Horner's syndrome

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VeDDRA Code: 702

520 adverse event reports referencing this reaction

520
Total Reports
43
Deaths
830.0%
Death Rate

Species Most Affected

Cat 297
Dog 218
Horse 2
Ferret 2
Other 1

Breeds Most Affected

Domestic Shorthair 189
Retriever - Labrador 55
Cat (unknown) 25
Retriever - Golden 23
Domestic Mediumhair 16
Domestic Longhair 15
Boxer (German Boxer) 11
Crossbred Canine/dog 10
Domestic (unspecified) 9
Spaniel (unspecified) 8

Associated Drugs

Florfenicol + Mometasone Furoate + Terbinafine Hydrochloride 156
Betamethasone + Florfenicol + Terbinafine 43
Maropitant Citrate 34
Bedinvetmab 33
Florfenicol/Terbinafine Hydrochloride/Mometasone Furoate 32
Florfenicol, Terbinafine, Betamethasone Acetate 31
Prednisone 23
Oclacitinib Maleate 21
Trilostane 19
Gabapentin 19
Ear Cleaner 19
Buprenorphine 18
Cefovecin 16
Mirtazapine 16
Prednisolone 14
Carprofen 13
Cefovecin Sodium 13
Milbemycin Oxime + Spinosad 13
Enrofloxacin 13
Rabies Vaccine 13

Data Summary

Metric Value
Total reports referencing reaction 520
Reports with fatal outcome 43
Case-fatality rate (reported events) 830.0%
Species observed 5
Breeds observed 20
Drugs associated with reaction 20

Source: FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reporting (CVM AER); reaction term coded under VeDDRA 702.

Horner's syndrome Reaction Insights

The FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine database currently lists 520 adverse event reports that reference Horner's syndrome as a reaction term, including 43 reports with a death outcome — a 830.0% case-fatality figure calculated across only those events where this reaction was coded. The reaction is indexed in the openFDA system under VeDDRA code 702, the standardized veterinary dictionary used to normalize clinical signs across submitters. Because reports are voluntary and often describe multiple concurrent signs per animal, the volume here reflects reporting intensity rather than true incidence in the broader pet population.

Horner's syndrome appears most frequently in reports for Cat (297 reports), Dog (218 reports), Horse (2 reports) — with Cat dominating at 297 entries. Within those species, the breeds most often named alongside this reaction are Domestic Shorthair (189), Retriever - Labrador (55), Cat (unknown) (25). These distributions are influenced both by underlying breed popularity and by how veterinarians and owners code a given clinical sign, so they should be interpreted as a reporting fingerprint rather than a pure susceptibility ranking.

The drugs most commonly co-reported with Horner's syndrome are Florfenicol + Mometasone Furoate + Terbinafine Hydrochloride (156 reports), Betamethasone + Florfenicol + Terbinafine (43 reports), Maropitant Citrate (34 reports), Bedinvetmab (33 reports), with Florfenicol + Mometasone Furoate + Terbinafine Hydrochloride appearing alongside this reaction in 156 submissions. Co-reporting does not establish that any specific product caused the reaction — FDA CVM data captures temporal association only. The value of these aggregates is in flagging which therapeutic classes appear repeatedly alongside a given clinical sign, so owners and veterinarians can ask targeted questions about medications currently in use.

Source: FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reports FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reports Data reflects voluntary submissions and may not represent actual incidence rates

Related

Data sourced from official AKC, AVMA, ACVO, and breed-club veterinary references. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBreed Editorial