Hi all,

Starting yesterday our 8 month old boys face started getting puffy. His eyebrows where all red and swollen and he was squinting as well as his lips. I noticed this at around 1pm and by 1:30pm it was bad enough that I took him to the vet immediately. The vet told me that there where no signs of breathing issues (to my relief) and that Benadryl should help. We got home and I have him 2 full size pills (as instructed) which knocked out Sherlock and when he woke up everything looked good. Fast forward 8 hours and I gave him another dose of Benadryl. About an hour later I look as his face and his left lip is swollen to about the size of a large walnut. I was worried, but his breathing was fine and he had no discoloration on his gums (signs of breathing issue). I wake up this morning and to my relieve again, his face seems to looks fine, however his left lip is still noticeably lager than the right, however not as bad as yesterday.

My assumption was that there's something on his face causing the reactions to happen, so I washed him with a little bit of dawn soap to remove it. Does anyone else's have any suggestions? Maybe Sherlock is just extra sensitive during allergy season? Any advice would be appreciated

My best guess and would have thought the vet would have told you, was that Sherlock was stung by a bug while outside. Most of our pups like to sniff, and that is when they get zapped by something, bee, wasp, even an ant. My girl was stung by a bee and had similar reactions, tho it was closer to her eye and nose area, and she was swollen for a few days. Keep an eye on him, should be gone in another day or two. If it does reoccur then investigate an allergy. Hope the poor boy feels better right quick

I'm not sure how much your pup weighs but 2 tablets are the dosage for a 50 pound pup. Which might have been a bit much for Sherlock. The normal dosage is 1 mg per pound of weight - so, since Benadryl comes in 25 MG tablets - - well you can do the math there.

I also don't know if the vet explained that Benadryl is used mostly to relieve swelling when used for pups and that 2-3 weight appropriate doses are fine ... I wouldn't want to do this on a continuous basis, but 5 days to a week for a serious bite / sting shouldn't be a problem.

I live in the desert southwest and we use Benadryl for snake bites along with the other things the dogs can get into.

He's 46 pounds, so close to 50 but not quite. I thought it was a bug bite originally, but think it's strange that it flared up so far apart. I'm also thinking that it may be the pre treatment the landscaping company used to treat the lawn. Maybe there's something in it that's not working well with Sherlock. We are testing this theory by taking him to out to a different spot of grass to go to the bathroom. But yes, we will keep an eye on him and hopefully it stops flaring by tomorrow

I wouldn't discount a bug bite, your dosing him with benadryl will help with the swelling so what you might be seeing is the effect of the Benaryl wearing off and the (Ami will correct me if I'm using the wrong term here) hystamines that are still present causing it to swell again. If it is a bug bite, as Renee said, it should run it's course in a couple of days.

I *would* discount your suggestion that it might be something the ground crew has put down for the simple reason that you've said it seems to be localized to his lips - unless, of course, it is something they've put down and he's chewed on something covered with it and broken the skin there.

Since dogs, like humans, react differently to even the most common of medications, if 2 caps of Benadryl "knock him out" and you want to continue using it to alleviate the swelling, I think I'd back down to a cap and see how that does.

That definitely sounds like an insect sting, perhaps a bee or wasp sting. For many people AND dogs, even if they aren't allergic to the stings, the sting sites can still swell up and die down over and over -- sometimes for days after the initial sting. I accidentally stepped on a hornet nest once while mowing the lawn. Of course, I was stung in several places, and the sting sites flared up and died down several times for almost two months. They got itchy, too. Benadryl does help.

Misty tried to eat a yellowjacket in the backyard a couple of weeks ago and got a similar sting and swelling on her muzzle. Nothing serious, thank goodness. In fact, the big dummy keeps trying to eat stray yellowjackets that buzz into the yard. It certainly hasn't stopped her from her regular eating, drinking or chewing. Oh, well.