I've been giving my golden two 25mg capsules of the generic equivalent of Benadryl twice a day for his allergies for several months now. It basically completely eliminated redness and some bad scratching and all of his allergy symptoms, and I've talked to people who's vets recommended it for their dogs. No side effects with it in my dog- they don't make him drowsy at all. So, in theory, problem solved, right?
The thing is, I'm a little concerned about whether there could be some negative long-term effects with him taking it daily the rest of his life. You know, like the way a human taking Tylenol would be more likely to develop liver damage. I don't have any reason to think that there would be long-term side effects, the Internet indicates that there probably aren't, but this seems like a knowledgeable group, so I thought I'd double check here.
I took him off the Benadryl for a couple days to see if maybe his allergies had gone away since we're hitting the dead of winter, and he's starting to scratch again, so it looks like these are year-round allergies rather than just seasonal. Because the generic Benadryl basically solves all the symptoms, I'm inclined to go back to it, unless there is a compelling reason not to.
So, what do you guys know about Benadryl and goldens? Alright for long-term use?
Like a lot of humans, I take allergy medicine (albeit not Benadryl) every day and probably will for the rest of my life without there being much risk of long-term issues from it. So, in theory, it seems like a dog could do the same. But I figured I'd check.
The thing is, I'm a little concerned about whether there could be some negative long-term effects with him taking it daily the rest of his life. You know, like the way a human taking Tylenol would be more likely to develop liver damage. I don't have any reason to think that there would be long-term side effects, the Internet indicates that there probably aren't, but this seems like a knowledgeable group, so I thought I'd double check here.
I took him off the Benadryl for a couple days to see if maybe his allergies had gone away since we're hitting the dead of winter, and he's starting to scratch again, so it looks like these are year-round allergies rather than just seasonal. Because the generic Benadryl basically solves all the symptoms, I'm inclined to go back to it, unless there is a compelling reason not to.
So, what do you guys know about Benadryl and goldens? Alright for long-term use?
Like a lot of humans, I take allergy medicine (albeit not Benadryl) every day and probably will for the rest of my life without there being much risk of long-term issues from it. So, in theory, it seems like a dog could do the same. But I figured I'd check.
It may be that, down the road, he builds a tolerance for that particular type of antihistamine, but if it is providing good results that's great!
