Question about Benadryl

[Islander]

Gus has always been an itchy boy in the summer time. I have never seen any raw spots, he just scratches a lot. It always seems to subside in the fall. My vet thinks it is a seasonal allergy. He seemed so itchy this week that I decided to try Benadryl to see if it helped. I have given him half of a 25 mg caplet three times so far - I was told 1 mg per pound every 8 hours. He weighs about 15 pounds,

Does anyone have any idea how long this should take to show some signs of itching relief? I don't want to keep dosing him if it is not effective, but want to give it. Fair chance to help.

Who else to ask but you folks?

[Islander]

Hmm, doesn't seem to be helping much. Will keep it handy for bee stings.

I won't use anything else on him, it's not that bad.

Maybe try some of the shampoos that have been suggested in other threads.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Malcolm's Dad]

Malcolm gets Benadryl and once an anti-itching spray. Malcolm is 18 lbs so I was chopping the end off the Benadryl tab to try and get 18 mg. That would help sometimes. Now I give him the whole 25 mg tab. It seems to take a day or two for the Benadryl to have a good effect. Don't know if the whole tab works better. There are times the tab gives good relief from the itching. Then there are times the itching was terrible and the Benadryl doesn't stop it. I got an anti-itching spray with Lidocaine and Aloe. That really helped a lot. Stopped the itching almost instantly. Only had to use the spray once so far.

Malcolm has some bad itching days and days with no itching. The vet said it is allergies from pollen. The vet has a terrier which has the same problem. I'm thinking there are days with high pollen counts that really bother Malcolm and then days with little pollen that doesn't bother him that much. I'll use the whole Benadryl tab when he needs it. That seems to take care of it although it takes a while to work. The one time I needed the anti-itching spray that worked the fastest.

Malcolm has not been bathed with shampoo. I'm going to try an oatmeal and aloe bath. Never put Malcolm in the bathtub so this will be an ordeal. I'll probably get more shampoo than he will.

Glad Gus doesn't itch too bad. If you do need to use the Benadryl it might take a day or two to work.

[Toto-lee Cairn]

Have been reading everything I can find on pollen and dogs.

Toto actually vomited this a.m., and his stools were not as firm as what I normally, or like, to see.  So, I am trying to assess what could be the issue before I make a trip to the vet (no problem with going to the vet, just trying to be proactive).  When Rupert was still with us, he had been given Benadryl via the vet's suggestion for allergies and reactions during pollen season.  Toto did OK taking Benadryl, too, but I noticed it seemed to 'excite' him.

Pollen here is so bad this year until neither George nor I have had a break from it, and the hardwood trees are beginning to leaf-out.

In my research I came across info from the AKC that our dogs may be able to take most of the meds we treat ourselves with, but under no circumstances should they ever be given a decongestant.  I can't take decongestants, either, so there is no chance I would even have a product in the house like that.

If the Benadryl tended to make Toto 'excitable.' would it be OK to try one of the other seasonal allergy meds like the AKC site suggests?  Or should I defer to Toto's vet, first?  I take Claritin, and have good results, and it was one ORC med suggested for pooches.

Suggestions, my Cairn-loving pals? 

[Hillscreek]

Very difficult to know what to say. From faraway in North  Central PA I'm wondering

Are you sure it's pollen that is affecting Toto?

AKC may suggest human meds that may be tolerable for dogs. But that doesn't necessarily mean tolerated by all breeds. 

Personally I'd take Toto to your vet. for a check to make sure it's not something else irritating his system. So hard to know sometimes.

For myself if my dog was just scratching now and then and not tearing skin and hair out I probably wouldn't bother. Up north here pollen time doesn't last very long. My cairn itched now and then but did not have the symptons you describe Toto has. 

Let us know how he does. All info useful to all of us.

Good Luck 

[Toto-lee Cairn]

Horrible pollen season here in central NC.  Right now, it;s the oaks, sycamores, and maples.  I've never suffered with allergies in the Spring but this year got me.  And poor Toto, who sneezes and coughs, and comes in from the yard with yellow paws.  He rubs himself on the carpets, with me trying to wipe him down.

The vet says to continue giving him Benadryl, as needed. It helps, but I also thinks it tends to excite him.  Different antihistamines affect us in different ways -- Benadryl puts me to sleep, 5 minutes tops, and makes me think of a child on a 'sugar high' for the Cairn.  I am relieved the Benadryl helps him, though, and he hasn't required other meds to get him past this.  I'm two prescriptions, later, a neti pot and saline nasal spray, with an occasional inhaler, away from absolute misery.  But, we are on the downside of the tree allergy season here.

It's almost time for Toto's spring/summer cut (I did mention I scrapped stripping him after the first year, didn't I?).  We've had crazy temp swings from the 40s to the upper 80s, and while the rain washes the pollen away, it sets up mold.  Toto avoids the lawn, and skips, hops, and jumps, from mulched bed to mulched bed.  It is the funniest thing, watching him, skirt the house like he does.

I try to bathe him to keep his coat pollen-free, which takes George and me, easily the better part of an hour.  It would make for a great video.

Hope you, and your pals, aren't sneezing your heads off.

