could decrease it to 9 pills if the hacking/coughing/snorting subsided, but it never did. He’s off them now. He’s still doing snorting, but I want to think he’s a little better. Maybe spring is worse than summer??
@Dressage59. Thanks! It appears the human dose is 10mg per day. A horse is roughly 8-10x as big as a person, so I would guess the dose would be 8 or 10 pills just once a day, not twice. I’ll see if I can find any other comments on Zyrtec dosing in equines to validate.
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@vxf111 Your case is very interesting!
Going out on a limb here…
…tentaively I am theorizing HS associated with cystic CN must be more horizontal in nature – shaking the dang blind spot out of their vision – something very mechanical and physical. I don’t think a nose net would make a difference. Whereas, I assume the HS due to the trigeminal nerve triggering might be more vertical - like being sparked – likely to be caused by photosensitivity stimulating the urge to sneeze or itch. Nose nets and masks make sense here. Lastly, there is HS as a result of allergies, which might cause both vertical and horizontal HS caused by pollens or diet. Nose nets and masks won’t filter out pollen, but I can see they might stifle the urge to sneeze/itch. I would think antihistamines also work here.
The prevalence of “over-fed, under-worked, coming off a lay-up” in HS is a wild card. Almost makes me think diet in some manner.
Does your horse respond to antihistamines now? Have you ever checked to see if the CN cysts have reappeared?
I think I will likely go forward with the ablation. His cyst is large and no doubt causing some vision issues. He is not spooky, but very head shy on that side. If nothing else, it rules it out for a HS reason. I won’t make the decision for a couple weeks. I want to see if I can narrow down any other triggers. Did you have any issues with ablation? Did HS stop the next day?
My horse is now retired due to unrelated navicular issues causing lameness.
I never had him on antihistamines. When I got the diagnosis of the allergies, I eliminated allergens from his diet and did allergy shots. He is still on a diet without those allergens (well, except when he steals a bite of his buddies’ food) and he has never had the headshaking come back.
I have not had his eyes specifically evaluated post-ablation recovery. He has none of the (pretty obvious) symptoms he had when the cysts were bothering him. Even walking in/out of the barn you could tell his vision was not right. Now he shows none of those signs. headshaking was never a symptom of the CN cysts for him. My horse had the issues with the CN during one period of time (spooking, having trouble adjusting going from light to dark, acting like he saw things that weren’t there) and then after the ablation, later, developed the headshaking that turned out to be a symptom of allergies. The HS came on well after the CN cysts were treated.
The ablation was hugely no-big-deal and my horse recovered great. I’d recommend that for CN cysts to anyone. Of all the veterinary issues he’s gone through, that was the easiest to resolve. No side effects, speedy recovery, he didn’t seem to be in pain or bothered. Just went in, got it done, eye meds for a few days, and then back to normal.
Thanks, VXf111, very helpful! Especially your recommendation for the ablation. His HS might not be CN cyst related, and he might not be very spooky, but he has to be having some vision issues. I have only once had him hesitate on going from light-to-dark, but I just wrote it off. And he wants to keep me on his left side, which I attributed to being a former rope horse and being handled on left (cyst is in right eye), but maybe it is the cyst. Thanks again!
