How to Get Rid of Dog Hives?

How to Get Rid of Dog Hives

Dealing with Dog Hives

Dog hives are red, itchy bumps occurring as an allergic reaction. While usually not dangerous, they can be uncomfortable and worsen if not addressed. Here’s what you need to know:

What are Hives?

  • Description: Red, raised, often itchy bumps on the skin.
  • Causes: Allergic reactions to insect bites, medications, shampoos, sunlight, or genetic factors.
  • Severity: Typically minor and resolve on their own. However, severe cases can cause swelling and breathing difficulties (anaphylaxis).

Treating Dog Hives

  • Veterinary Care: If hives persist, cause excessive swelling, or affect breathing, see a vet immediately. Medications like these might be needed:

    • Antihistamines: Block histamines, the chemicals causing allergic reactions.
    • Corticosteroids: Reduce inflammation and calm the immune response.
    • Epinephrine: A rare option for severe anaphylactic reactions.
  • Home Remedies: For mild cases, consider these options:

    • Oatmeal: Soothe itchy skin with an oatmeal paste applied to the affected area.
    • Teas: Chamomile or green tea can provide antihistamine effects and reduce skin irritation.
    • CBD Oil: May offer anti-inflammatory benefits to lessen itching. Be sure to discuss its use with your vet.

Key Takeaways

  • Hives are typically a minor issue, but it’s crucial to monitor your dog for worsened symptoms.
  • See a vet for persistent or severe hives, especially if breathing is affected.
  • Home remedies can be helpful for managing mild cases and providing comfort.

Remember: If in doubt, always consult your veterinarian for the best course of action for your dog’s specific needs.

All You Need to Know About Hives

Hives are a type of allergic infection that causes redness of the skin and severe itchiness. This allergic infection is also famous as Urticaria; the problems created by these infections don’t remain for a long time because they resolve on their own.

The symptoms caused by these hives include swelling of the skin, severe itchiness, welts, and many others, which can develop anywhere in the dog’s body, like the face, throat, lips, and ears of the body.

If somehow the urticaria is caused by insect bites, especially bee stings, dogs’ faces and lips might swell dramatically.

Whereas if swelling spreads to the neck, respiration might become difficult, culminating in anaphylaxis. Urticaria is usually self-limiting and poses no serious health risk to your dog.

How Do Dogs Get Hives?

As per the research done by the cynologists on dogs getting affected by hives, the results came out that getting affected by Urticaria is very uncommon in dogs. Around 30 percent of the total population of dogs get affected by these hives.

The most frequent factors responsible for the causing of hives in dogs are :

Insect Bites

When a dog gets a bite by insects like fleas, bed bugs, and ants, the protein present in the saliva secreted by the salivary gland reacts with the cells present in the epidermal layer of the skin and makes the layer toxic, which leads to the cause of hives in dogs.

Shampoo

Shampoos can often be the cause of hives in dogs. This is because when shampoos are used excessively in dogs for bathing, the chemicals and proteins present in the shampoo react with the immune system’s cells, resulting in a severe skin infection named hives in dogs.

Medications

The certain medications provided to your dog, including the vaccinations it has taken, can be the most probable reason behind the cause of hives in your dog.

Most medicines like penicillin, ibuprofen, and aspirin, if given in excessive amounts, can lead to some toxicity which can be responsible for minor allergic reactions named hives.

Sunlight

The sun’s ultraviolet radiation can also cause hives in dogs sometimes. The exposure of the UV rays to the skin can harm the cells of the epidermal layer of the skin, which leads to the cause of redness and rashes in the skin, termed hives.

Genetic Abnormalities

As we all know that most of the offspring produced by living organisms possess genetic characteristics. For example, if the parents of an organism used to have skin infections, then the probability of the offspring being affected by this infection is very high.

The owner can take preventive measures for these above-discussed factors to prevent their dog from getting affected by hives.

Why Do the Hives of Dogs Need to be Treated Rapidly?

As we have discussed above, hives in dogs can’t be severe, but they can cause more skin complications to your pet in extreme cases. When it was mainly due to bites of insects, severe skin complications might also include the swelling of that infected region.

In some rare cases, the swelling of the infected region can also reach the throat, which is referred to as anaphylaxis, which can interrupt the respiratory passages of dogs and lead to breathing issues.

