Coast Lines: Allergic Dog

This past week, I took a couple days away from working on Patch to enjoy a little bit of vacation time.

In all honesty, it wasn’t really a vacation. I took more of a stay-cation and planned out a couple of day trips with my wife, Candy and stepsons, Leo and Ollie.

One of the days I had off, we decided to give our miniature pinscher, Gracie, a trip and took her down to Fort De Soto beach.

For those who haven’t been, Fort De Soto is the only beach in the nearby area that allows dogs to run along the sand.

Given and other dogs, we decided to keep her leashed on the beach at all times. That way, she could still run in the water, but we wouldn’t have to worry about her chasing off after big dogs.

When we got over to the beach, Gracie was chomping at the windows and running around manically in the car wanting to get out and run. I quickly leashed her and took her out to the water, where she proceeded to bite at the waves and splash around.

Everything was going splendidly until I made my way back to the car to get the rest of the beach items we had brought with us. Gracie wasn’t running back and forth and nearly pulling the leash out of my hand like she normally does and she looked very sluggish.

This got Candy and I worried to the point that we made our way home shortly after. We only stayed at the beach for around an hour.

By the time we had gotten home, Gracie was shivering and covered in bumps. My wife said it best when she told me that our min pin now looked like a tiny sharpei.

The rest of the night, we held her and made sure she felt safe. We gave her a half tablet of baby Benadryl in hopes that whatever was happening was an allergic reaction.

Thankfully, by the time we were going to bed, Gracie was looking much better and the swelling had gone down. She was even barking at people walking by our apartment again, so I knew she must have been feeling better.

Not sure about what happened, I went to the to ask what can cause allergic reaction in dogs on the beach.

Anything on the beach can cause a dog to have an allergic reaction, the nurse at the animal hospital told me. Like humans, they can be allergic to the bugs there, the sand and even the saltwater. The only sure way to know is to run an allergy test on the dog to get specific results.

Furthermore, if a dog gets swelling, like Gracie did, the animal should be taken to an animal hospital right away as the swelling can restrict their breathing, the nurse said.

The nurse also recommended Benadryl, with no additives, as a means to calm smaller allergic reactions. For each pound a dog weighs, you give one milligram.

Thankfully, Gracie is okay and completely back to normal, but my family was definitely scared. As fun as Fort De Soto is, I don’t think we’ll be making a return visit with our dog anytime soon.