I came home from work one day and my dog’s face was so large and puffy I couldn’t even see her eyes with all the expanding flesh. When your dog’s face is suddenly swollen, there are a few major factors as to why your dog’s face suddenly looks like a balloon.
It could be allergies. Did you take your dog to someone’s house, and they got into something, like a food product or a plant? Did your dog get into the garden when they were outside? Did they get into a fragrance of some sort, like your perfume or a cleaning product? If your dog has been around any strange substance and they’re face has blown up (cheeks and neck bulbous, eyes almost overshadowed by their flesh), an allergic reaction may be to blame. Common allergens are medications, unfamiliar food products, and houseplants, or even a recent vaccination, and signs of an allergic reaction via facial swelling usually show up fairly rapidly, within a half hour to a few hours. Your dog may also wheeze and breathe heavily or sneeze rapidly with an allergic reaction to something.
Your dog may have gotten bitten or stung by something. A spider or insect bite (like a wasp or a bee) can cause your dog’s face to swell up quickly after being bitten or stung. If your dog was bitten by a spider in their sleep on their face, their face can swell up so fast you’d be amazed. Likewise if they stick their nose where it didn’t belong and got stung by an insect. Spider and insect bites are often accompanied by rubbing of the facial injury on the carpet, crying, and hiding or shaking due to the pain.
The reason for my dog’s swollen face was a cat scratch she had gotten from a wild cat under the porch. A tiny scratch on her nose turned into a pussy, swollen, oozing face that actually had skin just peeling off in my hands like a rotten tomato within just a few short hours. An animal bite or scratch to the face can quickly become infected and cause the face to swell up like none other. Bleeding and oozing of pus and plasma through their pores on their face is also a strong indicator of an animal bite or scratch infection. A scary sight, indeed.
Whatever may be causing your dog’s face to suddenly swell, the situation can become life-threatening if you don’t take action fast. My brother’s new little puppy has a face currently as big as a bobble head, and he is now at the vet getting antibiotics for an allergic reaction he received visiting someone’s house. If your dog’s face has become suddenly swollen, get them to the vet so they can get the proper help they need to relieve their symptoms fast. Whether it be allergies, an infection, or an insect or spider bite, you need to get your dog to the vet right away to get them the help they need and help them get their swollen face back to normal.
Sources:
personal experience
my dog’s poor puppy
medhelp.org
