Scary Allergic Reaction

Zoe has been taking Simplicef for a bacterial infection she had in the folds on her face for the past 11 days on top of the Ivermectin medication for her demodex mites. When I got home from work I noticed her eye lids looked a little puffy and her cheeks were pinker than normal. I didn't think anything of it. At 9PM my husband noticed that her eyes were getting puffier and the skin around her mouth was very red. In 1 hour's time, her eyes are almost totally swollen shut, her face is red all over and she's running around the house rubbing her face on anything she can to relieve the itching/swelling.  It was getting worse by the minute and I was worried that she could have a breathing problem; although she was not panting. I gave her a 25mg benadryl and called the emergency vet clinic. They advised me to give her another benadryl and wait 1/2 hour to see if there was any improvement...if not or if I thought she was having problems breathing to get her there asap.  In 1/2 hour at 11PM she had calmed down and was sleeping comfortably. I set my alarm to check her every 2 hrs, all seemed ok. At 3AM I gave her 2 more benadryl.

I took her to my regular vet this morning and she was still swollen and red but not as bad as last night and now had some hives on her body. The vet gave her a shot of epinephrine, and instructed me to administer benadryl every 6-8 hours for 2 days; at that time all the swelling and redness is gone and not give her any of the other medications; as obviously she had developed a reaction to them.

I just wanted to relate this story as I thought all was well and suddenly she developed an allergic reaction that could have been life threatening after 11 days of taking Simplicef and Ivermectin. Keep a box of benadryl in your medicine cabinet...you never know when you may need it in an emergency situation.

Eyes swollen shut, Muzzle red and inflamed