Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog: Facial Swelling

If it is summer time, and your dog swells on one side, the first thing that comes to your mind is likely an insect sting. The odds that you're not wrong are going to be high.

Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog: Facial Swelling

Insect stings


Below is what Cookie's face looked like after she got stung by a bald-faced hornet. I knew that's what it was because I was there when she accidentally hopped in the nest neither of us knew was there.


Fortunately, this was as bad as it's gotten. I gave her Benadryl and kept watching her like a hawk, but overnight the swelling went away. The concern with insect stings is a serious allergic reaction where swelling can spread and cause difficulty breathing or worse, cause anaphylactic shock. If her swelling spread, if she broke out in hives, was drooling, vomiting or having diarrhea, I would have gone to a vet even though it was just a hornet sting.

Spider or snake bites


It is essential to know what kinds of poisonous creepy crawlies there are in your area that could have bitten your dog. If your dog is always supervised, you'd probably notice if there was the possibility of a snake bite. With spiders, being small and all that, it's not as easy.

Again, if you don't know what might have happened, the swelling gets worse and/, or your dog is showing concerning signs, see a vet. Signs can include muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, tremors and the like. You are also looking at the possibility of violent infections.

What if it's neither stings or bites?



It was summertime when JD's face swelled up right above his eye. We don't have any nasty snakes or spiders around here. Naturally, an insect bite was what we figured has happened. We gave him Benadryl, and the swelling indeed went down. Except it returned. And then it returned again. Getting stung three times over such a short period didn't make any sense anymore. We took JD to the vet who asked whether JD liked to chew on sticks. Sometimes he did. That made him the third case they've seen where a splinter from a stick made it into the hard palate and the infection traveled through the path of the least resistance.

JD was treated with antibiotics, but the swelling kept coming back after each treatment. Eventually, JD started having neurologic signs too; having a hard time standing, walking and keeping balance. At the end of the day, whether it was an infection deep in his brain, or cancer, it led to his undoing.

That is a fairly rare case, but it shows not to underestimate even such a routine thing like facial swelling.

Dental issues


A much more common cause of facial swelling than JD's foreign body or cancer is dental disease. We did, of course, have the mouth and teeth checked thoroughly but there was nothing wrong there. An abscessed tooth, though, can definitely make your dog's face swell up.

An infected swelling due to trauma is going to look quite similar, but you should be able to find the associated wound. With any infection bad enough to cause pronounced swelling your dog might also have a fever.

Other causes


While allergic reactions, stings, and bites, and infections are the most common causes, you'd be surprised how many other--and often scary--things can result in facial swelling.


  • fluid or blood build-up from trauma
  • lymph node swelling
  • muscle  inflammation
  • salivary fluid build up
  • cancer


When your dog's face swells, it might not always be something scary or sinister but it could be. Unless I know--or I think I know--what might have caused it, I would not delay a vet visit.

We have a new home! For more dog health articles and resources, subscribe to us at our new location

mydogsymptoms.com

We are looking forward to seeing you there.


Do you know what your dog is telling you about their health?

Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog

Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog now available in paperback and Kindle. Each chapter includes notes on when it is an emergency.

Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog is an award-winning guide to help you better understand what your dog is telling you about their health and how to best advocate for them. 

Learn how to see and how to think about changes in your dog’s appearance, habits, and behavior. Some signs that might not trigger your concern can be important indicators that your dog needs to see a veterinarian right away. Other symptoms, while hard to miss, such as diarrhea, vomiting, or limping, are easy to spot but can have a laundry list of potential causes, some of them serious or even life-threatening. 

Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog is a dog health advocacy guide 101. It covers a variety of common symptoms, including when each of them might be an emergency. 

An award-winning guide for dog parents

Comments

  1. The dogs are too cute, even if they wern't feeling the best when those pictures were taken. My Kitsune had his face swell up due to an allergic reaction once. He got hives all over his body too. It was scary but luckily we got him into the vet quickly and they were able to get the swelling down pretty fast.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that sounds like it was a major reaction. I'm glad all worked out well.

      Delete
  2. Thanks for another very informative post. Facial swelling is not something I've ever experienced with any of my animals, although I was able to relate to the insect sting. Many years ago my cat stepped on a bee and his paw swelled. I took him to the vet right away rather than wait to see if he had a bad reaction. Luckily Benadryl did the trick but I wasn't taking any chances.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cookie stepped on a bee once too. She was so unhappy. I gave Benadryl as well as Deramaxx I had on had because she was in so much pain.