 

 

 

[Eliz222]

Pollen is bad here right now. Atticus started to bite his paws today so I gave him 1/2 a benadryl pill about an hour ago. The vet said that if it makes him too drowsy, we could try Zrytek.

[Toto-lee Cairn]

Interesting note about the Zyrtek.  I didn't know that was acceptable, but it's good to know.  I would swear Benadryl has the opposite effect on my Toto -- makes him excited, which is horrible for me if I'm taking it as I can't keep my eyes open.

Our pollen season is waning, and the paw licking has improved, as has his sneezing.  I still suspect an allergy to grass.  It is entertaining to watch Toto dance across the yard to avoid the grass, walking the dirt edges of the woods, or sticking to the flowerbeds.  He, and the Toto before him, had grass allergies.  At least this Toto fares somewhat better.  No coat issues -- knock on wood (or his little head).

[Eliz222]

The Benadryl I gave Atticus yesterday afternoon worked and so far he's still not itching....knock on wood! We are at the end of the allergy season here too, but DH is still suffering from it.

My Scout use to walk outside to avoid grass. She would walk on the sidewalks instead of the grass. She didn't have allergies, so I'm not sure why she did it. I sure miss her quirks!

[Sam I Am]

Just make sure the Benadryl does not have xylitol…deadly for dogs

[Eliz222]

18 hours ago, Sam I Am said:

Just make sure the Benadryl does not have xylitol…deadly for dogs

Good point! I didn't know they put Xylitol in Benadryl! I checked, and my bottle doesn't contain it.

[bradl]

I appreciate the reminder on xylitol — it appears anywhere and everywhere these days and in places I never would think about! 

[Toto-lee Cairn]

15 hours ago, bradl said:

I appreciate the reminder on xylitol — it appears anywhere and everywhere these days and in places I never would think about! 

The things we learn.  Thanks for the reminder about the xylitol.  And you are so right, Brad, checking labels reveals it is in a lot of things.  I have to check labels for all sorts of things for myself, so I just automatically read labels carefully.  One also has to learn alternate names, usually chemical, too.  My tests reveled an allergy to -- get ready for this! -- Vaseline and Vitamin E -- which most skincare products contain.  Of course, recognizing the petroleum product is relative easy, but vitamin  e has another chemical name for its synthetic counterpart.

Scary that we can no longer trust products -- not for ourselves, and less so for our pets.

 

[Toto-lee Cairn]

Benadryl makes a difference for Toto, and it is hard to judge if the excitability is all-Cairn or antihistamine-induced.

And with the tree pollen finally drawing to a close, that helps.  At least until the grass pollen(s) here start.  Our weather guys on the local stations always share what's aggravating our allergies, and the % it's out there, so that helps.

Again, hope it is improving for you Guys too.

[Toto-lee Cairn]

On 8/20/2014 at 9:33 PM, Islander said:

 

Maybe try some of the shampoos that have been suggested in other threads.

 

Some of the commercial shampoos work well.  There is also a shampoo available from the vet (prescription designed for both cats and dogs) that is very effective.  The Cairn Rescue group I worked with for years, also recommended diluting the gold-colored variety of Listerine (the original) 50/50 in a spray bottle to spritz onto the dog, and work into its coat.  That works well, too, but it is getting difficult to find original Listerine.

I also feed grain-free kibble, topped with a canned food, to avoid a yeasty coat.  You can tell by the poor dog scratching, and a very funky smell.

[Catalyzt]

Benadryl (diphenhydramine) has some chemical similarities with SSRIs, which I believe are very dangerous medications (though we don't need to open that can of worms here!)  I do not know if SSRIs are dangerous for dogs, or if they were, whether benadryl would share those effects.

Benadryl's active ingredient, diphenhydramine, is also pretty anticholinergic, which in humans carries some risk of  dementia with long term use.  Again, I don't know if dogs would experience the same risk.

My bias would be to go easy with benadryl, or carefully weigh the risk/benefit analysis, though I freely admit that my own bias is a 50-50 split between science and silliness.  To be clear: I generally avoid giving my dogs drugs that I wouldn't take, or would only take rarely myself, and worry less about drugs that I have found to be safe for me.

This is a bit ridiculous... I think?  But I know that, for example, I much prefer propofol as a primary anesthetic for dental surgery, because I've had so little problem with it... during dental surgery!   It's really easy for an anesthesiologist to manage... with Spike, for example, they give him just enough to keep him unconscious... if he starts to show any sign of waking up, they can give him just a hair more, and he goes right out.  (They use other sedatives as well, but propofol is the primary one.)  It's so fast acting-- figuring the half life is a little wacky, but the effect of the drug is really short.  Benadryl has a really long half life, and the effect of the drug is quite long, in my experience.  It's useless to take for sleep if you wake up at 3:00 AM, at least for me-- I'm too groggy for the morning commute.

Weirdly, benadryl can increase heart and respiratory rate in dogs, and is sometimes used for that purpose in veterinary anesthesia to counteract drugs that decrease heart rate-- weird, huh?  Wild speculation, but maybe Toto's excitation has something to do with that.

The other thing is that I have found benadryl has not helped much with itching except in topical form, for poison ivy.  It does work well as a  decongestant and it's okay as a sedative, if taken relatively early in the evening-- and again, that's for me, not Spike!