Allergic reaction/anaphylactic shock! - any vets advice please?

[Solo2]

Had to take Rollo (11.5 mnth old golden retriever) to the vets tonight. He'd suddenly become listless, not interested in his supper (almost unprecedented) and just sat looking up at me with an intent, meaningful look in his eyes, meanwhile drooling and hot.

Vet said he was having an allergic reaction or going into anaphylactic shock and gave him a steroid injection. Got to monitor him tonight and take him to vets tomorrow night (unless I need to rush to the emergency one, with DCs in tow, in middle of the night if his breathing becomes laboured).

Given he always, always wears a muzzle when out and about, cos of past history of gastric sensitivity as a pup - he never ever gets to eat anything other than the dry kibble he's not settled on.

My questions are: what might he have come into contact with that he could perhaps suck/ lick through his muzzle that would give him this reaction? Would it be crops sprayed with pesticide? How could it be this though, as surely farmers aren't allowed to use stuff dangerous to humans/animals? What else might he have sniffed that would be powerful enough to cause such a massive reaction without proper ingestion?

Could it NOT be an allergic reaction but something else? He's had similar symptoms once before about 6 weeks ago and the vet that time said he just had a mild virus and gave him an antiviral injection I think - but not steroid - and he was fine within 24 hrs.

Why do the same symptoms now suggest - to this other vet - obvious signs of an allergic reaction? She said he had classic symptoms of swollen eyes and face and gums - but to me he looked like he always looks. Could he be regularly showing signs of allergy and just a bit too much exercise today has exacerbated his reaction to this and caused a flare up?

Might she have got it wrong and he's just got a virus?

What kinds of things induce allergic reactions/ anaphylactic shock in dogs at this time of year? She mentioned a sting but there are no wasps or bees around at the moment.

Finally, she said rush to the emergency vets in the night if his breathing becomes laboured. However, he's currently sleeping deeply and breathing normally but his heart seems noticeably rapid and erratic. Is this the result of the steroid injection or the result of the possible allergic reaction? Will he be OK?

Solo2, I can't answer your questions but just want to say I'm sorry this has happened. I know you will have an anxious night but I hope it goes well and pup is back to normal by the morning.

I've been stung by a bee in winter before, so although it sounds unlikely, it's possible if you've had a bit of sunshine where you are.

I've got an 8 yr Golden Retriever, he got stung by a bee when he was a puppy and his mouth/ nose became so swollen he looked like a bulldog.. also if your Rollo had been stung anywhere else he'd be gnawing at it

Have you washed him with any shampoos, could it be a reaction to that? A lot of GRs have very sensitive skin. Or how about any household aerosols you may have sprayed, or applied any deflea spot-ons?

Am pretty sure the only farming spraying thing is slurry at the mo.

Hope he's ok in the night, what a worry!

Thanks for the kind words. He woke me at 3.30am desperate for a wee as I'd let him have a bowl of water in the night, in cas ehe dehydrated. He seemed fine then but now I have to start my normal day, so feel pretty shattered myself!

Still interested to hear from any vets about the kind of thing that might have caused this reaction in him? For the longer term, I'm not now sure where it's safe to walk him. There are lots of agricultural fields where we normally walk off lead and he regularly rubs his muzzled face into the ground/the crops/the mud, as we go - as he still gets irritated by wearing the muzzle. However, without it, he couldn't be off lead at all ever cos of scavenging leading to tummy upsets.

Jellykat, he's never been bathed/ shampooed and I so rarely get time to clean that he can't have come into contact with household sprays! Haven't defleaed him for ages either.

Just when things were beginning to settle down with him and I thought I could manage things, now there seems lots of uncertainty yet again! DS2 woke when Rollo woke and I've had to settle and reassure him too as he's terrified we'll return to the days of Rollo being frequently ill in the night and me going for nights and days on end sleepless and hosing down the garden in the night, after Rollo had recurrent diarrhoea night and day!

