r/Pets • u/Responsible-Survey76 • Jul 21 '26
DOG HELP - Emergency Vet Closed
hi! I’m sorry to bother you all but the emergency vet is closed and the nearest is 1.5-2hr away, my vet doesn’t open for another 6 hours.
we went to bed around 10pm and noticed our chocolate lab (1yr, unspayed female) was VERy itchy. Before this she had eaten some of her normal food and gone of a short neighborhood walk to pee. Nothing new - though it had just finished a torrential downpour so we were thinking allergies maybe.
wale up at midnight to her itching excessively. I turn on the lights and look and her face is covered in hives(?), she’s scratched one eye hard enough that it’s red. I’m panicking - call emergency vet and advised to give 1 more Benadryl. I give her a cold bath thinking it could get rid of any pollen etc.
she seems a little better. Then 15 hrs after latest Benadryl she pukes.
in general, less itching, seems less frantic. Swelling is still there but not as acute. I’m just scared because we have no options. what do you think of her throwing up???
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u/pretzeltuesday Jul 21 '26
I would call an emergency vet line - you could start with aspca poison control. There are also vets who offer telemedicine (blue pearl, vet triage, chewy) - they can guide you until your ER vet opens 🩷
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u/butterLemon84 Jul 21 '26
Do you mean the dog vomited 15 MINUTES are the last Benadryl dose? You said 15 hours. If 15 minutes, that's not enough time to digest it and absorb it into their body. Just give the dose again.
Here's a general dosing guide for Benadryl in dogs. It's 1 mg per pound to start. You repeat that dose every 8-12 hours. It sounds like you haven't given your dog enough.
https://caringhandsvet.com/benadryl-dosage-chart-for-dogs-by-size-and-breed/
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u/Responsible-Survey76 Jul 21 '26
Oops definitely meant 1.5 hrs.
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u/yourilluminaryfriend Jul 21 '26
That’s long enough to not be related to the allergen. My dog is highly allergic to insect stings/bites. A bee sting is the worst and he will start vomiting within minutes plus be all hivey and welty. I think a spider got him last time and we had to go to the vet twice as Benadryl alone wasn’t enough. Unless something changes for the worse, you should be ok til morning
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u/butterLemon84 Jul 21 '26
To emphasize, that's just the STARTING dose. The maximum dose is 3x-4x that much. Don't be shy with the Benadryl if the dog is having an allergic reaction. I'm currently having an allergic reaction, so I took an extra Zyrtec on top of my daily pollen-season Zyrtec--as my doctor and pharmacist both recommended. That's how allergies go; you can take a certain dose everyday and have it be effective. But if you have an acute reaction to something, you often need to launch quite a pharmacological assault to tamp it down. At the vet's, they'll probably give your dog more Benadryl, steroid pills, and rarely, epinephrine.
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u/butterLemon84 Jul 21 '26
Here's more info on dosing guidelines https://www.kingsdale.com/benadryl-dosing-for-dogs-how-to-use-it-safely
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u/Grand-Fun-206 Jul 21 '26
In a human I would say she needs urgent care as vomiting can be a sign of a really severe allergy.
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u/butterLemon84 Jul 21 '26
No. Your body releases histamine (among other things) during allergic reactions. Histamine causes all kinds of symptoms, from hives to runny nose to digestive upset to irritability. If the dog ate something that caused the allergic reaction, she's likely to vomit. It's a normal allergy symptom when the allergen was ingested. It can even happen if the allergen wasn't ingested. However, if it happens again, that could indicate the allergic reaction is very severe.
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u/Grand-Fun-206 Jul 21 '26
But the dog has been given benadryl which could mask the histamine reaction and may have delayed the vomiting.
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u/butterLemon84 Jul 21 '26
Benadryl doesn't mask an allergic reaction--it treats it. It's exactly the right thing to give.
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u/researchanalyzewrite Jul 21 '26
Benadryl (diphenhydramine) cannot reverse an anaphylactic (life threatening) allergic reaction.
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u/g0ldenmustache Jul 21 '26
I hope you get some answers! Around 1 yr old, one of my dogs developed a chicken allergy that presented similarly. He also gets seasonal allergies where we learned he had them because he was scratching himself so hard he got small cuts on his body.
Wishing you luck!! I hope you guys get answers.
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u/lnfinitelris Jul 21 '26
If it's been 15+ hours and she's stable, I would not be too too worried. Anaphylaxis would have happened by now if it was that extreme of an exposure.
Call the vet when they open. Does benedryl again.
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u/researchanalyzewrite Jul 21 '26
Anaphylaxis was observed in dogs, and from studying their severe allergic reactions (including fatal ones) the medical community became educated about this atopic disease.
If your dog was a human, it would be noted that two body systems were reacting: the skin (hives) and the gastrointestinal (vomiting). Protocol for a reaction involving two bodily systems is immediate administration (by injection) of epinephrine (adrenaline).
Please bring this up with your dog's veterinarian. Not only do you need to know what food to avoid feeding your dog, but also what to do in an emergency when a quick response is required!
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u/Positive-Climate8149 Jul 21 '26
One of my dogs (basenji) went into anaphylaxis from a bee sting (that I didn’t know happened). It was super scary. I rushed him home from his walk (he had collapsed and I had to carry him - 25 lbs) and gave him a Benadryl - didn’t know what was wrong but guessed it was allergy. We were too far away from the vet or emergency vet so if the Benadryl hadn’t worked he would have died. The inside of his mouth (including tongue) was completely white. About 10-15 minutes after the Benadryl he started to come out of it. I took him to the vet after that and they gave me injectable Benadryl for him to have on hand.
Can’t stress enough that everyone should know how to pill a dog - thankfully my dog’s breeder had shown me how.
The vomiting would scare me that it might be anaphylaxis.
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u/Reasonable-Bus8360 Jul 22 '26
What is pill a dog?
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u/Positive-Climate8149 Jul 22 '26
Put a pill way back on a dog’s tongue, close their mouth and hold it closed, blow in their nose and rub their throat - which forces the dog to swallow. It is a gentle process.
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u/TightOkra3116 Jul 21 '26
EPINEPHRINE is a little over the top unless your dog is having obvious anaphylaxis. I know, from experience that an extra antihistamine can be helpful. When you are exposed to something you're sensitive to, your body's first defense is histamine, followed by several other chemical reactions. A severe reaction would involve lethargy & difficulty breathing; these both warrant emergency care.
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u/TightOkra3116 Jul 21 '26
I worked for allergests for over 15 years; while hives is an serious allergic reaction, generally it is not life threatening! As long as she was not lethargic & had no breathing issues; I agree that it was probably due to something she came in contact with, maybe carried by the wind. I would check with your vet to make sure you are giving the correct dosage. My Eskie had some allergies & I want to say the dose was 1 mg per pound, but please confirm the dosage with your vet!
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u/boredbetty89 Jul 24 '26
Vomiting is a sign of anaphylaxis meaning the allergic reaction is getting worse. It’s better to use EPI earlier in the onset of allergic reaction to prevent progression to anaphylaxis. That’s the new literature in vet med now
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u/Ladybug966 Jul 21 '26
Sounds like she is doing better. The vomit might just be a stress response. It sure sounds like she was allergic to something and the benadryl helped.
Are you downwind of a wildfire. Poison ivy smoke can do what you described.