rat-safe antihistamine

[Petunia]

other than pediatric benadryl, is there any other antihistamine that is safe for rats?

My boy Owen used to be on benadryl as he had allergies but it made him so sleepy I didn't like to give it to him unless he was really stuffed up and sneezing a lot.

One of my new boys has allergies as well and I was wondering if any one knows if rats could have claritin instead?

Not sure if claritin comes in a pediatric formula, but that's what I take for my allergies and while it's not strong enough when my allergies are really bad, at least it doesn't have the terrible side effects of benadryl

 

[Petunia]

ok this is sad, I googled safe antihistamines for rats and got this [I mean it's sad that they subjected these animals to high doses to see if any would die etc]:

"Loratadine(claritin) is a tricyclic long-acting antihistamine with selective peripheral histamine H1-receptor antagonist activity. In humans, loratadine is well absorbed orally and extensively metabolized to an active metabolite. Most of the parent drug is excreted unchanged in the urine. The mean elimination half-life in humans is 8.4 hr. Loratadine appears to have a large margin of safety in laboratory animals. No deaths were reported at oral doses up to 5 g/kg in rats and mice. In rats, mice, and monkeys, no clinical signs were observed at 10 times the maximum recommended human daily oral dose."

that's from the Merck manual for vets
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/toxicol ... icity.html


so it appears it would be quite safe, but it doesn't say if it's effective...

hmm.
weird that they have a recommended dose for cats/dogs of benadryl (diphenhydramine sp?) and a list of the side effects, but no recommended dose for loratadine/claritin even though it has far fewer side effects

weird.

 

[jorats]

I've used allergy elixir in the past, just some store brand name.

 

[Mk2]

I've used allergy elixir in the past, just some store brand name.

What result did this "allergy elixir" give, is it a very temporary relieve? How was it applied, with what dosages and regimen?

Also I have only found things such as Dimetapp, CVS, and Benadryl branded Allergy Elixir? Thanks jorats! Or anyone who wants to chime in.

 

[jorats]

My vet had told us it was ok to give anywhere from 0.5 to 1 ml twice a day. Of course you start at the lowest dose and work your way up if need be. My mom did it for one of her rats long term. It helped stop the sneezing. After all, my mom decided the sneezing wasn't so bad so Sven lived pretty well with his sneezing. He also had only 3 legs, was alpha and lived over 32 months.