So it's going to be a hard day today, worrying about Rollo and DS2 and trying to work (from home, so I always have time to see to Rollo between meetings) whilst feeling shattered ans stressed! I'm not supposed to walk Rollo but if he's much better, he's going to get really hyper without exercise today...

Solo sorry to hear you have had this. Unfortunatly the list of possible causes is very very long just like in people. Sometimes it is easy for us because the owners have seen the piece of chocolate consumed or the dog playing with the bee. Where there are repeated episodes and it is beginning to cause a big problem we do do both blood testing and intra-dermal skin teting just like in humans though obviously with that you can not test for everything just the most common causes. Very often with a single one of episode we never ever know what caused it.
In my experience the most common ones are bees, chocolate, wasps, ants, licking toads/frogs and drugs both prescribed, legal human and illegal human.

Poor Rolo, hope you get to the bottom of it soon.

Has he had his heart checked? Just wondering due to your comments about his heart racing and being erratic. One of ours had problems with his heart and they weren't picked up until he was being operated on for something else. I know in the early days, before his medication kicked in, he had a racing erratic heartbeat.

I shouldn't worry too much about it, our pup is exactly the same age and barely a month goes by when she doesn't end up at the vets with something random. I think it's their age, like little toddlers getting every allergy and infection going and eventually growing out of it. You're probably just more sensitive to it, given his history.

It could be a dust allergy if you're not able to clean as often as you like, I know ours gets a bit allergenic when she starts sniffing around the clouds of dust behind the sofa!

Solo2 could it have been a spider? One of our dogs came out in 50p sized hives all over his body last year. One of the possibilities suggested by the vet was a bite or the ingestion of a spider. Might sound strange but I get bitten by them all of the time so seemed plausible to me. If you are by fields there will be loads of spiders around and, apparently, some species are known for causing allergic reactions in dogs. Hope Rollo is feeling better now.

Rollo's on the mend but no one has any further idea why he became ill again - other than likely allergy.

I'm confused as to why last time, the vet said it was a virus and gave an injection for this/ high temperature but this time, vet said it was an allergy (exactly same symptoms) and gave steroid injection for that. Recovery is following the same course, despite different treatment!?

Presumably, this will just continue throughout his lifetime? Between times, he seems fit and healthy and well. So it can't be an allergy to something he comes in contact with daily but must be some unidentified thing. His last bout was on 30th Nov and now another one - so it could be seasonal - but no idea what it is.

There are so many different vets at our practice that each one has a very different view every time we go and in the summer, when Rollo was twice hospitalised at the vet school hospital, their ideas about his tummy trouble were different again to each of the vets we'd seen at the local practice! Last night, a particular vet was supposed to be in to review Rollo, as she'd specifically looked him over the night before, although it was a colleague we were seeing then. Instead, that vet couldn't come so we had a third vet to make conclusions about him and she'd not seen him at all the night before!

I don't mean to be horrible but it seems to me that veterinary medicine is even less an exact science than human medicine and opinions on the same patient can differ hugely. Is this the case or is it just the practice we're at? It's one held in high esteem locally however.

Hope your dog stays well, but from what you describe it would be very hard for any vet to diagnose him on the spot. Listless and with a temperature (?) are very non specific and there is a long list of possible causes. The difficulty that vets have is that in order to properly investigate this they would need to do a number of tests. There is no NHS for pets and so you would be paying for these. It would not be possible to predict in advance which tests would give "the answer", so you could spend a lot of money before you'd get close to finding a diagnosis. This is why most vets will give a non specific treatment and observe for 24hours to see if further signs develop before spending all your money. I'm a vet and trying to get to the bottom of things without spending a fortune was really tough, especially without the patient giving any clues. Just as an aside, you mentioned your dog's irregular heart rate. It is normal for a resting dog to have a heart rate that slows down and speeds up as they breathe, feels alarming, especially as the only time most people check their dog's heart rate is when they are worried about them anyway!

