Shea Cox Print|Email|Text Size: || Bites and Stings The
A-Bee-C’s of Acute Allergic Reactions Recently, Pickle (the
puffy-faced puppy) suffered an acute, but not life-threatening,
allergic reaction.  I kicked off my Saturday morning shift by
treating the cutest puffy-faced puppy; he was experiencing his
first acute allergic reaction. Like many dog owners, this
puppy’s mom had never witnessed this kind of sudden reaction,
and arrived at our ER in a panicked and perplexed state
exclaiming, “he was normal just a minute ago!”  Acute allergic
reactions are a common emergency, and the culprits are generally
bees, wasps and spiders. This typically happens when our curious
canines can’t resist a good sniff and inspection of the
interesting creature moseying along the ground or floor.  Bites
and stings can cause clinical signs that range from mild to
life-threatening reactions. Mild reactions are generally limited
to a swollen or puffy face, swelling and redness around the
eyes, lumps and bumps over the skin, redness