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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > Veterinary/animal health thread
 
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Goosed it.
Nov 3, 2011
 Hey! I'm looking for some information/opinions about anaphylactic allergies in dogs. I just spoke to my vet who was pretty dismissive about the whole thing but we are pretty scared so trying to get as much information as possible.

Trigger warning: mention of possible pet death

My 1.5 year old mini schnauzer had an anaphylactic reaction to a wasp sting last week. He was not chasing wasps or anything, just laying in the grass enjoying a no-hide chew. I was working at the table outside next to him. He whimpered and sat next to me holding up his paw. He licked at his paw and it was obviously bothering him. I couldn't see a stinger. I brought him inside and he kept trying to show me his paw. He then kind of calmed down (I thought maybe it wasn't bothering him as much as I read online that dogs can get over the sting fairly quickly). But then he started panting and his stomach was sort of pulsating. I checked his gums, they were grey, and we rushed him to the vet.

We managed to get him to a vet within 20 minutes of him alerting me to the sting. They said if it had been much longer it would likely have been fatal. At that vet he had a Benadryl shot, corticosteroids, iv fluids, and supplemental oxygen. They were unable to read his blood pressure at one point it was so low. When they did get a reading it was 74/58 and pulse of 70. They kept him on IV fluids for several hours. With care he recovered quickly, and we took him home later that day. Based on his blood work, it looks like he doesn't have any lasting damage.

Some drug questions I'm not sure anyone can answer:
  • We had a f/u visit with our vet this morning. Vet said basically if he gets stung, give him meds and head to a vet. She gave us prednisone and an epipen, and made it sound like if we are close to a vet when he gets stung (e.g., in the city), then we should give him prednisone and Benadryl, but if we're further away (e.g., hiking) we should give him the epipen + prednisone + Benadryl. Is there any reason not to give him the epipen no matter what if he gets stung? Is it okay to give him all three medications at once?
  • Our vet told us to get the epipen Jr which is rated for humans above 33lbs. Our dog is 15 lbs. The vet didn't seem to know that the baby epi pen exists (16.5lbs to 33lbs) and didn't seem to know very much about epipens and dogs. She said most of the small dogs she knows with allergies have big epipens. Is the epipen jr okay?
  • Is immunotherapy a thing? Our vet said only for grass allergies in dogs, but there is some research on immunotherapy for insect allergies in dogs. Is it worth pursuing?

Some general questions:
  • How severe does this allergy seem? The vet that treated him seemed quite concerned and sort of implied a second sting would/could be fatal. My vet seemed to not believe that all of that happened in 20 minutes and was more dismissive of the whole thing.
  • Does any one have any general suggestions or strategies for managing risk? We got a schnooze because we love to hike and be outdoors, and we want to figure-out how best to reduce our dog's risk without drastically impacting his quality of life or ours
  • Any idea about implications for day to day stuff? For example, we usually send our pup to daycare a few times a month. Can he still go to daycare? Should we avoid it during wasp season? Are there things we should look for in a dog walker or if we need to board our dog? Do we need to be prepared for daycares etc. being unwilling to take him?
  • Does having this allergy mean he is more likely to have severe allergies to other things/insects/etc.?

I know it's a lot of questions. I really appreciate any insight anyone can provide. We're just feeling pretty worried and a bit overwhelmed. We were really hoping for a better discussion with our vet and aren't really sure where to get help.

Goosed it. fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Aug 24, 2023

* # ¿ Aug 24, 2023 16:45
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > Veterinary/animal health thread