Spring update a little late…
He had a relatively small (and yet expensive) corenal ulcer (unrelated to anything, pasture accident of some kind) back in the fall. Banamine, topical antibiotic, topical anti fungal, and soothing eye wash. Vet said it was fine to give him anti-histimines and his allergy shots with all of that on his normal schedule (although he did go off of his Rimadyl because he was getting Banamine).
Went off anti-histimines over the winter, before Thanksgiving, all the way through the end of February. Breathing was fairly good during this time, but towards mid February it was clearly getting scratchy again, but I left him off so the vet could hear his breathing during spring shots. The vet said his breathing then, with no anti-histimines or anything, was an improvement over what it was before he started the allergy shots when he was getting ventipulmin, so that’s fantastic! After going back on anti-histimines it’s back to pretty much perfect. Definitely got a questioning look at CostCo checkout when I bought 9 “one year supply” bottles of CostCo brand “compare to Zyrtec” a-h (at least the price was reasonable, not tooooo heart stopping).
Only other detail is the first allergy shot I gave him after he stopped a-h, he got a nice big itchy reaction…so after that I gave him 5 “compare to Zyrtec” when I gave him his shots, which eliminated any visible reaction (still a little bit itchy on his neck/shoulders, but he really is itchy all over so it’s hard to say if it’s more or less)…
He also had a big hematoma from a tick bite, after he was back on the a-h, so nothing is doing anything for that allergy, but since I don’t want ticks anywhere near him and use topical repellent for that during the season, I’m not too bothered.
Otherwise allergy shots still on a steady every two weeks schedule (with ramp ups every time we get new vials). Not sure what set of vials we’re even on any more, but lots.
Giving the allergy shots with winter fur was not the most fun… If anyone has any tips…
Shedding started even earlier this year, he started having the first few hairs loose right at the solstice, and was in full on buckets-of-fur by early February. Actually we had a warm February, so he was probably happier just then, but then March was miserably colder than normal and they’re whispering the s-n-o-w word for this weekend, so he may be having second thoughts… Anyway, I think the ventipulmin was 100% responsible for the change in shedding.
Weight is still a little heavier than I would like ideally, but not terrible. Don’t want to start dieting him yet with it still unpredictably cold. Definitely in his old age he doesn’t go out and exercise himself as much, more content to just sit around the barn and hoover up alfalfa (although he started getting a little sassy towards me, so I’ve been working him rather more than I was in the fall, and he’s been enjoying it and digging in, so that’s another yay!).
Still on straight alfalfa during the winter for hay, since the only other thing really available here is Timothy which is one of his allergies. His spring bloodwork came back with high calcium, which I hope is just a result of this plus Triple Crown Senior (which is also high calcium). I’m going to start a separate thread about that. Otherwise bloodwork normal, if anything tending towards the middle of values that had been slightly low or high. Grass trying to come in, if it ever stops having cold spells, and once it’s really in the hay will go away anyway.