Over the last two weeks our Boxer has twice suddenly developed huge lumps all over her body, head and legs which felt like they were filled with fluid.  The lumps seem to develop over 5/6 hours and last time she was also sick just before they appeared.

We've had to rush her to the vets, who say this is an allergic reaction and have given her an injection and some tablets.  The vets has told us that we need to find out what she is allergic to, as the more times she has this reaction the more likely she is to develop anaphylactic shock.  The vet seems to think it is likely to be an insect, bee/wasp sting or an unusual plant and will come on almost immediately - but the last time it happened it was 7am in the morning and she hadn't been outside for over 8 hours.  Has anyone any ideas what this could be?  We wondered if ants could cause this, as we do have an ants nest in the garden that we are trying to get rid of.

She does like to sit in the garden a lot and is partial to plants - but we've had the same plants in our garden for over a year and she has never been ill before.

She loves being outside and going for long walks through grass, but now we're scared to take her outside in case it happens again!!!

get her tested at once; ask the vet to take a blood test and send it off to yorktest for analysis; this will be covered by your insurance.

Over exposure to anything may trigger an allergic reaction.

My Lab cross had this sort of reaction to her flea collar - it was the plastic :(  I agree, it's very frightening isn't it?    She made a full recovery after being given anti histamines though

One of my dogs had this reaction to a particular antibiotic. It's a tremendous worry.

Forgot to say, good idea to keep aconitum 6c for when this happens it will help combat shock.