# Best allergy tablets for horses?



## Wagtail (26 July 2012)

What are the best allergy tablets for horses. My mare gets a terrible cough during the summer. She is fine in herself and has no discharge, but the cough is really hacking at times. It even keeps me awake! She gets it when the pollen count is high. I was thinking of trying her on cetirizine hydrochloride (ten pills a day). Any other suggestions? Dosage etc.


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## Ladybird (26 July 2012)

Have used piriton in the past for a skin reaction, worked very well and has been prescribed to my dog by a vet so I believe fairly safe for animals!

I gave 8 tablets to a 12.2 welsh X for an idea of dosage.


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## Finn (26 July 2012)

My mare is on some mixed pollen tablets from a company called Equis Health. I bought them from my local feed/ tack shop and to be honest since shes been on them her eyes have stopped runnning and shes stopped getting a runny/ snotty nose. She did have to have 2 lots of Ventipulmin from the vets though to get rid of her cough a few months back but since being on these tablets she hasnt coughed since.

Hope you find something that works for your mare.


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## Wagtail (26 July 2012)

Thanks. She has been prone to coughing ever since she had pneumonia a few years ago, but only in the summer. It does seem to coinside with the nice weather, and so I suspect that it's the pollen.


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## mjcssjw2 (26 July 2012)

have a look at the other thread on this, antihistamines are not thought to be very effective in horses, think they are usually given steriods but then need to be careful of laminitis.
have to tried a nose veil, helps my horse and you can get them.


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## qaz (26 July 2012)

Also if your horse is sensitive to the pollen in your area then if you feed locally produced honey which contains the locally produced pollens then it desensitises them. I think the same benefit applies to hayfever sufferers too.


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## tinap (26 July 2012)

Piriton has always worked well on my boy but it has to be given in large amounts - 15 tablets at once for a 14hh cob type pony as prescribed by vet xx


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## glenruby (26 July 2012)

Antihistamines are not very effective in horses. Hydroxyzine hydrochloride has been proven to be the most effective antihistamine in horses. All antihistamine doses are 2-3 times daily so become prohibitively expensive for a drug with such poor efficacy. Often a combination of steroids/ventipulmin/sputolosin (particularly effective for harsh dry coughs inCOPD sufferers in my experience) will be necessary to get the condition back to a stage that can be maintained by good husbandry alone.If your horse's allergies are causing a fairly consistent cough it is best to speak to your vet do that together you can come up with a plan to manage it properly.


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## lizzi2 (26 July 2012)

Suggest asking the vet for their thoughts on best supplements - are so many to choose from and they do vary a LOT, (not only in their cost, but ingredients and efficiency).


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## Wagtail (26 July 2012)

Thank you. I gave her 8 cetirizine pills this morning and the cough is better than yesterday. I have only herd her twice. She started with it as soon as this recent hot spell arrived. Obviously, if she worstens or does not get better, I will get the vet out. But at the moment, it looks as thoug the pills are having some effect.


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