Hives - It Does a Body Itchy

Poor Bourbon! I woke up to feed the puppers and found Bourbon all broke out in hives. Of course it didn't phase him one bit, the wild man. He didn't even notice the gigantic welts all over his body, since he was too busy jumping up and down for breakfast. Sadly, his face had started to swell so bad he couldn't even drink water so he certainly didn't get any breakfast. Usually, with hives you can administer some antihistamines and they'll usually resolve within 24 hours as long as you are not continuously exposing your dog to the allergy causing them. But of course I have not normal dogs and since Bourbon couldn't drink, I wasn't going to risk increased swelling affecting his ability to breathe so off to the ISU emergency clinic we went.

Bourbon's front legs this morning. Hives are totally weird.

They gave him a steroid shot and also a shot of antihistamine. After about 30 minutes the swelling in face started to recede. It took a bit longer for his legs, but by this afternoon he was almost as good as normal :). His cheeks are still a bit puffy so he is still getting some Benadryl dosages but we are certainly on the right track.

Unfortunately, we don't know quite what triggered the allergic reaction. The only thing that he was exposed to that was out of the ordinary was Rookie :). Rookie went in for a lime-sulfur dip yesterday and of course that leaves residue all over him since you can't wash it off. So it was either exposure to that or it was a critter bite. So now I am tasked with cleaning the couch since I'm pretty sure Rookie snuck up on it last night and that is where Bourbon rubbed up against the sulfur residue since that is his bed for bedtime. Oh the dogs love to keep things interesting! :)

Here is a horrible picture but you can kind of see
how swollen his face was.

This was certainly just what I needed after returning from 'vacation'!!