hives and red spots all over

raidernixon · #1 25th April 2012, 09:49 PM

Bella is my 4 year old fawn female boxer.

Last Thursday, she came in from outside swollen up to the point where her eyelids were swollen shut.

She was taken to the vet and given a steroid injection and sent home with steroid pills. The shot worked, but now she has developed hives and red spots and rashes all over her body. We took her back on friday and she was given a stronger dose of steroids.

Saturday with the stronger dose, the spots and hives started fading away, sunday they were almost gone, and monday they were totally gone. Tuesday was supposed to be the first day to taper off the steroids. She got half in the morning and nothing at night. Sure enough this morning she was covered in hives and rash. these pics are from tonight. Spoke to the vet tonight and she is now back on the full dose and will be getting blood work tomorrow.

allergies are a likely culprit, we first assumed she was attacked by hornets or ants while playing outside last Thursday.

Has anyone seen this on their boxer with such persistence? What are some allergies you guys have found in your boxers? We are trying to determine what is going on...Nothing has been out of the ordinary as far as surroundings and her food goes, so nothing I know of that is new has been introduced to her.

Links to pics:

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k/IMAG0834.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...k/IMAG0833.jpg

Gatorblu · #2 25th April 2012, 10:17 PM

Poor thing! Have you washed all her bedding since this started? Whatever it is may be on her bedding in re-exposing her. I know you said you think she was bitten or stung, but I would still wash it. Better safe than sorry. Have you checked you yard for any nests that she may be getting into? I hope Bella feels better soon!

Sablegirl · #3 25th April 2012, 10:53 PM

She could evev be getting into an ant hill or something like that...does she itch?

MatWorrell · #4 26th April 2012, 01:48 AM

Hi there

We had a similar experience 2 weeks ago. We have recently moved from the UK to Cyprus with our boxer belle. We got her a large knuckle chew bone from the pet shop when collecting her food (as a treat, she has been so good recently for a hyperactive 13 month old!)

She spent all day laid out on the grass chewing and licking away at this knuckle and when she finally came in that evening we noticed her underbelly was very red and and blotchy just like in your photos. After a couple of days it started going away by itself. We were not particularly concerned as she was not bothered by it and had no other symptoms. We were passing the vets anyway so we quickly stopped in to get it checked. We were told it was a grass rash, belle has a very slight allergy to the tougher Cyprus grass than that of the UK. After a few days it looked more like bites to me than a rash still so I'm guessing she had the grass rash and a few bites. As there as so many ants nests in the grass out here.

Just sharing our experience as when we looked online we couldn't really find anything that look similar to what belle had.

raidernixon · #5 26th April 2012, 12:16 PM

Thank you everyone for the responses!

She seemed very itchy the first go around, had to stay up with her all night to keep her from itching (even with benedryl).

This second go around she does not seem to be itchy. In both cases she has been pretty warm/hot though, especially on the red areas.

I have taken all of her bedding and blankets away to wash as a precaution.

This morning the hives seemed to lighten up in color a bit after being put back on a full dose of steroid pills.

Been thinking about it all day and still cant think of anything new she may have gotten into...

Matt Worrell:

How long was your pup in this condition? Does the pup still get the rashes frequently?

greedikgirl · #6 6th May 2012, 03:45 PM

Our boxer is 3 years old and all the sudden woke up two weeks ago, hives everywhere. At first they were very itcy for him. We took him to the vet because we were very worried. they did the same thing, steriod shot and medication to take home. We have been to the vet three times, $400 later and still having the same issue. I don't know what to do! We are worried because today he has been getting rashes worse and worse. Now his ankles are swollen. The allergy test is $500 but we do not want to spend that kind of money. We have changed back to the really healthy, very expensive diet but nothing has changed. It has only been two days since we changed the food and it seems the same. We have washed him twice. We are going through the house trying to figure out what it could be. I have pictures of him but the picture size is too large to submit. I hope you find something out because it would be helpful to us. The doctor said they can all the sudden get an allergy to almost anything. My two other boxer are allergic to a certain kind of grass. They were always breaking out but now I have moved they are fine. NO allergies since then and it has been 4 years. I hope your boxer is ok. Need to watch out for their ears and eyes. If they eyes get bad again need to take to vet because they can scratch their eyes and cause them to go blind. Be cautious. If this does not clear up we are taking him to the vet and have the test done. We have saved up enough money if it gets worse.