Ant Bites....?

[Craig Boyle]

On Sunday evening we got quite a scare. One of our 2 boxers came up to our back screen door with her face swollen to about twice normal size! Her eyes were closed to little slits, eyebrows puffing out like a prize-fighter, and jowls hugely puffing out.
She also had hives breaking out on her rear legs.

Fortunately she seemed to be breathing fine. Fearing poison at that point, we rushed her to the local 24hr animal emergency clinic, where the doc felt she had either been stung by a bee(s) or had gotten into something else. The doc administered a 2 shots - a benedryl injection and I believe something called "dex" - and after about 1 hour the swelling began to subside quite considerably. (whew!)

Upon arriving home after the vet, I did a search around the backyard to see if I could find a "nest" or something that might have caused this. I discovered a rather sizeable colony of black ants just at the side of our house that were swarming, and an overturned rock just next to them! Now, Im not 100% sure that this is what she got into, but I have high suspicions. These arent "red" ants or "fire" ants, just the small brown "regular" type.

Anyone have a similiar situation? I'll post a pic when i get them developed to show her swollen face about 1 hour after the treatment. The swellng was pretty much completely gone after about 12 hours.

 

[merebel]

Yep, sure did

Hello,
Our 1st boxer was like that. He went out side for a while to run and play. Then when I called him back in I noticed that his head was twice as big. We honestly didn't have any money for the vet at the time so we gave him Benadryl. It worked within 6 hours. We never did figure out what happened. What you said does make alot of since cause boxers have that tendency to be nosey. Just thought that I would let you know that you aren't the only one out there that had that same thing happen. Have a great 4th of July!!

April and Reesy Johnson

 

[boxerpat]

Sophie eats all bugs, well, basically anything that she sees move! I noticed her licking her lips constantly and went over to investigate and found a big black ant stuck to her upper lip. I had to literally pull the thing off with a tissue and it left a bloody spot on her lip. The area around the bite swelled some, but not her whole face. But she did welt and hive up with a spider bite that required a visit to the vets and medicine. I believe the pic is in the puppy pictures of her hives.

 

[coveyjt]

Just the other day, Powder and I were outside. I was doin' some grill'n and she was getting some sun on the deck. I went inside for something and when I came back she was on the grass licking her paw. She wouldn't stand to see if she could put weight on it. At first I thought she jumped off the deck and twisted or broke her foot. Of course the first thing I was going to do was take her to her vet. After a better look from doctor Mom she determined she got stung by a bee. We gave her some Benadryl and within a couple hours she was doing the boxer burn again. Thank God she wasn't allergic to those little stinging critters. BTW I put weed killer on the clover attracting the bees. Can't scare daddy like that. I'm not getting any younger.

 

[SkippyToo]

Oh, yes, we've experienced something very similar, in fact, just recently.

Delilah, bless her heart, came to bed one night licking her lips. She continued licking them to the point where it worried me. My husband began searching her mouth and found that it was full, inside the lips, jowls, etc..., of tiny black/brown ants. It took him about 1/2 hour to remove all of the ants. She did not swell up right then; however, she began swelling slightly in the eyes a few days later. She broke out in hives from head to toe as well. The vet examined her and said that she had "gotten into something that she had a reaction to." I know it seems strange that her reaction happened days later, but it did. We gave her Benadryl for a few days and then she only broke out in hives periodically for the rest of the week.

Delilah is a little girl that loves bugs, frogs and turtles. The other night she came to the door with a small tail hanging out of her mouth. I can handle insects, frogs, and even the tiny lizards that we get; however, I cannot handle the snakes. We haven't seen many this year, thank goodness. I do not know if this "thing" hanging out of her mouth was a baby snake or a lizard but I wouldn't let her in the house until my husband verified that her mouth was indeed empty. See, she loves to dig, sniff, and be inquisitive. We just have to watch these kids constantly!

Thank goodness your baby recovered from the bad reaction!

Mary, Samson and Delilah

 

[boxer4]

Yep, myself and the dogs have bit by ants this year. I noticed little bites all over their bellies and went to look where they were laying in the yard and there were dozens( if not more) little brown ants all over. As I was looking I felt a sharp pain on the top of my foot. It was a tiny brown ant chomping on me. It hurt so bad I expected to see something bigger but that little sucker could sure bite. We have those big black ant around a lot and I would expect them to hurt but this little thing:confused:
I ended up with a big welt on my foot that nothing got rid of, except for time and it stung even days after. I felt so bad for my babies they must have felt the stinging too and they had a lot more bites. I gave us all benedryl and put some benedryl cream on the bites. Theirs went away a lot faster than mine thank goodness:cool:

Peg, Jan, Brandi, Caesar, Jake & Maggie

 

[Roxanna]

You just described Elmo's reaction to bee stings. He resembled an English Bulldog from the swelling.

I have black widows on my property and because Elmo has a real genius for trouble, I have to check daily before letting my two outside.

 

[Craig Boyle]

thanks all, nice to know I dont have the only ant-eater Boxer!
She's back to normal, no more swelling! thanks again

 

[Michaels2]

yup sure did

this happened to my 3 yr. old Murphy, and it was a sting from a very small wasp, face was all swelled up lips were so swollen they were hard, and was broke out with hives all over his body and the same as yours no trouble with breathing, was told by the e=vet to use benadryl and watch him close which we did and he started to get better the next dat...poor little guy he was only 10 months at the time. And he has been stung a few time after that and has had no reaction since.