Hi everyone - little help needed

Nicole G · Jul 12, 2017

Hi to all,

I apologize as I haven't been posting at all recently. Life has been really busy since the whole situation with Yoshi and I've been working on Ella's social media/new website and modeling for the last couple of months. I hope you are all doing well (along with your babies!).

I'm looking for some help if its possible an some opinions from fellow Frenchie owners. As some of you may know Ella has suffered from a few health problems all her life and we've had our ups an downs as far as that goes, but it has always been manageable. Well this morning, I ended up rushing her to our emergency clinic early as when she woke up, her face, legs, belly and privates were covered in huge, red hives. She looked like she was in dire straits so of course I panicked and got her there (45 min. away) ASAP. By the time we got there they had subsided, and she was pretty happy and seemed fine so they sent us home. During the ride, I stopped to get food and noticed that once again her face was swelling so I did my best to check her airways, tongue and throat (wasn't affecting her breathing at all) and drove her straight to our primary vet. She fit us in and was shocked at how Ella looked (once again, her vitals were fine however) so she called a dermatologist that works nearby and we drove her over there. The woman checked her over, ran a few tests that all came back clear and sent us home with Temaril P, and an antibiotic for some minor yeast issues with her toes. They were all at a loss. I gave Ella the Temaril about 2 hrs. ago and it hasn't bothered her whatsoever, but here's the problem - the hives keep going away and coming back! Each time they healed for about an hour or two and then they start to come back. They are (thankfully) superficial, so none internally in her throat or anything, just around her face/ears/neck.

I would appreciate any advice that anyone has. I don't know what could be causing this nor what to do about it; should I give her more antihistamines? I keep Benadryl, Zyrtec and now the Temaril P on hand so I have lots of options and this girl is my baby so of course, if anything seems to become dire I will get her to a vet no matter what it takes. But they really were somewhat unconcerned (all three of them!) and just told me to keep treating her with the steroids and the antihistamine. I've moved anything that was recently washed, bought or used and looked high and low through our home to try and figure out what it could be. I can't come up with anything! My poor baby. She is currently laying next to me on the couch and aside from being hive-ridden is acting completely fine. I really don't know what this could be. She has been suffering from some bladder issues too - UTI back in May and I noticed that her urine did look a little orange on Monday so our vet took a sample of that too. No results yet!

Sorry for the long post. I am a nervous wreck, and really confused.:tongue: Thank you!

Honeys Owners · Jul 12, 2017

Hives can keep coming back for a couple of weeks from a previous exposure, so you probably need to give the temeril p for a couple of weeks. Once that is finished you can try giving the cetirizine 0.5 mg /pound once daily. What is she eating? Maybe she is having an allergic reaction to the protein in her food? To help prevent further UTI you can give her d-mannose powder

2bullymama · Jul 13, 2017

UGH... hives!! This happen to my Bulldog, Banks, twice. We never found the issue and hers were so bad her eyes were shut. Both times, we think it was a bug bite or sting of some type cause as with you.. nothing in the house had changed to cause it. We rushed to the ER both times and she get a shot of some type (can't remember what) and sent us home saying to give her Benedyrl for at aleast a week to keep the hives at bay. Both times, she had them for about a week or so but lucky her face swelling receded within 24 hours.

Good luck... I hope the UTI is gone and her hives go away.

Cbrugs · Jul 13, 2017

Could she be allergic to something outside? Jax has only gotten hives on 2 occasions and both times Benadryl worked. I wouldn't give Temeril P long term as it is a steroid and long term use of steroids has some side effects. If the hives and rash continue and you can't figure out the issue, is there a dermatologist in your area you can take her to? That's what I ended up having to do as Jax is allergic to everything green outside.

Mavis · Jul 13, 2017

I'm so sorry! Can you take a picture of her when she is in it?

davidh · Jul 13, 2017

As others have said, it's hives, and Benedryl will help. When they have hives you can double the dose of Benedryl and it will help.

Nicole G · Jul 18, 2017

@honeysowners That's what I thought. The hives are (knock on wood

) gone so I'm hopeful that they will stay that way. I do think it could have been the food - I cook for Ella and she only eats very natural ingredients, but we opened a new bag of organic rice the night before this started. After I stopped the rice, they've since disappeared, hopefully for good.

[MENTION=2]2bullymama[/MENTION] What happened to your Banks' sounds just like what happened to Ella! I was driving myself nuts, throwing out pillows, blankets, toys, anything that I thought might have caused it. Ella was just sadly watching me like, "But I just got that toy, and now you're throwing it away?!". But thank you - I'm hopeful the UTI is gone too.

