Glad I've come across this thread. The picture in the first post is exactly what my Chance looks like. I didn't take a picture of him as I thought it wouldn't show up well enough. Chance has a few more bumps though.
It started on Saturday night. I called my Nakura's breeder and while I was talking to her you could actually see more lumps appearing. I gave him half a Loratadine tablet that night. On Sunday morning the lumps had gone. PHEW!
Sunday night, they had reappeared! Worse! I gave him some arnica and by now we had a supply of Benadryl. We gave him a Benadryl and kept an eye on him. On Monday morning the lumps were almost gone but not quite. I then got some Apes Mel 30c and started giving him 2 tabs every 2 hours. This seemed to keep them at bay.
He had more lumps by lunchtime so we took him to the vets yesterday as we were worried and were told to keep up the Benadryl for a few days and go back if it hadn't cleared up.
This morning he has woken up with lumps all down his forechest and tummy. I've given him another Benadryl and some Urtica Urens spray.
We don't know what has caused these hives but suspect maybe nettles as our garden is full of them or possibly midges! We've not changed anything in his food so are pretty confident it's not that.
I think I will go back to giving Loratadine as it seemed to have a greater effect on the lumps.
Douglas has paid ?400 for a new industrial strength strimmer so we can get rid of all the nasty nettles and tall grasses in the garden!
I feel so sorry for Chance he looks awful and has scratched his armpits red raw. 
Hopefully it will clear up enough by the weekend as we are travelling a long way for a Breed Champ Show.
I'll keep you posted as to how he gets on.
Sometimes with an allergic reaction like that the only thing that will stop it is a steroid like Prednisone. My boy Nicky had a reaction like that when he was 2 years old. The antihistamines helped some but it just kept going so the vet gave a course of pred which stopped the reaction and he never had a problem since.
Yes, the vet mentioned the possibility of an steriod injection. As we're away this weekend I said I would stick with the Benadryl until Monday and see how it goes and then if necessary get him in to the vets on Tuesday.
God, I've lost a lot of sleep worrying.
IME the pred works very quickly. When are you going away? If the bumps are really bad you may want to consider doing it before you leave.
Also, have you bathed Chance since the bumps started? Sometimes that helps especially if it was triggered by a contact allergen.
Tanza, one to two teaspoons or other? per dose? thanks
Tillo has had this twice now.. Once in April and once in May. He got a prednisone injection that worked for three weeks. Four weeks after the first injection he had these urticaria again. Another injection with prednisone and it hasn't appeared since.. well.. not as bad as it had been. He has had some urticaria after a walk, but they were gone in 30 min. We are now feeding him hypoallergenic food, but I don't think it's the food. My guess is some plant-thing.. We will be testing him when where back from our holiday..
In Southern California in the spring/early summer there is something that seems to cause these break outs. My mom has one boy that broke out in bumps and another breeder had one do the same thing. It is always at the same time of year but no one is quite sure what it is.
My mom usually wipes down the dogs with a damp wash cloth when they come in from walks this time of year to help keep any pollen or other allergen they may pick up off of them.
Janneke, would you classify Tillo's outbreaks as acute or chronic? I only ask because all I have read indicates that a 4-6 week singular outbreak indicates allergic reaction to an environmental/contact allergy. Beyond that, it's considered a autoimmune allergy. How is Tillo being treated? Acute or chronic??
Forgive me if I have overstepped the courtesy bounds, but I know you are in Vet Medicine and wonder how you feel about various medicinal therapies.
Extended Pred. therapy, even for just a few weeks, can be lethal for a pet when a pet owner doesn't follow the very specific Rx instructions for reduction. I have friends that haven't reduced according to therapy/Rx to "save cost" on the reserved pills. How risky is this?
Chance seems to be a lot better this morning (although I said that a few mornings ago too). I gave him 1/2 a Loratadine tablet last night and so far so good. I've given him more Apis Mel this morning so hopefully when I get home from work he'll still be OK. We bathed him in warm water with a little lavender oil a couple of days ago. I think that helped a bit.
The outbreaks are acute and he is treated acute. He doesn't get prednisone now. The injections he got where 'depots' for three weeks. I don't like the idea of a depot, but that was what the vet gave at the moment. I spoke to a dermatology veterinarian at the University and he said I could try antihistamine to prevent the outbreaks, but if it is something seasonal and the antihistamine doesn't work (which is often the case with dogs), he wouldn't mind giving a dog prednisone for a couple of weeks a year. Not as an injection though.
About exactly how risky it is not to follow the instructions for reductions, I can't answer that. It will prob. depend on the dosis and the length of time it has been given. But I think it is not wise not to follow these instructions.
I was wondering what you mean by an autoimmune allergy.
Difficult for a lay person to describe but from what I've been told an internal stimuli that triggers the urticaria. Some viral infections, certain thyroid problems, and even estrus can trigger the hives or lumps.
I guess endogenous as opposed to exogenous is closer to what I was trying to say, but it was related to me as an autoimmune as the histamines appear to get over reactive due to an internal problem, and attack the receptors in the mast (?) cells of the skin.
I know I've probably mucked up that explanation:o but there it is.
I'm glad to hear all is well nowā¦that must have been more than a little nerve wracking...
ah! My Basenji Jack has those very same hives! He was out on the deck late sunday afternoon..made a yelp and later that night did the crazy agitation thing and broke out in hives! I gave him Benadryl and it ididn't seem to do much. The next morning he went to the vet and got a shot and I am now following up with ~30 mg of benadryl every 8 hoursā¦poor guy!
Poor Jack, what did the vet think he got? Some type of sting?
