Scary vet visit...

[Melgoglia]

Abigail had been playing outside yesterday about 2:00 I noticed one of her eyes looked swollen so we got out the benadryl. If seem to help she didn't swell anymore.. We went out to get a bite to eat later on and when we returned she looked like a shar-pei both eyes almost swollen shut, lips really swollen and knots all over her body. I gave her another dose of benadryl; some of the swelling seem to go down. She acted fine wanting to play no breathing problems just looked lumpy all over. We were getting ready for bed and I wanted to give her a bit more benadryl before going to bed. Her lips were actually hard to the touch they were so swollen. She would not lay down seemed so fidgety, nervous, wanting you to rub her. I called the vet, her regular vet was closed or course with it being Sunday so I called the emergency office. They wanted her brought in so off we went. By the time we had gotten there her eyes were so swollen shut, lips approx 1 inch thick, knots all over her ..it was really scary. They took her right back and gave her a shot of benadryl some of the swelling reduced almost immediately. They also gave her a shot of cortisone which did wonders. We had to wait about 20 minutes after this before we could head for home. Long night we got home 2:00am... but this morning she was back to normal except for the bags under her eyes and she still had some swelling in her lips. They told me her lips could take 2-3 days to get back to normal, this was so scary.. All they could say was she had an allergic reaction to something but what …Will I ever know? I was so afraid she would begin having breathing problems her neck had huge knots on it. Did something bite her? Did she eat something she shouldn't have? I wish I knew to avoid whatever it is.. I'm so afraid it will happen again .. this is the second time and this time was far worse than the 1st. The 1st time she was approx 2 months old.. we gave her benadryl and within 30 minutes she was fine but not this time.. it's like the benadryl didn't even effect her.. the vet told me when it happen again to give a much larger dose.. 1mg per pound with the 1st being even more.. she weighs 58 pds and they want me to give her 75mg then reduce to 60 afterwards.. she really had me scared..

 

[Baby Bella]

Oh Mel, you must have been terrified!! I am so glad they got her swelling down. Can you remember anything she may have come in contact with that she doesn't normally come in contact with? Perhaps a visitor with a different detergent or perfume? Did she eat anything different...treats? etc......I hope you can figure out what is causing this so neither you nor her have to go through this again. Poor Abigail......she must have been so confused....wondering why her lips were so big. Keep us posted on how she does!!

 

[Dutch04]

We went through something similar with Dutch but he didn't have swollen eyes or lips. In the middle of the night, he went around running like crazy itching and woke us up. He was kicking his feet back on the carpet and was so anxious. We turned the light on to see him covered in hives the size of quarters.

We gave him one benedryl and nothing happened. Then another an hour or so later. Finally, we went to the ER vet too and he got a prednisone pack. The vet asked me all the standard questions but for the life of us we couldn't think of anything that had changed in his environment or diet. Realizing the allergy could have started suddenly as a result of his diet, even though he was never allergic before, I decided to feed him chicken and rice for a week. No hives. I slowly incorporated his regular kibble back into his diet and no change, he was still hive free.

Since that day, no hives. The vet thinks it may have been as simple as the seasons changing since tons of pets had been to the vet recently with allergies and many people as well were experiencing problems as the result of pollen.

What I did learn was that it was safe to give Dutch 2 benedryl at a time, I think I was giving too little of a dose by giving only one and then an hour later giving another one. Knowing that 2 were ok could have saved us from the ER and the $150 bill we got. Oh well, gotta take care of the kids. Bottom line is that we really never knew happened and I just watch him closely for symptoms.

 

[Mama_Zookeeper]

I am happy to hear Miss Abigail is feeling better. How scary!
Give Abby lots of kisses from me!

Dora

 

[amomof2]

I had the same kind of thing happen too. I came home from work and took Violet out of her crate and let her out. After she did her duty and turned around I was horrified to see her face all swollen up. I was too freaked out to give the benadryl time to work ---so I headed over to the emergency vet for the benadryl and cortisone shot. It took a while for her face to "deflate" but she's fine and hasn't had that happen since (knock on wood)

 

[courtney323]

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[zoefrederick]

This happened to us too.. We were on the deck and saw her snapping at something and before we could stop her, she got stung by a bee... Had a SERIOUS allergic reaction! Glad your pups OK!!

 

[crowpete]

I am so glad that your baby is ok. That must have been very scary for you!

 

[Melgoglia]

She is not one to stay outside for a long time kind of in and out all day long so she could have gotten stung by something. We've went over everything she ate and the only thing that we are wondering about is Chinese food. We had eaten Chinese Saturday night & brought the left overs home. Sunday after getting home from church my daughter fixed her a bite of low mein, Abbey was standing there drooling for a bite. Dannie said she only gave her a bite of the chicken... could that be it? It was a couple of hours later that she started swelling..

Could my baby be allergic to Chinese food, MSG, etc or maybe the seasons they used.. I know she should not have given her any but she did. I'm wondering it that could have caused it?

In any event she is back to normal and I have restocked my benadryl supply..

 

[Melgoglia]

It's not the Chinese food

When I got home from work today she was fine.. I let her out to do her business. She stayed outside for maybe 10-20 minutes and wanted back inside. The hives are back.. not nearly as back but their starting this time on her back legs and down her back. Her face is not swollen at all. Out comes the Benadyl once again ..I gave her 3 pills the max the vet said she could .. now a few hours later she is fine. Ok something in the back yard is gotta be doing this but nothings changed it's the same back yard that she had been playing in since we got her. The only thing different is we did some yard work and put out hay and grass seed but it's been down for about 3 weeks now.. I hate this I just want to know what's causing her to swell up like a balloon...