Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 1/31/2007

Question
I have a four-month-old male beagle puppy, and we woke up this morning to find that his face and head are swollen. He acts normally in that he is his energetic, spunky self, but we're concerned he has reacted to some kind of food---possibly a small piece of banana I gave to him the night before. He later developed little bumps on top of his head and runs around scratching and rubbing his head on furniture.

He hasn't yet been vaccinated, and he's not on any medications. Could this indeed be a food allergy?

Answer
Yes, it could be a reaction to food or anything else.  Many compounds will cause this as well as insect bites.  YOu can try giving half of a Benadryl tablet (12.5mg) to see if the facial swelling will go down.

At 4 months, an unvaccinated puppy is very susceptible to the common puppy viruses. Some of these can be fatal.  You need to get him immunized.