Using Human Antihistamines On Dogs

[Leema]

I have a dog that is very allergic to something in my house/garden, but we have not been able to identify what that something is. We have tried lots of things.

If he is on anything less than 40mg of Macrolone (Prednisone) a day, he is itchy and red. Obviously, this is not a long term solution.

Unfortunately, the long-term medication suggested by the vet was quote at $640 for a 2 month supply... This is just not something that I can afford right now.

(My dog weighs 45kgs, hence dosages and costs are always going to be higher.)

I have a friend who has her dog on human antihistamines on an ongoing basis due to allergies.

I was wondering if anyone else has put their dogs on human antihistamines. Which ones?

Is there any vet in Adelaide I could attend to walk me through?

Can responses PLEASE REFRAIN from suggesting possible allergens and refrain from different shampoos/vitamins/supplements/etc. I just want this to be a discussion on human antihistamines. Thank-you.

[J...]

This was a useful reference - a friend was using Periactin with good success.

http://www.ingleburnvet.com.au/antihistamines.htm

[kelpiecuddles]

My mum's dog was on Claratyne for many years, as advised by her vet. Not positive but pretty sure she had half table per day and she weighed about 16kg.

[VizslaMomma]

I have with the Vet's OK, given the Hungarian Vizslas polarmine.

We could ascertain they reacted badly to being stung by bees & wasps. Developed severe hives & swollen faces every time.

Yes, there was one dog that had other allergies. I was successful with islating the cause & treating accordingly. I will leave that for another topic, however.

Cost wise the human antihistamine is much less, For us, effective too.

:)

[Staffyluv]

My old SBT, Ollie has mast cell tumours and one of the effects is that MCTs release histamine (the same reaction as a allergic one)..

We dosed him with 1 polaramine tablet a day for 6 years and it bought the histamine release to a point of rarely happening.

When it first started, he always had what looked like hives on him, his fur standing up in circular sort of patterns and he used to scratch heaps.

I think by the 6 month mark of starting him on the histamine, he may have had about 4 more of these episodes in the next 5 years...

Ollie was about 21kgs.

There is a thread pinned at the top of the health threads that gives the doses of all human antihistamines for weight.. Page 3, post 42 of the General Health thread..

I have used claratyne before and it didn't seem to work as well as the polaramine..

Edited April 1, 2014 by Staffyluv

[VizslaMomma]

This was a useful reference - a friend was using Periactin with good success.

http://www.ingleburnvet.com.au/antihistamines.htm

OhMy Dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How spooky is that.

We went to that Clinic. We were out at a pinic and ZsaZsa was stung....

Off topic but what a small world.

[Leema]

Thank-you. What you're saying sounds good and has given me some hope. I just about died at the suggestion of $640 for meds for him.

Now just suggestions of a vet in SA that can hold my hand? If there's none, I'll just... Try things...

[VizslaMomma]

Thank-you. What you're saying sounds good and has given me some hope. I just about died at the suggestion of $640 for meds for him.

Now just suggestions of a vet in SA that can hold my hand? If there's none, I'll just... Try things...

NSW based so no info there.

No doubt persphone will pop into the thread with info.

Carefully monitored and with the correct dosage the human tablets should be very useful.

Good Luck for you & the scratchy baby.

[kelpiecuddles]

If you can't find a vet to help then i would follow the dosage instruction on that page and see how you go. The antihistamines widely used off label for dogs have a very large safety margin.

[Dogsfevr]

We have used Zrytec .claratyne,phenergen & a number of generic brands .Periactin we have used for appetite stimulant

We board dogs & many vets now are prescribing anti histamines on a daily use for dogs with issues .The most common is Phenergan but it can make them drowsy .

The dogs on these vary with issues ,some are highly reactive to stings & others just seasonal stuff ,some work better on some dogs & not others.

The biggest issue ofcourse is what hes reacting to & whether a antihistamine will work but it won't hurt.

Whilst you say no supplements there are some that can work very well & are cheap as chips ,we use a flax seed granule $8 a bag ,we have a number of clients also using it & found a massive difference with there itchy dogs .

[mita]

I was advised to use polaramine for our sheltie with skin allergies. The vet said the 'human' polaramine from the chemist was the same as the veterinary antihistamine.... but cheaper.

Was successful.

[White Shepherd mom]

I use Telfast on Casper and it works wonders. A few years ago he went through an allergic phase, red skin and very itchy. A Telfast a day took care of that and he's had no more problems since. The last time I gave him a Telfast was a couple of months ago when I got home and noticed one of his paws was very swollen. We had a few bees around at the time and I guessed he'd walked into the flower bed (as evidenced by the flattened stems!) and stepped on a bee. An hour later, his foot was back to normal. Casper weighs 30kg.

[Leema]

Thank-you for the advice.

You have given me confidence to go and buy Periactin today (was a top runner with my Facebook friends) and will give this dog a very low dose tonight (because I'm paranoid about side effects as I'm doing this on the sly), and then will start a 'proper dose' from tomorrow assuming he get drowsy as a result of the Preiactin... He's a sighthound, he doesn't need to be drowsy!