Hives and benadryl

[1FlashyFan]

Just got off the phone with the ER vet about Goldie's hives... she's covered in them and her mouth and ears are swollen terribly. She was out for 10 minutes and walked in swollen something awful. They said they could give her a shot of the same thing I just gave her, Benadryl. They wouldn't tell me how much to give her but I suspect I didn't give her enough (and she spit most of it out). My husband's picking up the benadryl meltaways and hopefully we'll have more success that way. She's drinking water and keeps bringing me her ball although she looks so pathetic I can't bring myself to let her play. If things don't improve in about 40 minutes, it's off to the ER vet. They said to worry if the hives got worse or she had diarreah, vomiting or became lethargic. So far, she doesn't seem to know she's covered in hives. She wants to eat and I'm afraid to feed her :(

 

[gmacleod]

Poor girl :(

On the benedryl, dosage is 1mg per lb of body weight. That's for the pills, but you should be able to convert that for the liquid form.

 

[1FlashyFan]

Thanks Gwyneth! I think the benadryl (whatever she actually didn't spit out) is having a positive effect. Her face is much less swollen although I can still see the hives. Do you think I could feed her soon? She's so hungry. I don't believe that it's a reaction to her food, it was much too sudden and she's not eaten anything new. Would it be fine to feed her raw tonight or would it be better to boil rice & chicken?

 

[gmacleod]

Yes, I think feeding her will be fine - especially if she wants to eat. As you say, it's not the food that's caused it, so it shouldn't make any difference to the hives. I'd just give her her normal meal

 

[1FlashyFan]

Goldie thanks you very much

 

[Laila23]

A few weeks ago I had the same problem. My dog went outside and a few minutes later was completely swollen with hives. I'm still not sure what caused it, but for now they are under control. I took my dog to the vet and they gave her a benadryl IV and sent her home with Benadryl tabs. It didn't help and a day later it happened again. But she was the same way, not even realizing she had hives! About twice a day she would break out with hives. This went on for about a week and I took her back to the vet. They put her on prednisone steroids and she hasn't had any hives since. I tried changing her food, cleaned everything in the house and no change could have caused the hives. Even though I'm sure you're terrified(as was I), unless her tongue and insides of her mouth are not covered or swollen, giving Benadryl to keep down the hives is the only thing you can do. As for the dosing-My dog weights 50 lbs and I gave her a 50mg or 2-25mg capsules of Benadryl every 5 hrs to control the hives. That amount is plenty and okay to give. If your dog is 75 lbs, then it's okay to give 75mg every 5 hrs. Let us know how it's going. Like I said, I still have no idea what caused Laila to get hives for a week, but she did and now they're gone! Hang in there, I know it's very scary to see your pup looking like that.

 

[Laila23]

Sorry, I forgot a couple more things. With my Laila, I tried giving her rice and hamburger and saw no difference in the occurance of her hives, so I would say to go ahead and feed her the normal food.
Trying to get the pills down can be very difficult, but I have learned a fool proof way! Get a slice of cheese out. Tear off 3 pieces. Wrap the pill in one of the pieces. Put all 3 pieces of cheese in your hand (and you have to do this very quickly or it wont work!) Give the first piece of plain cheese, then the cheese-covered pill piece, then the third plain piece. You have to do all of this within a couple seconds. They will be in such a hurry to eat the cheese and get the next piece that they wont even notice that they just ate a pill! Trust me, it works!

 

[1FlashyFan]

Thanks for the advise. Swelling has continued to decrease and I did feed her her normal dinner and she happily ate every last bite. She's kept everything down so far and doesn't seem to be uncomfortable or itchy. I really hope it was some type of insect bite and hope not to repeat this again anytime soon. My children were frantic and it didn't help the situation much. They've relaxed significantly now (enough to get to bed on time) and I'm hoping that by morning the remaining swelling and hives are completely gone and it's back to business as usual.

Now that I've had time to process this evening's madness, I realized how crazy Goldie must have thought we were (the children and I) running around like maniacs looking for the Benadryl. All this commotion occurred right as everyone was seated for dinner and I was about to put the last plate (my own) down so we could begin to eat. Needless to say Goldie's hive situation disrupted dinner quite severely and I forgot the last plate on the counter only to return to Goldie licking my meal. So, despite her wretched appearance I guess she wasn't feeling quite as shabby as she looked.

 

[Indy B's Mom]

Aww, poor girl. Ty and I are sending her lots of healing vibes! When Ty got his first bee sting this summer, it was the same benadryl chaos at my house. Of course I was out and had to run to the store quickly! I hope Goldie is all better real soon-I'm sure it was scary to see her like that.

 

[Elyse]

Poor Goldie. How is she doing today?? Hopefully you all (especially worrying mommy) got a good nights sleep.