Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 11/4/2011

Question
Hello,

My ABPT (approx 3 years old) was out for a run in the woods with my husband a few days ago. Today we noticed he is covered in these weird bumps, which are rapidly swelling up and he is getting more and more of them as time passes. They have hair growing over them, so its not really possible for me to see if theres any kind or worm in the lumps or if they are draining in any way.

He has also been refusing to eat for about 20 hours, he has vomited three times (first time it was only yellow liquid that came out, second time it was a couple of kibbles - all he would eat - and grass, the last time he vomited up a small piece of wet food and more grass, again that one chunk of wet food was all he would eat).

He is very lethargic, sleeps far more than normal, doest even try to play his favourite "chase the stick" game and seems uninterested in most things he normally enjoys. He also seems to (when hes actually awake) be unable to settle into a comfortable position, constantly sitting or standing turning and laying down over and over. I have taken pictures of the lumps and attached one.

Is this most likely hives or can it be something more dangerous? it is only 7am so we cannot take him to a vet for another 4 hours and so I hope you can help, as we are both so worried about him. Especially because whenever he is in motion he has wretching fits lasting from one to two minutes, sometimes over and over during the walk, and also he does the same around the house when he is walking around seemingly aimlessly looking for a comfortable place to lie down. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
This looks to be an allergic reaction to something causing hives (angioneurotic edema).  Often dogs with systemic acute allergies will get hives and they will vomit as a reaction to a flooding of their syst3em with histamines.  I would get to the vet soon for a steroid shot and possibly some antihistamines.