Oh what a week :(
Some of you may know mel was rushed to the vets with eclampsia on monday, calcium jab and she was fine...though a very scary moment.
Last night at about 9:30 she started to act anxious and had 'that look' in her eyes, i knew something was wrong. i got her out the whelping box and she was weak and wobbly again and quite unresponsive to me so straight to the emergency again, given calcium and back home, got out the car wagging her tail, went for a wee and a little walk round the garden. As i brought her indoors i was horrified to see her face completely swollen, eyes, nose, legs...then she began vomiting.

I was straight back on the phone to my vet who had just got back home! Straight back to the surgery for some jabs, he was quite calm i was hysterical that her throat would swell and she would choke to death, her breathing became very noisy and she was finding it difficult to swallow.... i ran out the house, leaving it all unlocked, shaking as i was driving.

He checked all her throat and was happy there was no swelling there and we went home again, she settled within 2 hrs and has been back for a checkup this morning. It now appears she wasn't coming down with eclampsia again at all but has been bitten or stung in the garden and has reacted terribly. This morning she has an open sore on her flank which we assume is where she has been bitten as that was not there last night!

I cant believe how quick this happened, it was terrifying to hear her breathing getting worse i really thought my little lady was going to choke in front of me. I have sat awake watching her every breath all night and feel exhausted with worry.

I am now on tender hooks frightened it will happen again.
Throughout all this all she wanted was her babies....they are so amazing.

Please god this will be the last scare for both of us, she is such a sweetheart and i love my girl to bits

Anyone had a similar experience?

Oh I'm so sorry to hear But at least she is better again now.  Never experianced a dog react like that before but I do hope you don't have anything like it again.

Well done for your quick reactions, ((((hugs)))

Oh dear, your poor girl! I've had several dogs have had reactions to stings, the faces of the Malinois swell up so that the look like Bullterriers, but luckily it's never affected their breathing. Do you keep antihistamines at home, something like Piriton for instance? It's very useful to have as first aid in the case of a dog being stung. I hope your girl will be well now!

What a week you've been having!! :-( I'm glad all is well now.

Duibh got stung once and swelled at the corner of his eye in the skin, but never reacted like that (though I've known someone's springer who got stung and his head swelled up so it was more the shape of a sharpei!). I gave him piriton, and it settled again.

>Anyone had a similar experience?

I had a similar thing with Buster when he was much younger, in so much as there was an apparent reaction to an insect bite, but not as severe as your Mel as there was no vomiting or swelling. Buster woke from sleep with his eyelids so droopy you could not see his eyeballs just big patches of pink under his eyes (looked like his face was slipping off ), he was crying and progressively got more agitated over the next few minutes, loads of saliva (much more than the normal Mastiff slobber), his eyes appeared to hurt and he was getting wobbly on his feet and panting, in fact I had to get him out of the front of the house quickly as I thought if he collapsed inside the house, I would never be able to get him out the awkward porchway to the vets on my own. It frightened the life out of me, he had to stay in the vets for several hours for tests & all they could come up with was it was the reaction to an insect bite. It was horrible, I thought he had been poisoned by something and was dying infront of me (the vet first thought poisoning too, but that was ruled out), I can understand the utter horror you must have felt for seeing your poor girlie in such an awfull state.

I hope Mel is back to her normal self and that she doesn't have a repeat episode.

thanks everyone, she is back to normal today and happily nursing her babies, i hope that was a one of incident as it was terrifying to see her like that.
Thanks for all the kinds words :)

> she is back to normal today and happily nursing her babies,

Lovely :)

How awful for you.  It's never happened to me, but can imagine the fear of seeing your much loved girl struggling to breathe.  I would have felt helpless.  So glad that she is now looking after her babies.  :-)

Thanks, i have now got some piriton to keep on hand incase!
Can you just confirm it is piriton and not piriteze (not sure thats spelt right!)
The one i have is just piriton allergy and the active ingredient is chlorphenamine maleate

Did you just give one tablet, mel (and all my dogs) are large breed

I feel better having something on hand as i felt helpless the other night :)

Yep, Piriton, 4mg tablets. For 27kg Flat coat I gave him two tablets. :-)

Thanks Terry, they are what i have.

Mel is 28kg so any probs i will try 2 tablets, though i hope to god she never has a reaction like that again :)

> Mel is 28kg so any probs i will try 2 tablets, though i hope to god she never has a reaction like that again :-)

they are good to ahve on hand for other stuff to, Tio once tried to eat some nettles (brainbox that he is!) and his lips all swelled up and piriton helped, also good for bee/wasp stings.

My boy has piriton and the vets can give it to you very cheaply or Sainsbury's do their own version withe the same active ingredient for a fraction of the price of the branded products.

> piriton and not piriteze

Yes that's right. The cheapest I have found was 75p for 28 x 4mg chlorphenamine maleate tabs from Tesco express. It's labelled Co-pharma on the packet. You have to ask for it at the pharmacy though as they keep it behind the counter so all the cheapskates like me won't use up all their supplies!

I always keep some in as I am allergic to bee/wasp stings and ended getting my wedding ring cut off last time I was stung so never leave home without it.

I would give 2 tablets for an average weight dogue, same as for a person.