Hives, with photos

    • Gold Top Dog

    Hives, with photos

    I have no idea what is causing these. Poor Rupert has these horrible hives. I came home from work on Wednesday, took him out of his crate (he is in there for about 4 hours in the afternoon) and that's when I first noticed them. It is a wire crate with a plastic tray in the bottom. It has a metal water dish, a bed and a blanket inside. It is the same setup he's had for a long time.

    I called the vet right away and he said to give him 3 benadryl tablets every six hours for two days. I took the blanket and bed out of his crate, pulled out the tray, and searched all over for spiders, bees, bugs, etc. but didn't find anything. He had been stung once about a year ago by a hornet and it puffed up a little, but just in that one spot. Nothing like this.

    I did recently buy Bounce fabric sheets, that's the only thing I can think of that's new. I just washed the sheets on our bed (Rupert sleeps with us at night) and I washed Rupert's blanket that goes in his crate - both about a week ago - but I do not use fabric softener sheets on either of those. I'm pretty sure there could be residue left behind in the dryer from previous loads, though. Either way, I don't think I'll continue using that brand anymore.

    I continued the benadryl, but the hives kept coming back. This morning it was so bad. His legs were covered. I had to bring him in for an injection. Now he's on a steroid pill. Prednisone, 20 mg once a day for three days, then 10 mg (a half pill) for two days.

    After I post the pics I'm going to do some searching, I think I remember seeing something about milk thistle, or some holistic things to give when your dog is on steroids. Callie? Jennie?

    Anyway, here are some pics I took when I first noticed it. It got worse than this, but I ran out of film.



    • Gold Top Dog
    They were on his throat, too, but the camera decided to focus on his cute lips. [&:]



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    One more...



    • Gold Top Dog
    I would want to find out what thoes are. Could be a fungas or paricite or anything for that matter. I would ask the vet to do a skin scrap and look at it under the microscope. I've even seen mites that do that to a dog. A lot also matters on your location, there are some skin issues only in certain parts of the country that are not present in other areas so just to be safe I think the vet should take a closer look.

    Edit: ohhh, I didn't see that last pic before I posted :), now they look more like bumps than what I though I saw on the first two (first pic looked like something growing on the skin were the skin was flaking off). Humm.... not shure
    • Gold Top Dog
    Poor Rupert; Has the shot helped? I hope you find the cause; maybe he got into something in the yard or on a walk. You can pm Callie or Jennie about the milk thistle; they may know of other things that would help too; keep us posted on how he does.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Yes, he's much better now. It's not completely gone yet, though.

    He got the shot at about 12:30 this afternoon, then he had his first pill just over an hour later.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I'm glad he's better and hope he doesn't get into whatever caused it again.
    • Puppy
    I thought I would share....It really gets to us when something bothers our animals.  I have a, now 10 1/2 month old puppy....who has already been to the vet 4 additional times outside of shots, regular care and nuetering. 
     
    It definitely looks like an allergic reaction to something.  And you may have to do the process of elimination to determine what may be the cause, and you may never really know unless you do testing.
     
    I will share with you....my puppy broke out in hive spots, that of course then became like hot spots because of the inflamation, itching....he lost hair...was not looking too good.  He tested negative for typical things....mange, ringworm, and other skin problems.  We determined it was probably allergy - and more than likely to environment - pollens, grass and such.  Now..how can you keep a dog inside?
     
    I have him on a daily antihistimine (chlorpheniramine), I switched his food to one containing Omega 3 and Omega 6 (good for skin health), and I wipe him down when the allergans are high in our area.  It has helped immensely...I rarely see any reactions, and I think it is more preventative and worth it.
     
    I hope he gets better soon!

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    Poor Rupert!  Don't have any advice or suggestions, but Max sends a big pooch smooch.

    Joyce
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    Poor boy!  My KayCee's face looked very much like that when she had a reaction to her 2ed set of annual vax.  Looked like pencil erasers under the skin.  But her eyes swelled almost shut and her ears felt like they had quarters in them, hives that size.  Being a golden with a lot of long fur, and still having winter undercoat, you could feel, but not see ones on her body from like dime to silver dollar size, but her ENTIRE tummy was one very red, very hot hive and her temp was 106.8.  This was 45 minutes after her vax.  We had been the last ones to see thevet that day (good Friday 4 years ago) and since it was after hours, got answering service and they had to contact him (he was at church).  While waiting on return call, we gave her benadryl and wrapped her in wet towl and poured cool, not cold, water over the towel.  It was very scarey for us.  But he came right to hospital and gave her a couple of injections and she was fine in a few hours.  We stayed there until her temp went down to 103.  Since then, no vax for her except law required rabies.
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    Thanks for the smooch, Max! Rupert's feeling much better today. He looks great.

    Kelly, will you please kiss that little black nosie for me? It is just way too cute. [:)]

    We still don't know what caused his reaction, but our house has turned into a laundromat, washing sheets, blankets, his bed covers, etc. No fabric softener, just in case.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Welcome to idog Kelly;  Give your pup a smooch for me too; he's a doll. It sounds like you're on the right track treating your pup's allergies; I'm glad the chloropheneramine is helping. Most dogs don't start showing signs of allergies until after they're a year old; it's a shame your pup has them so early in life. Keep us posted on how he does, and if you use the search option at the top of the page you'll find lots of good information on how to treat allergies.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get to this -- it's been a rugged week. 
     
    That looks like contact allergy to me, not hives.  Do you have any  Wandering Jew in your house?  Houseplant?  green/white varigated??  Usually in a  hanging basket??
     
    If it's something like the fabric softener sheets (it could be) all it would take is for you to have done a throw rug (like a bathroom rug) in it, then someone walks on it and that oil gets walked all over the carpeting.
     
    The Benedryl is a good thing -- you may need to continue that for a while.  The pred will help with the inflammation -- sometimes you just gotta til you get something under control.
     
    Yes, milk thistle - particularly with the pred.  Give him a couple of good quality caps twice a day (Solaray is a good brand, HerbPharm is a good brand - that would be liquid -- like 2 droppersfull in his food twice a day). 
     
    If you email me I can give you a couple of hints on how to 'test' if you think you've found what it is that he's allergic to. 
    • Gold Top Dog
    Thanks for the info, Callie. We don't have any plants like that in our house. I'm wondering if they grow in the wild in our area? We're in a zone 3. I had him over at my aunt's house for a party the day before, he was outside 99% of the time. Maybe he got into some poison ivy or poison oak? I'm not sure how long it takes for a reaction to happen.

    He's better, but peeing like I've never seen a dog pee before! Cripes! He's even peed in the house. [:@] I think he doesn't even know he's doing it, though, and he feels really bad. He peed on the couch and on our bed.
    • Gold Top Dog
      The wetting is probably because of the steroids; I think you should tell the vet about it. You may want to have his urine checked to make sure he's not developing a UTI. Our first summer with Jessie she started itching because of allergies and the vet put her on steroids; I wasn't aware of the side effects at the time as far as liver and kidney damage are concerned. Anyway, one weekend she started having to outside to wet much more often than usual; she came in the bedroom during the night and started whining. I got up to let her out but she couldn't wait and wet by the backdoor. I called the Purdue Emergency Hospital and the vet said to stop giving her the pred and take her to a vet if the situation didn't improve by the next day. She was much better the next day and I never let her have pred again.