Hope Rolo feels better soon x
Our dog (RIP) had a reaction to a bee sting also...the vets gave him steroids and he was fine the next day.
I know you say you muzzle your dog while out, but she could be becoming allergic to pollen or indeed chemicals farmers use, as it doesn't always happen till after so many encounters with it.
Hve you changed you dogs food recently or do you know if the makers have?

Thanks niknatter. I guess the issue for me is that Rollo has had several v expensive investigations already, across his short life - numerous blood tests, an abdominal scan, poo samples galore!, been an inpatient and an outpatient and nobody has bene able to give me any answers other than "He may well be a hypser-sensitive sort of dog but may either get worse, get better or stay the same across his lifetime - but there again, it may be something as yet undiagnosed and as yet unknown!"

Two nights ago, one vet was convinced he was presenting with classic allergic reaction - swollen eyes and jowls and cheeks...but to me (obviously juts a lay person) he looked no different to how he looks every day. Six weeks ago, when he presented similarly, the vet then never even contemplated an allergic reaction but suggested a virus. I can't understand why one thinks one thing and the other another, if he has exactly the same symptoms?

Again, re. his tummy trouble, one vet was convinced I should feed hima wide and varied diet to desentitise his tummy. Another was convinced that he should remain on a hypsrsensitive kibble only for life and never even get treats etc. Some knowledgeable people on this forum have suggesed a raw food diet, whilst the vet school consultant told me on no account to try that because of the bacterial content and the dire effect of bone splinters.

One suggestion re. his stomach problems has been some parasite he picked up. Another vet has suggested it's berries he ate. Another has suggested global hypersensitivity. Another has suggested normal puppy developmental stage. Another suggested something sytemically wornd because of high bacterial overload in his upper gut....

It seems to go on and on with a different view expressed by each different vet and also a lack of communication between them every time we go in!

has he been checked for gluten intolerance's....as that could be something to check out.
I personally am hypersensitive to lots of stuff after an op and infection, so has he had anything surgical done lately or any horrid viruses etc???

No food changes at all and absolutely certain he's eaten nothing at all other than his hypersensitive dog kibble and been totally fine on that for several months now.

Never been checked for gluten intolerance but as I say, he's settled well on his current food - Royal Canin Sensitivity - for months now - 2 to 3 solid well formed poos per day. No surgery and no viruses. Last vet hospital admission was in August.

Has now has 2 episodes of these bouts - one at end of Nov and one a few days ago. He's currently almost completely weaned off metronidazole - the antibiotic he's been on since July - but is only on 50mg once every 2 days and about to stop this soon. No adverse changes since withdrawing this v v gradually.

If he's gone 6 weeks, recently, with no health issues at all, since last 'allergic' bout, then wouldn't this imply it's nothing he's doing daily but something that he's in sporadic contact with?

I saw a wasp crawling across a pavement 2 weeks ago ( Scotland ) so it is possible.

Solo2, I really feel for everything you've been through with Rollo and I can totally understand your reaction to this latest thing, but honestly I think you're worrying too much. Like I said above, not a single month has gone by without our pup needing a trip to the vets. She's had a persistent skin problem, she ate a block of some strange blue chemical that she found in the garden (?!!), she's broken a tooth, she's had a mystery allergy to something and most recently she had weepy eyes. We've never got to the bottom of any of those things (and I gave up treating the eye problem after a day, as she was getting upset by the eye drops; it went away on its own anyway). If Rollo is ok now, it's not worth dwelling on it.

Most of us shrug off our own illnesses and will only need further investigation if they lead to bigger problems - its the same with animals and vets. They have to take a wild stab in the dark as the patient can't communicate and is VERY good at hiding pain.

Unless this is actually going to be an ongoing issue for Rollo in the short term, try and put it behind you and don't worry about it.

I would see how it goes from now on, It maybe that he's been stung or bitten by something and that has caused a reaction. There are still loads of insects and wasps etc out and about because it's not been cold enough for long enough to kill them all off
Hope Rollo stays well x and try not to worry too much, I know it's hard not to tho!