Anaphylaxis
First time poster. My just over a year old, 15 lb rescue dog (shih tzu, chihuahua, dachshund, terrier mix)(I've had her two months) from Texas is now here in Wisconsin. A few days ago she experienced anaphylaxis. She was outside while we ate dinner (late June ~ 6pm, residential backyard with grass) and 20 minutes later she vomited up her dinner, walked a few steps, vomited again, did that two more times, deficated, and then stumbled away. It looked like she was drunk. Then she laid down abruptly and looked out of it. She has a cute little overbite and her tongue sticks out and it was pale. Her gums were pale as well.
Since it was after hours we called our local dog ER and were there within twenty minutes. I thought she got into something when I didn't see but the ER confirmed through presenting symptoms, gall bladder halo, liver values and other blood tests it was consistent with anaphylaxis / anaphylactic shock (not sure if they're the same term). They assured me it wasn't my fault.
She was there for six hours multiple rounds of medication, checked heart rate often and blood pressure, liver values, was on an IV. Thankfully she didn't need a plasma transfusion. She responded well and ultimately we were able to bring her home to monitor around midnight. They said it was highly likely she would have died. Emergency treatment for anaphylaxis is highly effective when done quickly.
It's been five days. She came home with prednisone, Benadryl, and Omeprazole. She's been vomiting and having diarrhea. I took her to her regular vet after monitoring a couple days and a few phone calls, she was prescribed a proviable kit, ondansetron, and a bland diet. Her vomitting is slowing down and shes starting BM's again after a couple of days of not having them. So we're moving in the right direction. Her affect has been fairly normal, sleepier than normal, but willing to go outside and wants to play sometimes even though I'm trying to keep it calm and chill for her. She's interested in eating but clearly doesn't appreciate my effort to give her a bland diet kibble as a treat XD
Multiple professional parties have said there's no way to know what caused it. Is this true? My vet didn't have any testing and a local veterinary dermatologist said they couldn't do it either. I experience anxiety and hyper vigilance especially with my pets. Not knowing if this will happen again is painful. It's apparently very rare in dogs as well. Dogs don't grow out of this, if it happens again the reaction will be the same to worse. I have an email inquiry out to a regional veterinary college.
We were in our backyard, somewhere she is every day multiple times per day. It's especially scary because what if we "waited to see" what happened, or weren't outside to see her progression, or we brought her inside and left, or put her to bed... we've had dogs and they've vomited and it was usually a wait and see if they were acting normal situation. An occasional call to the vet. The pale gums and out of it look snapped me into emergency mode. But again what if there was a later reaction. Some say these reactions are within minutes to an hour. Some have said it could be 1-8 hours later. Well obviously waiting over an hour to leave the house doesn't work for the real world. We're making a point to watch her at least 30 minutes before going to bed or leaving and having a camera. Though I worry that naturally over time complacency will naturally build when things have been fine for a while.
The ER doc also prescribed an EpiPen Jr, but we've gotten mixed feedback from veterinary professionals on this as well and information online is anecdotal at best. We did fill it and have it on hand. We were able to use GoodRX for CVS to get it a little cheaper. It seems like it's more of a peace of mind for the owner type thing. Very minimal information and it's conflicting at best on them for use on dogs.
The vet said that we can't (or shouldn't) keep her in a bubble and we should let her live her life and carry on because we never know anything that could happen in the future.
We fenced off some plants that bees favor to limit exposure there. But bees fly and can live in the ground. Ants exist on patios and pavement and grass.
Hornets and wasps can come out of nowhere. Bugs can get inside too. Living in fear and avoidance doesn't sound like the answer, but again I have anxiety so good luck not worrying. Anything could happen at anytime whether health, accident, you name it. But that doesn't help either I just don't like feeling out of control.
I'm posting as another data point if this happens to anyone else looking for information (I'm so sorry if this happens to you and your fur baby). I also am looking for real world experiences, reassurance, hope, suggestions? Has this happened and didn't happen again? Did it happen and happen again? Any where to find answers through skin or blood tests? Anyone have experience with immunotherapy for dogs to build resistance to venom? Saliva tests I've been told are unreliable.
To end on a happy note she is recovering well from this very scary experience and getting lots of cuddles.