# Equine Antihistamine - is there one?



## Bounty (23 April 2008)

Is there an equine antihistamine product available?

I will be talking to the vet on monday anyway, but just wondering whether there were any other types of product available on the market, i.e. not through the vet?


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## spaniel (23 April 2008)

Ive now had two vets tell me that antihistamines (the over the counter human type ones) are useless in horses.  You would need to feed them by the bucket load to have any effect whatsoever and at that point the horse would either have a reaction or fall asleep.

I know some people swear by giving their horses piriton and goodness knows what but it only makes the owner feel better and does nothing for the horse.

Have you a specific problem you are trying to deal with ?


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## Bounty (23 April 2008)

Boo is coming up with lumps over her body. They are initially fleshy lumps like fly bites, but over 24hours they reduce and become predominantly flat with a scabby core. When I brush them out it is taking patches of hair with it - she has spent the wonter looking decidedly moth eaten! 
	
	
		
		
	


	





We spoke to the vets about it back in January and he wanted to treat them with steroids, but I was reluctant to do so and decided to try and find the cause. 
I think I've ruled out everything it could be  over the past 4 months and still she is lumpy 
	
	
		
		
	


	





I just read whilst googling that someone has been feeding children's liquid Benedryl to their horse.... must cost a FORTUNE!


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## kanter (23 April 2008)

I agree that in theory piriton and other anti-histamines shouldn't work, however I had a friend whose horse would periodically come up in huge bumps all over, she used to give him 6 piriton tabs and they'd be gone within hours. Maybe they would have been gone anyway, who knows.

Another horse I knew that got lumps had a sugar intolerance. Have you tried eliminating all sugar from his diet? Even one polo mint would set this horse off so you have to be quite scrupulous


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## JessPickle (23 April 2008)

Pickle gets that reaction you say above from stinging nettles, touching them or eating them brings him out in lumps


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## spaniel (23 April 2008)

Bounty are they really itchy?


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## Bounty (23 April 2008)

Spans - no, not itchy at all. 

Jess - there aren't any nettles in her field, and since Jan she has been predominantly rugged, so I ruled out stings or bites.

Kanter - I have eliminated everything I can think of, molasses was my last hope really. She's now on Alfa A Oil and TopSpec Antilam  to avoid as much suger as poss, and as treats she only gets carrots  or the antilam, as I won't even risk the amount of sugar in H&amp;P nuts 
	
	
		
		
	


	






Thanks for suggestions guys, keep them coming as I am at my wits end with them


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## Governor (23 April 2008)

I've got my Aunt to bring something called AniHist (antihistamine granules) back from the USA for me. I have no idea if a) it works or b) its availible over here though.

G gets awful hamster-cheeks in spring and autumn and while i've got the wheezing and snottiness under control with somewhat restricted turnout and a herbal concoction (Allergy Allay - this months experiment - good but expensive so I won't buy another bottle).

This Anihist stuff is $11 a tub so not the end of the world if its rubbish. Will let you know.


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## VLHIEASTON (23 April 2008)

yes, prednislone, about 10 a day.


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## Bounty (24 April 2008)

That would be fantastic if you could let me know how you get on with it - I may have to give my relatives in America a call


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## Bounty (24 April 2008)

Where would I get that from, and what sort of money are we talking?

ETS: Just googled and it is steroid based 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 May well end up o something similar on vets advice, but I wanted to avoid steroids as far as possible.


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## Shilasdair (24 April 2008)

I've just had the vet out to my 3yo (the grey) who has had urticaria like lumps for the past couple of weeks....the vet said she had allergic skin disease to fly bites, gave me two steroid injections and prednislone tablets (steroids again) to treat her.
My 3yo being the unique devil pony that she is, as soon as the vet had left, before I injected her, all the lumps virtually disappeared...
Vets have also suggested antihistamines for my TB who is allergic to oilseed rape...but she needed something like 40 pills a day - not worth it for mixed results.
Have you tried fly rugs, avoiding shampoos etc to eliminate the source of the allergy?
S


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## SALLYT (24 April 2008)

I posted about lumps the other week, tbh they sound identical ending in a scurffy top, they pick off or brush out and I have noticed that they slowly take his fur away.

I have found the cause to be the new supply of haylage, I have put him back on hay and they are slowly going, he looks so much better already. I have put some very diluted hibiscrub on the affected areas so not sure if this has helped or not.

When he previously broke out in lumps the vet said that he was almost sure it was down to a reaction of some kind, and he did give me a steroid injection then and they went down almost straight away, however if it is a reaction to something without finding what that something is, you would be going around in circles.

The vet can take some blood samples and test for allergies, it might be worth a try.


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## sloulou (24 April 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
yes, prednislone, about 10 a day. 

[/ QUOTE ]

they aren't antihistamines tho  
	
	
		
		
	


	




  they are steroids.

I know someone who uses something called Kenalog - again a steroid though...


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## Bounty (24 April 2008)

I'm almost 100% sure that it can't be fly bites - she can get new lumps in the space of an hour whilst stabled and rugged.

