So, fingers crossed, but I think we might be turning this around. At least this morning he was no longer blindly, frantically body slamming the shed posts instead of eating breakfast. What seems to be working: Zyrtec at the dosage I think @JB suggested? Anyway, the 10mg per 100 pound weight, every 12 hours. (which is roughly the .2 to .4 mg per kg if I did the math right…) Let me tell you that is A lot of Zyrtec when the horse weighs in at 1800! I’m thinking that I might be able to taper that to once a day?
And then the Coat Defense. He went into orbit when I first applied it, I think it was the peppermint in it that stung. But I was able to put more on this morning, and he actually enjoyed it. The really good news is that even though he is still raw from his sheath to his girth, with raw elbows as well, he is no longer getting worrisomely hot and swollen in front of his sheath. I was going to call the vet out this morning (rather than just chat on the phone) but I think I’ve managed to avoid that…
Also plenty of fly spray. The test will be when I go out this evening, this morning was wicked buggy. So if he is going to be itchy…!
Side note, do all horse people turn their fancy coffee grinders into pill grinders?
Yes.
But with Zyrtec have you tried just feeing them whole tossed into just about anything loose?
Most horses I know that get that have no problem just eating it in their food. It appears to not have a bad taste.
This might be worth talking to your vet about, so you can approach this with a plan before it gets really bad next year.
But know, you are not alone.
I haven’t tried that, I knew I could hide it in his mash (soaked beet pulp pellets) and wanted to make sure he didn’t go around them. Not that he is a picky eater usually!
I think you need to continue the 2x a day but decrease the # of pills in each dose to see the lowest effective number of pills. In the fall when the allergens taper off, I can take my horse down from 20 to 10 pills twice a day before discontinuing for the winter.
My picky eater has no problem eating 12 Zyrtec loose in his RB. Must not taste like anything. Occasionally he misses a pill or two and I just stick those in a banana or something. He gets suspicious if I try to hand feed just the pills.
My guy gets 10 Zyrtec pills in his mash every morning, no problems with getting them down the hatch.
That was me: “0.2-0.4 mg/kg bw administered at 12 h intervals”
And just feed the pills whole. Horses eat them fine. I’ve also made horse cookies with a specific number of certirizine pills in them (air dry type) so I could just hand a cookie over the fence vs bringing in for a bucket if needed.
Tried just tossing the pills in loose, they got eaten right up. So that is a positive! And while visibly fussy this morning, he thought about the shed but didn’t feel so itchy that he needed to rub his neck on it; which he had also started to rub raw. Did catch him doing the doggy belly rub in the field though.
Less edema and swelling, but still huge (two to three inches long, half inch wide) raw patches in several places. And of course, no hair at all, that will take a while. In the good news, it is raining so fewer gnats, in the bad news that means that the Coat Defense isn’t staying on as well. But, since anything goopy was making him uncomfortable as well, I’m sticking with it.
@Xanthoria, @JB, and all, thanks!
This episode is making me reconsider the fact that I have an excellent set up for horses that can always be out, but a poor setup (though doable) if I truly needed to put someone in a stall for any length of time. I need to change that.
Yep, Xanthoria on this thread, though I’ve given that dosing on several others
Glad it’s making improvements! It might take several days for it to take full effect.
0.2mg/kg would be 100mg for an 1100lb horse, so you’re probably dosing on the low end of the range, as 10mg/100lb would be 110mg for a 1100lb horse
Personally I would start at the high end until you have as much effect as you think you’ll get, then start reducing the number of pills first to get the lowest effective dose, then see if you can go once a day even if that means maybe more pills that one time
I used half a 5 gallon bucket of garlic on my itchy horse and never saw a difference. I used Tri-Tec fly spray on him daily and that gave him some relief. Last year it was so bad he had rubbed all the hair off his shoulder and was bleeding and raw. Most years he’d rub out his mane and tail and his belly. Poor guys. Hope you find the right combination.
FWIW- My 1,480lb draft cross is currently getting 15 pills twice a day, just tossed into her grain, she eats them up easily.
I don’t know about tapering to once a day, but when I put my mare on 10x 10mg pills 2x a day, her symptoms came back. She is on 12x 10mg pills 2x a day and is well-managed. She weighs 1440 as of last Friday at the vet hospital, so she is getting less than the recommended mg/kg and is doing okay. So, rather than taper the frequency, maybe taper the dose a bit.
Also, Costco is cheapest on generic Zyrtec, but Amazon is a close second and I use that for convenience:
GoodSense All Day Allergy, Cetirizine Hydrochloride Tablets, 10 mg, Antihistamine, 365 Count https://a.co/d/2gSZhOm
ETA: I don’t grind it, I feed it whole, top dressing her breakfast and dinner. She doesn’t object (and she’s picky!)
Sorry to derail, but… talk me off a ledge. How many HH, may I ask? My Oldenburg with a TB daddy is 1440 and isn’t that tall. I feel like we are on a perpetual cycle of diets then too skinny then too fat. At least we’re down from 1520!
Amazon basics is the best price I’ve found. And I don’t feel like too much of a weirdo buying multiple large bottles at a time doing it online.
Amazon Basic Care All Day Allergy, Cetirizine Hydrochloride Tablets, 10 mg, Antihistamine, 300 Count https://a.co/d/8UMH5cv
