I would think that if their was a preventative med your vet would have prescribed it.

In case it isn't spiders, did you give him a certain treat in the days before the reactions? Or a bath? Maybe it is the shampoo.

No, he didn't have any change in his food or his treats, and he hadn't had a bath. One reason we think it's spiders it that he was laying in the same dark corner of the family room prior to both reactions, and we have seen spiders back there in the past. Since his second reaction, we have blocked that area off so he can't get back in the corner, and maybe it's coincidence, but he hasn't had any reactions since then. But what concerns us the most is that he may have a reaction while we're gone. We live out in the country and I know that no matter how much we treat the yard and house, I don't know that we can eliminate the spiders completely, although we're going to try. Right now, when we leave him at home, we're leaving him in his kennel, but he is actually trained enough to have the roam of the house, but we're nervous to let him roam, in case he finds a spider. That is why we would love to find a preventative medication.

Unlikely to be a recluse spider even if you live in their territory -- the south-central US.

Not the wolf spider because their bite/venom isn't a problem.

Before you jump to any conclusions as to the cause, then drive yourself crazy for nothing, it would be wise to have the dog evaluated & tested for allergies. Find a vet who specializes in animal allergies.

For now, and as a just-in-case measure, can you keep him out of the corner/area where you suspect the problem (spider or not) to be?

One of my Goldens had a similar thing happen over the course of several years. Four times in Maryland and once in Pennsylvania while we were living there temporarily.

I kept notes but was never able to pinpoint anything consistent regarding the time of year, location, etc. All the vets involved, including a dermatologist, believe it to be insect-related, possibly some type of spider. Doesn't have to be a particularly bad one - just like people, dogs can be allergic to something relatively benign.

She would initially start to swell in the eye area. The first time was the most severe, with swelling all around here head and itching that caused her to scratch and lose some coat. She ended up on a steroid pack, etc. The other times, I was able to catch it right away and get her on Benadryl, which kept it in check until my vet could take a look.

We moved to NJ last fall and it hasn't happened in over a year. The dematologist here isn't overly concerned but said she can be tested for various insect bites, which I plan to do as a precaution.

It's been very frustrating and I just accept that we may never know the cause for sure. I'm always on the lookout for any minute change in her face.

I would call an exterminator....this would give me grey hairs in no time if I had to leave my pet for long periods of time and the possibility of an allergic reaction was there.

There are two types of allergic reactions, mediate and immediate.

The immeadiate type presents when the animal gets in contact with the allergen, the allergen can be anything, grass, wood shavings, poison ivy and very commonly, insect stings, I don´t think that spiders are causing the problem, but ants are a completely different story, specially if you live where fire ants are common. 2 episodes of allergic reaction so close together in time frame makes me believe that the most probable cause is that one ( ants ) or perhaps wasps, honey bees or bumble bees; the type of reaction you are describing fits them like a glove.

Mediate allergic reactions present after prolonged exposure to the allergen ( grass, wood shavings, polen, flea bites, etc ), once the allergy is declared most commonly it presents itself as a immediate reaction, something that could mask the symptomatology, this make this type of reaction more difficult to diagnose and many times the only way to diaginose is to make an allergy test.

I remember a case where they brought me a Labrador puppy, he came looking like if he had a fist fight with Mike Tyson, I asked the owner if he knew where the ant nest was, he swore to me that there were no ants ( I live in fire ant country ), well I treated the animal and everything was fine until a couple of weeks later when the puppy was brought again looking like it had another fist fight but now with Evander Hollifield. I asked the owner again if he had located the ant nest, same story again, he swore there were no ants....

"well sir, you swear there are no ants, but your puppy KNOWS where the ants nest is, until you find it we´ll be seeing each other over and over again"

Two days later the owner came and told me he had found the ants nest.

Regarding the ants. Yes, we do have ants here. We're in Ohio and we have regular ants and we have seen fire ants. But I have never seen one in the winter. I'm not saying they're not there. I'm actually asking. Are the ants out in the cold? Another thing. There are two thing we know that was the same with both allergic reactions. At first he was laying in the dark corner, then he got up quickly and went to the door like he had to potty. He was outside for a short time only (a couple of minutes), and while outside, we saw him by one of our trees, the same tree both times. Almost immediately when he came inside, he started acting agitated, then the swelling started. So if is ants, could he maybe have dug them up from the ground? I have a question for Raul. Our vet said the reactions will get worse with each exposure. From your experience, is this likely to be true? Also, is there something like a histamine blocker that we can give regularly to minimize the reactions while we're trying to locate and elimiate the cause. Oh, by the way, I think after Tyson and Hollifield beat up on the puppy down there, they came up here and attached Jynx, because that is exactly what he looked like. Any and all information / advice is much appreciated. Thank you to everyone.

Yes the reaction hightens after every exposure and becomes more violent that´s why it´s important to take the dog to the vet quickly. Hystamine blockers don´t work well on dogs and are very short lived ( only good for 6-8 hours ), but cortisone does wonders, if you are having the problem and can´t locate the cause you can ask your vet to give your dog a shot of a long term deposit cortisone compound, those last up to 15 days, 15 days free of worries.

Yes I´ve heard the horror stories about cortisone, in my experience, those horror stories are extremely rare, they can happen but it´s like penicilin, there are people and animals allergic to penicilin but that doesn´t mean that penicilin isn´t a good antibiotic for the remaining 99% of the population that are not allergic to penicilin. Same thing happens with cortisone, some animals may develop cortisone related health issues, that´s why it is important that the therapy is performed and under supervision by your vet.

For what you are saying I think that what´s causing the problem is in that particular tree, you may not have fire ants ( Ohio is too cold for them ) but you have carpenter ants and those also sting, and they survive in cold climates protected by the bark and wood. Check that tree for carpenter ants.

You have no idea how many cases I see every year, hot climates have hot bugs, the list is long and distinguished where I live: fire ants, bumble bees, those nasty 1 1/2 inch red wasps that carry more fire power than an Apache helicopter with an attitude, those black & yellow spotted wasps ( also very nasty ), black widow spiders, scorpions, wooly buggers ( butterfly caterpillars with "hair" ) and to round up the mix, rattlesnakes and poisonous toad.

You gotta love the South !