      Delete
  3. This is one of my fears when in parks with Layla is that she will be stung by a bee or some other insect so I watch her carefully. Thank goodness no problems till now but always good to know so thanks for the great post

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bees are slow to sting .. but of course when stepped on or something, they will.

      Delete
  4. What happened with JD? Did he pass away from the infection?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At the end it wasn't clear whether it was brain infection or cancer. But the last day he couldn't even walk. The prognosis was so poor we let him pass rather than putting him through hospital stay and treatments with little chance of that doing any good.

      Delete
  5. Been lucky do far and avoided the stings ... surprising given that half the insects where we live are out for blood. LOL it's -40 right now though ... so insects are not an issue for a few months yet (May).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, yes, we had plenty of insects that are out for blood. Those are mostly just annoying, though.

      Delete
  6. Ruby has fortunately never been stung by a bee or been bitten by a snake. Not too many snakes around us. Our rabbit once had an abscess on her tooth and her face swelled up quite a bit. She had to two have two surgeries to drain and care for it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Poor baby. Yes, a tooth abscess can swell up pretty good.

      Delete
  7. Poor JD. :( We hope this summer is a better one for him and there is nothing that causes swelling. Lexy had a swollen lip a few years ago. They couldn't figure out what it was from, but she had antibiotics and it cleared up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JD did not make it through the problem that was behind HIS swelling.

      Delete
  8. This is my absolute worst fear - we have a cabin where hornets are somewhat active. They've gotten me and I'm sensitive so I balloon up and it's uncomfortable due to the itch and heat. Poor little babies, I can only imagine how much that hurt. But so glad you knew what to look for and what to do!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had quite a few unpleasant encounters with wasps myself. Yes, it hurts. At one point I was scared to death of them.

      Delete
  9. Wow, chewing a stick that caused an infection multiple times! My last springer loved to chew sticks. I never gave it a second thought except when a piece of wood got lodged between her teeth and I had to yank it out.

    Very informative post. A long time ago I had a dog whose face swelled. I think it was from a bee sting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chewing a stick in itself is not a problem. Sadly, a splinter can separate and make its way into tissues.

      Delete
  10. Our Harvey (senior cat) had a minor drama when one side of his face puffed up. It as autumn/winter and he does not leave the garden I checked thoroughly for any specific swelling but found none. He was at the vet before he could draw breath!

    The vet believed it was an allergic reaction to plastic. Needless to say he has ceramic bowls now!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm sorry JD's problems weren't from an insect bite and was more serious. If I see any swelling with my girls, off to the vet they go.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It seemed to have been from a sting at first but it turned out being some else and worse.

      Delete
  12. Oh wow, poor JD! That sounds terrible. My dogs love to chew on sticks. That's terrifying. We have only had swelling twice, both times due to bees. I only know this because I saw the stings happen. Once when Ringo found a ground nesting bee hive and tried to dig to get to said bees. That one was not fun! And once when Boomer was a puppy and she got into a hive. We were camping on a small island only accessible by boat so we let her wander a bit and she came running out of the woods covered head to toe in bees, which my husband and myself (bot highly allergic to bees ourselves) frantically knocked off of her. Thank goodness we had benadryl on hand. Poor girl.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is possible it was some kind of cancer all along. We'll never know now as it wouldn't have made any difference.

      Delete
  13. I hate bugs. We’ve had bees get in the house and my cats try to catch them and eat them. I’ve only dealt with a sting to a paw once, I think by the time they catch them the bees are on the way out anyway. So sorry for what happened with JD.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I hadn't thought about sticks possibly causing swelling in my dogs mouth. Icy is always chewing on sticks, it's so hard to curtail that habit. I'll keep this in mind, thanks!
    Love & Biscuits,
    Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ugh, I just went through this with one of my FiveSibes. It's still a mystery, but the best guess is it was a spider bite (even in the winter). Very scary episode, first her one eye swelled shut, and within minutes it traveled across her nose to her other eye, and then down her snout. She swelled up so bad, I had done a post on it. Thankfully, we caught it right away, and I am happy to say that after a vet visit and medication, all is well. I am Pinning your post to share!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment