Can you give antihistamines to dogs?

[Snowspeckledeyelashes]

Our 6 yr old terrier gets really, really itchy during the summer months. It started a couple of years ago. The vet said it was a flea allergy. However, we keep up to date with the flea program and he hasn’t had any fleas at all for a year or two but still every summer he starts this constant scratching/nibbling and drags himself along dry grass and mats/rugs to ease his itchiness, he then gets all red and sore.
We keep his fur short and wash him with the shampoo from the vets but nothing is working (we have a tea tree cream which helps a little).
I’m wondering if it’s some kind of doggy hayfever and if you can give dogs human antihistamines? I’ve seen a few things mentioned on the internet but wondering if it’s a no-no or not?
Thing is, I know if we take him to the vets they’ll probably charge us £60 odd quid for something similar!!

Poor boy! Could be hayfever.

I'm told - but check it - they can have children's Piriton.

Yes you can and it's exactly the same thing from the shops. But you do need to get the dosage right. Hopefully someone on here can help with that.

He’s only small, a Norfolk terrier, so I’m wondering if a quarter of a tablet would work?

Our vet recommended half a tablet for our border collie which seems to work well, we get our hay fever tablets from Aldi.

Which tablet, itsallrubbish? One is OK for them, but many are poisonous.

Snow yes you can use anti-histimines but as pp said some are poisonous for dogs. You can use Piriton (NOT PIRITEZE) these are made from Chlorphenamine maleate. If you found an off-brand with 'exactly' the same ingredients, including any fillers/mixer ingredients and same dosage per pill I imagine that would be okay, but would check with your vet - who should have given you this information - so moan at them it's pretty irresponsible not to. Ours will take phone calls on this stuff freee of charge day or night. Don't buy from the vet there's a massive mark-up, there is also a vet-prescribed allergy med - can't remember name - that is a once a day dose.

Not sure what shampoo you're using but if Malaseb quite harsh so best to wash all over with very mild baby shampoo and then concentrate the Malaseb on itchy areas. The baby shampoo will remove the allergens and the Malaseb treat the irritated skin. As much as possible keep your dog out of grassy areas and keep grass short if you have it. If have to take dog to grassy areas, rinse them off afterwards to remove the irritants. Also avoid pollen, don't have lots of flowers around etc. There is an Allergy UK assoc, as allergies huge in humans now too, and can follow their guidelines re: what plants are most likely to cause allergies many are same for dogs as for us: we had one in our garden that caused problems when it flowered and when we removed it really helped

Snow sorry also vets can do allergy testing but it's expensive. We had our oldest dog tested and was very useful. Have to say if in 6 years your vet has not suggested this or pointed out possibility of allergies to things other than fleas your vet sounds a less than thorough - or massively out of date as dog allergies such a massive area that there are many practices with resident dermatologists. I'd consider changing vet if they're that unhelpful on minor things, how trustworthy would they be on major?

Our terrier is allergic to grass. She has one piriton a day on the vet's advice.

I'd try bathing her in a gentle baby shampoo then keeping her totally off grass for a couple of weeks, see if the itching calms down.

I’ve held off the antihistamines until I can speak to the vet, just incase, don’t want to make him worse. I’m going to get some mild or baby shampoo later dot it is Malaseb I have and I don’t think it helps him. Going to get some more tea tree spray from the pet shop, that’s the only thing which seems to help him. Poor bubs he’s been scratching all morning, it’s making me feel itchy as well!

On the advice of the vet we've been giving our collie cross PIRITON for years. I've put it in caps because there's tonnes of them out there but this one is safe for doggies. For reference he's medium sized and would normally have 1 a day when needed, sometimes 2. They do have a drowsy effect.

I gave our cat half a tablet of the one we get from Lidl. Apparently they metabolise it differently so the dosage is different to humans, as she's definitely less than half our size! Think we had to give twice a day. Probably different for dogs, but vets would have charged a fortune for it!

Second Piriton here, we used the liquid version (on vet advice). Just to warn you, don't mention you want it for your dog if you buy it over the counter...nobody will sell you it 🙈

Yes you can. My dog has allergies; itchy skin, sores and scabs. we tried Zyrtec at our vets advice. My dog is medium sized 15kgs. He was on one tablet a day but it didn’t help. He is now on Apoquel which is an allergy tablet specifically for pets. It works well for him. It can cause long term effects but he is symptom free and much happier.

Yes as the others have said. I also have to recommend this non-stinky stuff

www.stinky-stuff.co.uk/product-cat/dog-remedies/

It's an oil that you can rub onto ththe dogs sore/itchy spots, plus feed them a spoonful and mix with the shampoo base when you wash them. It's incredible. It has absolutely saved my terrier and his allergies.

My cats have been prescribed half tablets of Piriton as well, for skin/over grooming issues. Thy don’t make a special car version.

Cat version*

Ooh defo try stinky stuff, it is pure bloody magic!

Isn't it @mustbemad17? I can't praise it enough

There are a few organic tea tree dig shampoos around, they sound quite nice.

*dog!

Another good anti itch shampoo is this one
propooch.com/collections/grooming/products/oatmeal-dog-shampoo

My dog has piriton, on advice of the vet. He’s had malaseb and another special vet one, but in laws washed him with Australian bodycare tea tree shampoo, I was really annoyed as they’d had specific instructions not to use anything but the malaseb, but it actually really helped him, it’s all

I had a Yorkie with a pollen allergy, and the only thing that cured the terrible itching was daily low doses of steroids during the hay fever season.