If your cat is showing allergy symptoms, especially excessive scratching, you may be considering giving them Loratadine as a remedy. Genearlly it’s not a good idea to give your cat these types of drugs, as a vet will be the best person to properly diagnose and treat your cat. By taking things into your own hands you’re really gambling with your cat’s well-being.
Allergies fall into two basic categories: Severe and not. If your cat is having a severe allergy attack this warrants a vet visit or at the very least a phone call to get more accurate advice. If the allergies are only moderate then you can safely let your cat deal with it on their own, and it should pass. If you notice that they condition is getting to be chronic, and they keep having the same mild reactions day after day, you’ll also want to consult with a vet to get the proper treatment.
If your vet determines that your cat would be best served by a drug, they will prescribe them a feline medication that will be formulated properly for them, and will be dosed according to their size and weight, as well as their breed and previous medical history. These medications may cost a bit more, and won’t be covered by a health care plan, but if your cat is truly suffering it will be worth it that you sought out a proper solution.
Can I Give My Cat Loratadine? Answer: Not Recommended
Loratadine is a pretty powerful drug, and not one that would be a good idea to tinker with and try to find the right dose for your cat. It wasn’t developed for feline use, and there’s no proper way to take a medication made for humans and make it alright for cats. You can account for the smaller body weight, but you can’t account for the fact that it’s a different species of mammal and has many differences that will make the drug work differently for them.
Cats and Allergies
Interestingly enough it’s usually humans that are allergic to cats, but cats can also develop allergies to certain triggers in the air or in the environment. The good news is that they’re equipped to handle this on their own and usually will be fine without your involvement. In some instances though they’re going to need you to step in. You’ll be able to be tipped off on this by seeing them scratch an itch to the point of bleeding, or
Removing the Allergens
Rather than try to treat your cat with medication it is often a better idea to identify and then remove the things that are triggering their allergies. Treating a cat for the symptoms they’re showing is one thing, but it’s a far better idea to try to get rid of the cause, and then the symptoms go away on their own. Since cats would normally be outside roaming in the wild, they may not be used to things like cigarette smoke, dust, and pollen that can build up in the home and start causing reactions.
Your Role as Owner
Giving your cat medications like Loratadine is really like playing a guessing game with their health and well-being. You wouldn’t want someone to do that to you, and therefore you don’t want to do that to your cat. In most instances of cat allergies the basic game plan is to leave well enough alone. If things advance and escalate then you can call your vet or bring them in directly if you feel that your cat needs immediate attention. Aside from that as the owner your best strategy is to observe, take notes, and take action only when they really need it.
Learning when to take action to help your cat and when to let them be is one of the most important skills you’ll acquire as their owner. They’re counting on you to give them the best life experience, and sometimes that means taking them to see a professional, and other times it means doing nothing but watching them and seeing how they’re progressing. In time you’ll develop a natural instinct and you’ll know exactly what to do at all times.
Our vet said 5mg of Loratadine was perfectly fine to give our cat in tablet form as the liquid contains propylene glycol which is dangerous for cats.
Yes. I just came back from my vet and she wants me to give half of a pill (5mg) of Loratadine crushed in food.
Antihistamines are often recommended as a less costly treatment in cases of multiple airborne allergens, and I think some of the prescription ones are worse than the OTC options like chlorpheniramine, cetirizine, and loratadine. You more commonly see the first two recommended, at least for otherwise healthy cats, but that might mainly be because loratadine has been less studied. In any case, success can vary greatly at least with the second generation antihistamines, and owners are often reduced to trying what has at least been tried extra-label in veterinary medicine.
My cat has Loretadine at 2.5mg per day if she is particularly itchy. She has injections from the vet through the summer for her allergies but it’s too expensive on a continual basis and her allergies decrease as the colder weather kicks in.
If I didn’t give her Loretadine she would drive herself mad scratching and biting. Obviously it depends, but it works for my cat. She’s 13 and a bit doddery but she’s still a happy old gal.