Yes that is what I have. I think it’s worth it to be able to use saline instead of more drugs. It seems to help. But since it has been so dry, I tried to reduce the Zyrtec recently (given change in season), and I couldn’t get away with that even with keeping up the saline.
I think this horse is also sensitive to steroids, so if we ever do have to go that route, I’d rather try it inhaled vs oral.
Yea I’ve had to increase Zyrtec this fall but she’s still not comfortable u/s. My vet wants us to avoid oral steroids so thinking I may have to bite the bullet and buy a nebulizer.
A quick update on our beastie. We moved from the Southeast to the Midwest and, so far, the allergies are less intense. She’s going to love winter, lol.
Interesting. Zyrtec is helping mine this year. Just started it back on March. We’re moving soon, so I’m interested to see how or if that changes anything.
My stallion is on them periodically; he reacts to certain things, eye(s) get puffy, etc. They absolutely help him. Vet says start him at 15/day, back down to 10 when things look better, then I usually stop after about a week. My other gelding gets hivey type little bumps and they help him too.
DEFINITELY go generic; I think the amazon brand is called “good sense” or something close to that. There may be better deals somewhere but this was the best I found. Edited to add: they are 24 hour. Both horses eat them when stirred into grain at mealtime.
We use it on a POA mare for allergies. She scarfs them down, no problem. No reactions. I did try them on my App gelding and it made him reactive and spooky.
My RAO horse has been on zyrtec for years. It’s helps but isn’t a game changer. The supplement aleria has been a game changer. Highly recommend, even though it’s pricey.
It’s been a bad year for my poor horse and his hives. He was on Benadryl all last year and it worked well. Vet suggested going to Zyrtec, but we thought we’d try a supplement (Equishield SA) first so I wouldn’t have to take him off his meds for shows. The supplement was no help, so put him on Zyrtec. He still had bumps and he was itchier than he had been last year on Benadryl, so I thought I’d put him back on it. Holy hives, Batman! His bumps were all over eeek! And he looked so miserable. Talked to the vet and he’s back on Zyrtec plus we now have added hydroxyzine to the mix. Two doses of that combination and the bumps were down by about 75% this morning. He looked much happier.
Oy!
I’m not showing rated again until August so we’ll deal with the drug/show issue then. I usually give him the allowed dosage of dex and he’s OK for a couple of days.
So I have one with melanomas and mast cells and one with skin allergies. Yay! Horse dermatology central here but it could be worse…
Add us to the Zyrtec takers. This week I noticed some major eye puffiness. Had the vet out who gave him a shot of dex, has him on the dex eye ointment for 3 days and double dose of Zyrtec for 5. It’s helped a lot and I’ve stocked up at Sam’s Club to keep him going at the maintenance dose through October.
Charlie has a history of reacting to vaccines in the fall and spring (high fevers). I was told by a vet tech friend that the Zyrtec could possibly help that depending on what part of the vaccine flares him up. Has anyone had any luck with Zyrtec on that end? We are going to be splitting fall up this year but boy that would be nice if the Zyrtec would help with that.
Late to the party here and off-topic, but how do you administer an inhaled drug to a horse, out of curiosity?
There are several devices to use with regular puffers (human meds) and one newer drug (ciclesonide - Aservo) that comes with its own (stupid, wasteful, annoying) device that can’t be refilled or used for any other drug.
I had this one for Salbutmol and Fluticasone
https://www.trudellanimalhealth.com/product/aerohippus-chamber?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInOzbusu8-QIV7vLjBx3gcQCgEAAYASAAEgLo1_D_BwE
Currently using the Aservo inhaler and wishing it came generic so I could use it with my Aerohippus 
My experience exactly. The Aservo inhaler is ghastly expensive, annoying to use, and wasteful. Switched to an Aerohippus and find it much easier.
The Aerohippus is essentially a spacer for horses, similar to the ones used for humans.
Add us to the Zyrtec users but for us, it’s for pastern dermatitis which is a bit of a misnomer as it is all the way above his hocks and up to his knees. He absolutely blew up this weekend that we had to have the vet out. 3 days of IV DMSO, IV bute, antibiotics and a leg wrap and sweat, we are on our way to recovery. My vet thinks there is an allergic component to his extreme case so we are on 25 tabs twice a day as he is a big boy at 1375 pounds. Then maybe taper a tad until first frost here .
That sounds awful! What was the initial cause?
My guy is having some hellish lower leg itchiness (reaction to the unmown pasture grass I believe…grrrrr).
He’s easily over 1200 lbs. I’m only feeding him 12 Zyrtec a day (6 at AM and PM feeds). Should I raise the dosage? He’s miserable.
I would give him 12 once a day. My understanding is that it’s good for 24 hours. That’s how I take care of mine and it seems to be working
While people should only take cetirizine every 24 hours, horses can, and often need to, take it every 12 hours
The studied dose is .2-.4mg/kg every 12-24 hours.
The dose is 0.2-0.4 mg per kg every 12 hours. at 1200 pounds your guy is 545 kg so the low dose at 0.2mg/kg would be 11 tabs every 12 hours. Double that for the 0.4mg/kg dose.
Scratches compounded by some allergen in the grass.
25 tabs twice a day is the upper dose of 0.4 mg/kg/every 12 hours.
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