While camping this past weekend our boxer Shillaleigh (5 months old) was stung by a bee. A few minutes later (about 15) the sting area swelled and she broke out in hives all over! I had just researched what to take camping in the Boxer World Forum before we left but I knew that the Benedryl was not going to do it. My husband rushed her to the local emergency vet and they gave her shots including Benedryl, a steroid, and epinephrine along with a prescription for Benedryl. She was also running a high temperature (104.7). When we returned home I called our own vet to see if I could get a prescription for an epipen in the unfortunate event that this would happen again. The vet's response was to first have Shillaleigh take allergy tests to find our what type of "bee" she was allergic to and then follow that up with serum shots to build her immunity to the sting (both very costly). My question is: Should I give Shillaleigh shots of the serum to build her immunity over a long period of time or should I find a vet who will prescribe an epipen I can carry everywhere along with some Benedryl? Help please.
