The "kids"(Fur and FURLESS)are always getting into something on the Doctor's OFF HOURS! Or so it seems! Here's how it happened! Last Saturday Morning about 4:30 am, Hubby lets Baby & Greta out to do their "business"! He let them in 5 min later. He notices that Baby's right eye is swollen. OFCOURSE, He wakes me up. Above and below her eye was also swollen as well and the white [part of the eyeball was red)too. I could not find any bit or sting. She is 60# so I gave her 2 small Benedryl capsules(the soft ones) and I washed the area and put Visine AC drops(2 in each eye). with in 20 min I saw the swelling going slowly down. but with in the next few hours I saw her right jaw starting to swell, so With in 4 hrs of the 1st dose, I gave her 2 more benedryl(Slightly wet the capsules to make them not stick to her throat) and then got her to drink some water. she had trouble keeping food down so we just made sure that she lept licking ice cubes... after another few hours the swelling went down went from her jaw to her WHOLE MUZZLE! Her lips got very thick!, so I gave her 2 more capsules(4 hrs after the last ones)ofcourse I called the vet's cell phone, but he was not with in the calling area!..so I kept her calm and did not let her scratch!... THe Benedryl took away all the itchiness and the swelling FINALLY!... Saturday nite, she ate a lil bit of Moisened dry food...and kept it down as well as small amts of water. by SUNDAY MORNING... she seemed 90%...just a lil slower than usual and we fed her 1/2 rations all Sunday. Monday morning she was pretty much normal, but I did not want to take a chance, so...MONDAY MORNING at 8 am. we were at the Vet's Office. He took her to do a COMPLETE BLOOD PANEL and a VALLEY FEVER TEST. While they were in the back room doing the tests, ANOTHER DOG came in with a SWOLLEN EYE and the right side of the dogs face was swollen with HUGE BLOODY SCRATCHES!... The man explained that sometime during the week end,"SOMETHING" bit his dog. he thinks a spider. The scratching and the Blod came from the dog herself scratching her itchy face! I asked if he gave the dog some BENEDRYL? He said that he didn't know he could! That poor dog's head was so swollen that the dog had to have a drain put in...and all that scratching was harmful too... The VET told him that the whole thing would have disappeared like Baby's, IF he would have used the Benedryl. The VET said that it is an antihistimine and very good to use! I didn't know about cats, but my Aunt says that she was told by her vet that yes, you can use it for your cats as well... PLEASE ask your VET about it and the proper dose. (I don;'t know what bit Baby, but it must have been a spider(Bees and Wasps are not out here at night)I keep a supply of Benedryl!(BTW: Baby's Blood tests all came out NORMAL! WOOHOO!

Rosemary is right. When our youngest son, now 37, was about 5 we found he was very allergic to bee and wasp stings. He took allergy shots, one a week, for a year. meanwhile, the peditrician wrote a prescription (yes, was prescription back then as was Dimetapp cough medicine). If he got stung he was to ger benaryl at once.

Fast forward to 7 years this summer. Buck, our golden retrienver was stung on lip by a HUGE ground wasp. As luck would have we were just finshing up yard work and was going fishing. But a long distance call from old school friend delayed us leaving and when i got off the phone, Buck's entire face was swollen and we got him right to the vet. Was told to always keep benadryl on hand....up until then I didn't know it could be given to dogs!

Now fast forward to April 2002. Got home from the vet after KayCee had gotten her annual vax. Short time later she was covered in hives, eyes swelling shut, temp 106.9. Call to vet's calling service (we had been the last ones in that day, a Good Friday) and while wating for return call, gave her Benadryl WHICH I HAD BEEN KEEPING ON HAND, wrapped her in wet towl and poured cool water over her. Vet returned called, and we met him at hospital. She was givien injections and in a while temp started going down, hives got smaller. It is very possible the benadryl saved her life by stopping the reaction for going on. She had not had vax since except law required rabies. I am never with benadryl.