This is why the anaphylactic allergic reaction in dogs needs to be treated as soon as possible to prevent the hive from getting life-threatening.

How to Get Rid of Dog Hives?

Suppose a dog owner can notice that hive which usually resolves on their remains for a longer time on the skin and gets transformed into anaphylaxis.

In that case, The dog owner is suggested to rapidly take the canine friend to a veterinarian to prevent the situation from getting further complicated.

As per research, there is no new way of medication developed to treat dog hives. The most common medication used by veterinarians to treat the complications of hives in dogs is discussed below.

Antihistamines

Antihistamines are one of the most preferred medications of most dog owners as it gives successful results with just a couple of uses.

The feeding of antihistamine is used to relieve the allergic reaction symptoms by suppressing the histamine, which is a type of chemical substance produced by the immune system to trigger allergic reactions.

Corticosteroids

While the allergens are causing the allergic reaction in dogs to invade the immune system, they react strongly to the allergen by causing inflammation of the infected site.

The corticosteroids work by reducing the immune system’s overreaction to the allergens responsible for the infection and hence reduce the inflammation of the infected site.

Epinephrine

Among all the medications used by vets for treating hives in dogs, epinephrine is the most rarely used medication.

It is used to treat the hives in dogs by binding with the specific receptors on the immune cells present in the immune system.

It helps suppress the further release of the histamines, which are responsible for allergic reactions in dogs.

The proper use of the medicines mentioned earlier prescribed by the veterinarian as per the provided schedule is the best way a dog owner can adopt to treat the further complications of Urticaria in dogs and get rid of hives in dogs.

What are the Steps to Get Rid of Dog Hives at Home?

As we all know, hives are not that serious of infection in dogs. So if the condition has not gotten complicated, then the dog owner can also go for treatment of the dog’s hives at home which can work wonders in dogs. The substances that a dog owner can use to get rid of dogs hives are discussed below:

Use of Oats

As per research, the use of oats over the skin has a lot of benefits, its use can reduce the severe itchiness of the skin to a greater extent, and it also soothes the effects of the allergens on the skin.

For using oats to reduce the effects of hives, all the owner has to do is take a bowl and add a cup of oatmeal to it, then add the required amount of water to make it a thick base.

After making the paste, apply it over the affected area of the dog’s skin, cover it with a towel, leave it for around ten to fifteen minutes, and then wash it away. Regular use of this mixture thrice a day for a couple of days will be very beneficial for making your dog hives resistant.

Use of Teas

Teas are the most commonly used substance to relieve the skin of an infected allergy dog. When chamomile or green tea leaves are applied to the affected area of the skin, it is used to reduce the itchiness and irritation of the skin.

The antihistamine properties of green teas are mainly responsible for treating the hives on the skin. For using green teas to treat hives, you can take two to three green tea leaves in a grinder and add a few drops of water to it to make a smooth paste, then apply it over the affected area of the skin.

It will help cool down the heat of the area released due to the toxicity of the allergens.

Use of Cannabidiol

You all might be aware of the name CBD oil, and instead of calming anxious dogs, it also includes many other benefits like treating allergies in dogs.

The use of CBD oil is one of the most effective remedies that most dog owners go with when it comes to treating the hives of their dogs. The medical authorities of veterinary science have also approved the use of CBD oil for treating infections.

The cannabinoids produced in the dog’s body have an anti-inflammatory effect named endocannabinoids, which reduces inflammation, reducing the skin’s itchiness.

All the above-discussed steps are based on cynologists’ experiments on dogs’ behavior after applying these remedies. So if a dog owner is looking for tips to treat the hives of dogs at home, then he can entirely rely upon the above-discussed steps.

So, here we are with the entire information regarding the removal of dog hives. All the information discussed in the article will help you in clearing all your doubts regarding how to get rid of dog hives, Thanks for reading the article till the end.

Aapt Dubey
Aapt Dubey

Aapt Dubey, a devoted canine enthusiast and experienced dog Owner, brings boundless passion to our team. With a heart full of love for our four-legged friends, Aapt is dedicated to sharing insights on dog care, behavior, and training to make every pup's life happier and healthier at ItsAboutDog.com.

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