Long long long day we had yesterday...

It was Tika's first check up at the vet with us and she was due for a round of boosters. All the boosters she got this time around she had already had before, the only difference is this time we opted for an extra vaccine to counteract any contaminated water she may drink out on our walks (though we try and avoid it she can sometimes sneak a sip from a puddle fast during a walk, and we always let her drink out of the lake near us).

We got a free little puppy kit on the way out with just a couple small things inside including a couple of treats, info books, ect... You know the normal swag stuff .

We also stopped off to grab a Kong on the way home for Tika (Thank you all for that BTW.... great suggestion she loves it.)

We came home and relaxed a bit while we got ready for a Cockapoo named Gia to come over so Tika could have a play date and socialize a bit with another dog. During this time I had also taken one of the treats in the swag bag from the vet and placed it in the kong just to see how she would take to it.

Let's flash forward 5 hours from the time of the shots, we are all swimming in the pool, running around playing fetch or chasing each other having fun. Tika lays down beside me for a second and I go to pet her when I notice one of eyes is a bit red... I make her sit and calm down and call the wife over so she can check and verify I'm not crazy.... Eye indeed looks a bit red and starting to swell.

We take her inside and I try and calm her down and keep her from scratching it. Check her again and her eye is very swollen now... We decide to take her to the vet. By the time we get her into the car her eye is swollen shut, and her other eye and mouth have gotten puffy.

Half way there both eyes are pretty much closed shut and her mouth is huge... Honestly she looked like a st-Bernard, big puffy face. I checked her tongue and it was NOT swollen so I'm a bit more at ease with this whole thing.

We get there and Tika gets a Nice shot of benadryl andCortizone and we get a couple of pills to keep her swelling down for the up and coming week. By the time we got home only one of her eyes was still puffy... She was not a happy puppy.

So now I get to play what caused the allergic reaction.

The shots from 5 hours ago?
A random sting from an insect?
The treats in the doggy bag?
The Kong?
Some other random thing?

These are the only things new to her that day... so it could be any of them. It was just such a FAST reaction once it started it was crazy. her whole face was HUGE in the matter of minutes.

We've thrown out the treats, washed everything she was in contact with, and kept a close eye on her. It was either a late reaction to the shots, or a random sting in my mind, but on the day she had her boosters to swell up like that it would be a BIG coincidence if it was something else.

Either she is doing a lot better today... she still looks a tiny bit puffy to me, and is scratching her eyes here and there. she isn't fixating on that though and she is looking real good at the moment.

I snagged a shot or two of her when we got back and the swelling had come down considerably that I'll try posting a bit later on if I can. I think it goes without saying I didn't take any shots of her crazy swelling as we were in "GET TO THE VET" mode, but once home and safe I tried to grab a shot or two of her looking much much better .

Anyways sorry for the long post... Wife and I just wanted to share our first scare, not even with us for a month yet and she's already given us a run for our money.

Thanks again!!!

awww poor baby <3

awww poor baby i'd go with a reaction to the vaccinations, Embry was stung by a bee once and his nose swelled a bit, but not much

I just want to scrunch her face up and kiss her eye!! Poor sweet baby! Glad it was easily handled and she is feeling better. I would go with vaccines too, just too likely. Koda's eye was swollen shut once when I woke him up from laying side flat in the grass all night(obviously just irritated from grass) and I freaked! And I even knew it was probably the grass.. Just scary and sad to see them looking like that.

Awww poor baby girl. I would have freaked also!!! I'm glad that she's doing better. She's so cute...puffy and all!

Seriously, these dogs are like having full time toddlers in our house! I'm so glad she is ok!

Kids with peanut allergies have anaphylatic reations that make them go all puffy like that. Did you fill your Kong with peanut butter? Or a peanut butter flavored treat? CAN dogs EVEN have peanut allergies??

I feel so bad for her... bless her little heart! I hope you can figure out the cause so as not to have another scare like this!

Shaina got nailed by a Mojave Green (rattlesnake) when she was just a little older then a year. She went into full St Bernard swelling (funny you said that since that is exactly what we said). At the time the swelling was so bad we didn't know if it was snake/scorpion/spider so she got anti venom for all 3. After the swelling went down we saw the two puncture marks. Anyway, after that she would swell up like that any time she got hit by a wasp. She never had that many problems with wasp bites before that. What did the vet think?

Nope we have yet to give her any Peanut butter at all, and the Treat from the vet's swag bag "was labeled as "Non Allergenic" but you never know... Ingredient list didn't have anything along the lines of peanuts. It is however possible she found a crumb somewhere along the lines of a cereal bar or something.

The Vet said that she just had an allergic reaction and it wasn't anaphylactic as her gums were still pink (not white) and her breathing wasn't labored at all.

Also though her nose swelled up nicely the bottom of her mouth did not. Her tongue was also fine and free of swelling... I find it hard to believe it was something she actually ate. That being said we haven't ruled it out...

I checked her out yesterday looking for some form of sting mark, or bite, or anything at all... Couldn't find it. We have no snakes or anything poisonous for the most part in our area.

So I'm a bit at a loss as to what exactly it was to be honest. I'm still leaning towards the vaccine itself but it could be anything really.


Either way she is very allergic to something so we are just going slow reintroducing some of the objects from that day and keeping an eye on her. Thanks for all the well wishes though... Tika is doing much better and back to herself.

Poor girl. Glad she's feeling better! I really think its the lepto vaccine. I worked at a vets office and we saw the most reactions with the lepto and the rabies vaccine. Just to be safe I would not get her vacinated for more than one thing at a time. That way if she does react you will know which vaccine caused it. If that was her first lepto shot she will need a booster in a few weeks most likely. I personally don't recommend that vaccine to many people. It only works for two or three of the MANY strains of leptospirosis, so your dog is at risk even with the vaccine.