Golden Retriever Dog Forums banner

Allergic Reaction

2K views 20 replies 7 participants last post by  Altairss 
#1 ·
Poor Mack had to make a visit to the emergency vet last night. Around 8:30 I noticed a lump on his left cheek and he started itching his face. I gave him 50 mg of Benadryl tablets and tried to settle him down. As the night went on he started to become restless, excessively thirsty, itchy all over, and his face and jowls swelled up huge. His left cheek was so swollen it was pulling his lower eyelid down and out. I decided it was time to head to the E-vet. They determined it was an allergic rxn and gave him injectable Benadryl and after that didn't work they followed it with dexamethasone injection. Thankfully that brought his face down by about 50% and settled him down. Now this morning my poor guy looks better, but has liquid diarrhea. :frown2: The vet thinks it was a bite of some sort (he was chasing bugs in the morning, but that was quite a while before all of this happened...like 12 hours earlier). I just hope it wasn't a mosquito bc I'm afraid we'll be dealing with this all the time. Has anyone else dealt with this? Did the steroid cause diarrhea?
 
#2 ·
My bridge boy got bit and stung many times. A trip to the vet for a shot and Benadryl was used.

He's been gone for about 5 years now, but i don't remember him ever having diarrhea.

The diarrhea may be caused by what he was given or maybe he ate something outside.

Call your Vet clinic to see what they suggest, you may want to withhold food for a while to let his stomach settle down, then give him some boiled chicken and rice. I'd check with your Vet first though.

Hope he's doing better soon.
 
#8 ·
Did you say they gave him a steroid? Perhaps the peeing is from that?
Yes they gave him a very strong steroid so it must be. I just feel so bad for him. After he peed everywhere he looked at me with an embarrassed face. He almost seemed confused like he didn't know that he did it. I didn't even say anything, I just hugged him and pet him to let him know it was ok. Poor guy.
 
#7 ·
Poor Mack, I hope he's back to normal soon, my boy used to get bitten alot during the summer months and his face would swell up dramatically. Like Karen said the injection could be causing the peeing. Sending a hug to your sweet boy.
 
#10 ·
We had a Corgi who had a bad habit of chasing and snapping at bees. She got stung and her face swelled up to the point her eyes were completely closed and she couldn't see out of them. We took her to the vet after we gave her Benadryl (which didn't seem to help at all) and she was given a injection of Benadryl which also did not work. I can't remember what the second injection was (this happened about 8 years ago) and that did seem to work but it took several days for the swelling to disappear completely. She looked kind of chipmunk like for about 4 days. I do remember she had a runny tummy for about a day after the injections. The vet had said that she might have some stomach issues for a few days after the treatment and might not be very keen on eating. As I recall the diarrhea stopped within about 24 hours. I do remember also that she drank a lot more water than usual for about 4 days. I assumed that was also the result of the medications. One would think that after this the dog would have avoided bees like the plague but she continued to snap at bees until the day she died...and I held my breath every time she did it hoping she would not be stung again. I am sorry poor little Mack had to go thru this:(
 
#11 ·
Thanks G-bear! Thats exactly how it went here with the meds. He certainly does love to chase all bugs...bees, wasps, moths are a favorite...we will see how this goes. He's very quiet today. Doesn't want to eat much and I had a hard time getting the Benadryl in him, doesn't want to go out, but at least his face looks much better. I stayed home from work and am cuddling him in the AC.
 
#12 ·
Our Zeke had a terrible reaction to what we've guessed was an insect sting. His face very quickly became swollen and his eyes and nose very red. While we were on the way to the E-vet he started to have trouble breathing. They gave him two injections and it all resolved very quickly. I don't recall any digestive or urinary control issues. We were told to, and did keep Benadryl around to give him at the first sign of an allergic reaction. I think we used it a couple of times but he never had another dramatic allergic reaction.
 
#15 ·
Checking in on sweet Mack. I'm sure if you call and ask the vet anything you're concerned about, they will ease your fears.
Hi Karen! Thanks for checking in! Mack is 100% today thankfully! I spoke to the vet yesterday and they thought the diarrhea was from the allergic reaction. He didn't have another BM until this AM and it was back to completely normal. Also, no more strange peeing accidents. The vet thought that was from the steroid as well. He has his energy and spunk back and looks normal again. He sure did scare me.
 
#21 ·
Yikes so glad he is back to normal Tink had that happen when she was a puppy so scary her face was huge somewhere I have a picture of it, off to the vet and lots of Benadryl as prescribed by the vet it came down, she did have a tummy upset for about a day. We were pretty sure it was a bee or wasp sting.
She just did it again this last week and as soon as I saw the swelling thankfully noticed right away I started treating with the Benadryl and it did not get as swollen but still took a day and half to return to full normal.

I carry Benadryl on me at all times just in case as she loves to pick berries and its way to easy to get stung.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top