Polaramine And Pregnancy?

[pebbles]

My girl is HOPEFULLY pregnant, mated a week ago. Ocassionally she gets the itches and a couple of doses of polaramine settles it down. Is it safe to give her this if she does get the itches?

[dogmate]

Can't really help i'd check with the vet but when i was pregnant i wasn't allowed to take any antihistamines nor when breast feeding so i'd be wary but check with the vet

[pebbles]

Thanks Dogmate, think I'll avoid them for safety, it's only a short time till I find out if she is preggo and I'll just hope she doesn't get the itchies. Thanks again.

[sas]

So you're breeding an allergic dog?

[pebbles]

NO I AM NOT!! She does not have any allergies. It is a habit thing. She has only had the medication 3 times in her three years. I can stop her verbally but this isn't always practical.

[dunnwarren]

Big difference between having allergies and having the occasional itch I think. Can't help you pebbles but I would check with the vet first.

[stormie]

Big difference between having allergies and having the occasional itch I think. Can't help you pebbles but I would check with the vet first.

Depends what the 'occasional itch' is from. If the dog rolls in a type of grass and gets a bit itchy, it has allergies and has the potential to pass it on to offspring and the offspring could be a lot worse than an occasional itch.

As for Pebbles' girl, ff it's habitual scratching, then I'm not sure how an anti histamine would help and if it does ease the scratching, one would only therefore assume that the scratching was due to the release of histamine by the body, and thus an allergic response.

[shells]

I am currently pregnant. Polaramine is the only antihistamine I am allowed to take - deemed safe in human pregnancy so I dont know how that transfers to dogs

[Nekhbet]

you need to speak to a veterinarian - there are enough differences between dogs and people.

Anti-histamines wont stop a habit - dogs dont prescribe to the placebo effect. get her properly allergy tested. Just because you chastise a dog to stop doesnt mean she's not itchy (my own dog will stop when I say so because the noise he makes it gross but I know he's VERY itchy)

Edited December 9, 2010 by Nekhbet

[pebbles]

Ok let's do a bit of background - In all my years I've only had one dog with an allergy - a Border Terrier, a breed prone to allergies, and I know the difference between the scratching. A while back, Abby definitely had an issue with her feet, biting and licking. I asked here for advice, used Ernie's calandra (sp?) tea mix which I soaked her feet in and also got some polaramine tabs on advice from here. The tea eased it and I used the tabs for about a week, she's never had foot problems again so obviously it was a 'one off'. Being a long coated breed, guess I'm a bit paranoid about scratching. Abby does not scratch excessively, just the usual 'itch' thing, same as we will get, having a scratch doesn't mean allergies.

Now comes the 'bad owner' bit - she's not confined, runs around like a loony on plenty of land, not typical long coated show dog treatment and there's times when she needs a bath. and perhaps she might have a bit of a scratch, a bath and it's gone (until she gets grotty again). There was a dog living next door when I came here who had terrible allergies, scratched day and night, was red raw. This was caused by a dust allergy, confirmed by their Vet. and this area is renowned for dust, think I posted a pic of our Mallee dust storm here once. So end result I'm even more wary. Abby sleeps on my bed every night, is asleep on the arm chair at the moment so I am aware of any scratching at any time.

The few times I've used the Polaramine has probably been more of me than needed by her. I wont be using it while she is pregnant and hopefully, this will break my 'don't scratch obsession' :D