Anaphylactic Dog

[JustUs]

Hi,

I was hoping to get some info if anyone else has a dog that has anaphylactic allergies please.

Our boy had a pretty major reaction a few weeks ago, we *think* it was to a bee but can't be certain until we have allergy testing done.

He is only 8 months old and was just getting to the stage that I thought he could possibly be left alone outside for a few hours but now I'm way way too scared to leave him alone. He is my heart boy and the thought of it happening when one of us isn't there scares the, well you know what, out of me.

He is crate trained so at the moment if no one is home he is just crated, but I'm only happy to do that for a couple of hours.

Our vet said that even if we get the testing done, then it only is so we know what the allergy is not that we can do anything preventative...does that sound right?

Any suggestions on how to manage this would be great.

Thanks heaps

[tdierikx]

My youngest dog is highly allergic to bees too... she's locked inside when I'm not home.

Her very first bee sting was scary! Her face swelled up like a Shar Pei, and then she started getting hives all over. Luckily I got her to the vet within 30 mins of the sting, and he administered an antihistimine shot to stop the progression of the problem... her throat was starting to swell when we got to the vet clinic...

Silly dog wasn't the slightest bit concerned about what was happening... *sigh*

T.

[JustUs]

It's so scary isn't it tdierikx?

His reaction was so severe that the first dose didn't do anything, so they put another into the vein in his leg. That helped a lot but he had to go back later that night and have the drip shock thingy done as his blood pressure was so low, poor baby.

So keeping them inside is the only option? I thought so but the vet I saw the saw with him the other day, for something unrelated just said it's a risk you take, that we can't keep them with us all the time

P

[kelpiecuddles]

Can you put mesh over a section of the yard to keep bees out? I have a daughter who is ana to bees and other things we do are to make sure the grass is always mowed low and kill off any clover and to not plant anything near any play areas that is bee attracting. Also water will attract them so hide the water somewhere not visible(under a table or in the kennel or something like that)

[Staffyluv]

My old stafford was allergic to bees.

His first experience was similar, his head swelled up, he was covered in hives his tongue went a bluey/white colour and he collapsed.

We think it was about 20 minutes from sting to vet injections.

Ollie collapsed on the vets table and the vet gave him antihistamine, adrenaline (directly into a vein from memory) and something else as well - all we could do was wait then and it was a good 45 minutes before he was up again.

I honestly thought I had lost him for a minute.

Ollie was kept inside when we went out after that for a long time.

We did eventually give him free access to the yard when we weren't but it is something that is in the back of your mind all the time.

Keep antihistamines on hand, so that you can administer them yourself - we used polaramine for Ollie.

We only had a couple of more times that required vet help. Most of the time the polaramine was enough. I think maybe he built up a tolerance to it over the years??

[tdierikx]

Bee poison doesn't break down in the body, thus each subsequent sting can be compounding...

T.

[Staffyluv]

Maybe he learned his lesson then and didn't chase any more :)

[JustUs]

Thanks for all of your replies :)

The vet said it could go either way, next time he could crash big time or the reaction may not be as bad.

He was a fly chaser until this happened so I think he learnt a lesson but who knows if he will forget it.

I'm just so overwhelmed with how we deal with it, I hope he has another 12 odd years with us but that's a very long time to never leave him outside if were not home. Then even if we kennel him for holidays, I'm sure they won't be watching him the way we do etc.

Sorry to hear about your daughter kelpiecuddles, that must be scary.

[Staffyluv]

My boy was a fly chaser jaxxie. We used to muck around with him and tell him to get the flies because they were on his biscuits..

He was still chasing flies the week he was given his wings (at 14.5 years old)..

You can take some precautions - we removed almost all plants that attracted bees in the back yard that he had access to and moved them out the front.

I ripped out all my lavender, petunias etc.

I did keep my strawberry plants however as we love them and so did he..

Good luck, we can only protect them so much but they still have to be allowed to be dogs.

[kelpiecuddles]

As staffyluv has done we just be careful. You can't let it rule your life or you'd go nuts. She's young now but eventually she'll be old enough to want to go out with her friends and we won't be there to keep an eye on her then.

[megan_]

Maybe pm cosmolo. Her JRT is very allergic to bees. I believe she has something on hand to give him as, chances are, if he gets stung he might not make it to the vets in time :-(. I believe he's indoors when she's not at home (but her and her hubby are trainers do he's out on the road with them a lot).