Nettles!

My OH took Willow for a walk on Sun afternoon, half an hour later I went downstairs and found Willow having the zoomies. I sat down, and after having been bounced off a couple of times I thought zoomies after walkies? Not Normal.

So I watched Willow, and she was beyond excited-run-around and into exhausted-but-I-can't-sit-still, with plenty of chewing at paws in the rare bum on ground moments. Lengthy interrogation of the OH told me there was a bridge closed, so they'd taken a short cut across some rough ground - butterburs, nettles, thistles etc.

Pinning Willow down (a 2 person job) and inspecting the paws showed no foreign objects, no cuts, no burrs, but the pads were extremely hot, and the pink bits were scarlet. The poor girl had by now been trying to scratch the inner bits of her pads by chewing, rubbing them on the carpet, digging into the lawn (but what's one more hole!) for over an hour and it was driving her crackers (OK, more crackers than normal).

She was exhausted, and actually fell asleep on her back while I was rubbing her front paws and the OH was rubbing the back paws.

Obviously we couldn't keep that up all night. We tried ice, antibiotic cream, vit E, paraffin wax, calamine lotion; I even sent the OH out for some dock leaves - nothing stopped the wailing and scratching. Eventually I got desperate and I gave her half a child dose of anti-histamine, and it worked 45 mins - one fast asleep puppy.

I know this is a bad idea generally (or at least I do when there isn't a suffering puppy wailing at me), so what should I have done? Is there a nettle remedy I didn't try?

we have the same problem rossi is two now but is still hyper sensative to nettles i have used savlon bite & sting cream on him but not sure this is advisible ??? it does the trick though i have asked our vet & he said its fine but i would love to know if there is a natural remedy we could use instead petrina

You can give 2 piriton tablets for allergies hun, my vet actually prescribes them. Always a good idea to have them in as well in case of stings.

Oh that's good to know - the anti-histamine I gave was chlorphenamine (the generic form of piriton I think), which I get on prescription. I was being overcautious with the dose too, she's still only at 10 kg (2 months and counting), so I halved the dosage given for a child, and gave that.

I keep Urtica Urens in my FA box 30c but you can use Piriton (or generic with same ingredient), preferably okayed by your vet.

The vet who runs the National Certificate in Canine First Aid says 2 x 2 - 4 mg per day for a small dog, 4 = 8 x 2 a day for a medium to large one.

HTH

Oh, poor thing. I have to say, mine are quite immune to nettles. I cringe when they walk through them, wee on them, stick their heads in them...!

Dock leaves always work for me when I've been stung.

Hope she is feeling better