allergies

my 3 yr old female choc lab experienced swelling in her face last summer after being stung by bees(?).  My vet prescribed prednisone and the swelling went down only to return after the prescription ran out.  Three prescriptions were given for the prednisone, but each time the swelling returned.  Finally, I treated the swelling (which was only slight at this point) with benedryl.  A repeat of the above occurred two more times and each time she was prescribed the prednisone.  After several weeks the swelling came back.  I am reluctant to have her on the prednisone again.

Is there some other treatment?  The swelling doesn't appear to bother her.  She hasn't been stung (that we know of) since the first episode.  The current swelling began about a week ago.  We live in Maine and have had several frosts so I haven't even seen any insects.  She goes swimming in salt water often.  She runs through a field where deer, fox, coyotes and who knows what else shares.  What could be causing this?

Thank you for any suggestions.

L

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

There is probably something else in in the environment that is causing the swelling and not an insect bite or bee sting as was originally believed.

Maybe you could keep a symptom diary and try to remember everything that she came in contact with prior to the episode.  Write down everything no matter how insignificant, toys, food, snacks, anything that you have cleaned the house with, etc.  Write down if she only gets the swelling after she runs through the field, even if you cannot pinpoint the exact cause,  and, since it has been occurring for awhile you should probably try to determine if it occurs more in any one season.

If you can't pin down the cause,  I suggest allergy testing and then allergy immunotherapy, if possible.  In the meantime you could use the Benadryl with a prescription medication called Atopica.  Atopica has less long term side effects than prednisone, and does not interfere with allergy testing, as prednisone does.