So far I have tried: 
*changing rugs - have had them professionally cleaned and even bought new ones to try, to make sure it wasn't the detergents they were being cleaned with
*making sure she has spotlessly clean rugs/numnahs everyday
*grooming her thoroughly daily - thought it make be a grease build up issue
*washing them in a similar way to the way I'd treat mudfever, i.e. hibiscrubbing to lift the scabs
*washing with various shampoos
*not grooming her - thought I may be stripping too much oil!
*changing the grazing
*changing the feed balancer
*changing and reducing the chaff - thought bumps may be a sign of protein overload, and also a reaction to molasses, so she is now on Alfa A Oil.
*changed rugging density - thought lumps may be a heat reaction, though I am certainly not one for overrugging anyway.
*changed from haylage to hay


I know that sounds like a lot of change, but I have been quite systematic about it and it has been done over several (since last june) months 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 It was in January that they got worse and really started to affect us, as I can't ride her when the lumps are out in force on her saddle area.


She is a very sensitive person anyway - if a fly or midge bites her she will come up with a reaction. Hence I make sure she isn't in the field unrugged in the evenings when the midges are at their worst, and I can't/won't work her in the evenings either.
She wears a fly rug pretty much all the time she isn't wearing a NZ - though I think the next step is to upgrade it to a Boett?

The lumps a 'lumpy' on her saddle area and sides, but are much more like hives on her flanks. 


*sob* I don't know what to do. The vet suggested steroid injections into the lumps, but there are so many I wouldn't be able to keep up, particularly if I can't find the source.


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## Bounty (24 April 2008)

I think blood tests etc are going to be the only way of pin-pointing it - unless you can see anything on my list above (though I think I have missed a couple out!) that I haven't addressed yet?


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## Bounty (24 April 2008)

Will look into Kenalog as well - at least by doing my homework I will be able to get more out of a conversation with the vet


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## spaniel (24 April 2008)

Have you tried stripping everything out of the bed and satble and scrubbing the floor and walls with Virkon?  It may be fungal/spore related.


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## MaverickMD (24 April 2008)

Hi There

My mare has the same sort of lump problem - but only at certain times of the year - or when I have tried to feed her sugar beet - therefore I can only assume it is a sugar / fructose intolerance or similar.  Something she is eating in the grass.

When she has had a really bad bout of the bumps - my vet prescribed Zaditen Tablets made by Sandoz 1 mg does - 60 tabs - they are a human tablet and were fed at 8 twice a day for a few days then 6, then 4 then 2 - I think they helped her.

Hope this is of help.

MaverickMD


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## Bounty (24 April 2008)

Not really recently, though the stables had a complete makeover last summer, being disinfected, having the floors resealed and the walls repainted.
She still suffers from the lumps when living out in the summer though?

I'll disinfect it again on saturday when I have the pressure washer and Virkon out (am doing Tills' foaling box in anticipation of the Diddly! 
	
	
		
		
	


	




)

*tears hair out*


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## Bounty (24 April 2008)

Yet more food for thought, thanks Maverick 
	
	
		
		
	


	





Which times of year is your mare generally affected?


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## Foxford (24 April 2008)

If you are at all suspicious of sugar, cut out the carrots!! Might be worth a try - you sound as though you are doing everything! You don't think it's the bedding do you? I looked after an itchy horse and the vet suggested it as a possible cause.


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## Bounty (24 April 2008)

Carrots don't seem to be the problem - she had them cut out for 2months and she was still lumpy 
	
	
		
		
	


	





Bedding wise she has been on straw, shavings and cushionbed (similar to Easibed) and no bedding at all (rubber matting).

Gosh, the more I write this down the more I realise that I am running out of options


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## Foxford (24 April 2008)

Oh dear! I guess a blood test is your next option then?


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## Bounty (24 April 2008)

Looks like it


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## MaverickMD (24 April 2008)

Usually early Spring and Early Autumn I have the lumps which take the fur off - usually start on her sides and saddle area but when she gets a really good bout of them it is all up her neck and chest as well.

Maverick


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## wishfulthinking (25 April 2008)

This is going to sound a bit left field and I'm sure you've tried treating for it but is there any way she has a light lice burden, the biting ones can be hard to spot at times. If you really have tried everything then perhaps a spot on treatment wouldn't hurt? Just in case?


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## Bounty (25 April 2008)

One of the shampoos I have used is a medicated, lice killing one - she came to us with a massive lice burden, among other things, and she was prescribed the shampoo then, so I used that. 

I'm quite happy to try again though, and she will find herself liberally doused in louse powder tonight!


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## lhotse (25 April 2008)

We used to give our old pony a human asthma drug, I think it was called Zaditen or something like that. He had perivascular dermatitus, basically if he was bitten his body would go into overdrive. Don't know what started it of, one day he was fine and the next he nearly collapsed with a severe reaction. He was on the tablets for several years and they definitely helped a lot. Ask your vet about it.


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