[MENTION=188]Cbrugs[/MENTION] I think it was either the food or a bug bite. And yeah - I agree about the steroids; I really don't want her on them for more than about a week. We've already started weaning her off of them a little, so we'll see how that goes. You know, it's interesting to me that you mentioned seeing a dermatologist, because that's actually who our vet sent us to see the same afternoon. I just have to tell you, I went in so excited that we might finally get some answers to Ella's skin - nothing. All the tests came back negative for anything. And the woman herself "didn't like dogs" (???) and insulted me because of different choices I have made foe Ella to my face multiple times. I left there so upset and definitely will be finding a new one!

[MENTION=4]davidh[/MENTION] Benadryl is okay to give? One of the vets was insisting to me that it's "Zyrtec only", lol. I didn't buy it but wanted to make sure first in case I had missed something!

[MENTION=1070]Mavis[/MENTION] I will definitely post pictures as soon as I can upload them! It was quite scary.

As an aside, do you guys think she's alright to still wear her clothes and sleep in her bed and such? Or should I be worried that something in there will bring back the hives?

2bullymama · Jul 18, 2017

Let her dress up and sleep in her bed... I would try and see if any reaction but I really think it was something outside or a bite

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Mavis · Jul 18, 2017

Sounds like the worst is behind you. From what you describe, sounds like the rice was causing a reaction (?).

Honeys Owners · Jul 18, 2017

Benadryl is actually stronger than cetirizine (Zyrtec) but you have to give it 1 mg/pound 2-3 times a day. Since she's had a major allergic reaction I would go 3 times daily. I would also go with the higher dose of cetirizine if you decide to use that ( 1 mg/kg, not 0.5 mg/kg )

Nicole G said:
@honeysowners That's what I thought. The hives are (knock on wood ) gone so I'm hopeful that they will stay that way. I do think it could have been the food - I cook for Ella and she only eats very natural ingredients, but we opened a new bag of organic rice the night before this started. After I stopped the rice, they've since disappeared, hopefully for good.

[MENTION=2]2bullymama[/MENTION] What happened to your Banks' sounds just like what happened to Ella! I was driving myself nuts, throwing out pillows, blankets, toys, anything that I thought might have caused it. Ella was just sadly watching me like, "But I just got that toy, and now you're throwing it away?!". But thank you - I'm hopeful the UTI is gone too.

[MENTION=188]Cbrugs[/MENTION] I think it was either the food or a bug bite. And yeah - I agree about the steroids; I really don't want her on them for more than about a week. We've already started weaning her off of them a little, so we'll see how that goes. You know, it's interesting to me that you mentioned seeing a dermatologist, because that's actually who our vet sent us to see the same afternoon. I just have to tell you, I went in so excited that we might finally get some answers to Ella's skin - nothing. All the tests came back negative for anything. And the woman herself "didn't like dogs" (???) and insulted me because of different choices I have made foe Ella to my face multiple times. I left there so upset and definitely will be finding a new one!

[MENTION=4]davidh[/MENTION] Benadryl is okay to give? One of the vets was insisting to me that it's "Zyrtec only", lol. I didn't buy it but wanted to make sure first in case I had missed something!

[MENTION=1070]Mavis[/MENTION] I will definitely post pictures as soon as I can upload them! It was quite scary.

As an aside, do you guys think she's alright to still wear her clothes and sleep in her bed and such? Or should I be worried that something in there will bring back the hives?

davidh · Jul 18, 2017

[MENTION=1690]Nicole G[/MENTION] yes Benedryl is safe for dogs. Normal dose is 1mg per lb. of weight. But if they have hives, you can double that dose, and three times a day.

Honeys Owners · Jul 18, 2017

Re: Benadryl dosing
A veterinary textbook I checked says max dose 4 mg/kg every 8 hours, which is 1.8 mg/pound every 8 hours. I'm going to assume you don't want to split the 25mg tab into quarters, so you would round to the nearest 1/2 tab. So if you want to use a 2 mg/pound dose I would round down not up on the 25mg tabs. eg. for 60 pound dog I would give 4.5 tablets = 112.5 mg , since 5 tablets would be 125 mg which is even more than 2 mg/pound.

davidh said:
[MENTION=1690]Nicole G[/MENTION] yes Benedryl is safe for dogs. Normal dose is 1mg per lb. of weight. But if they have hives, you can double that dose, and three times a day.