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Hello, I am attempting to treat a friends welsh pony whilst they are on holidays. The horse developed a severe skin condition which seemed to be sparked by an allergic reaction to what I believe may have been a jack jumper bite (ant) but I am not sure. Is there an antihistamine that may be effective such as Phenergan? cheers, Trev
Optional Information: Type of Animal: Welsh mountain pony Gender: Female Age: 18 Name of Horse: Abbey Already Tried: Lice control, changed food to a low starch, low carb diet, removed rug which seems to help, treated with dexafort inj, sulprim powder and neocort cream. This seems to have eased the itching and eliminated the infection, but appears to still have itching areas.
Hi there, I'm Dr B and I'm happy to help you with your questions today.
Unfortunately, antihistamines do not usually work well in horses. The only antihistamine that I've had any success with is hydroxyzine pamoate 200mg once to twice daily. You would probably have to get this compounded since this is a MUCH higher dose than the human formulation.
What I would also consider is trying azium (dexamethasone) powder for a few days - your veterinarian could prescribe this at a low enough dose that you should be able to clear up the itching without side effects such as laminitis.
If this becomes a more long-term problem (eg, it comes right back after a course of dexamethasone), I usually recommend doing allergy testing to figure out exactly what the horse is having a reaction to, so that we can come up with a better plan to control itching.
I see that you are currently offline. I am going to leave the chat, but I am happy to return if you have any additional questions. If you have any other concerns that you would like me to address, please just reply to the chat and I'll return. Thanks, and best of luck with Abbey! ~Dr B
Experience: I currently work in small animal medicine but received extensive training in equine medicine and was a member of AAEP.