Please help guys - halfway urgent. . .

Hi guys, I need some advice real quick. . .

I just flipped Kosmo over to give him big hugs and a big kiss on the belly and I noticed he looks like he's very very sunburned everywhere on his body. He's very pink, EVERYWHERE.

I don't know what it could be. I got a new rawhide bone for him tonight with a chicken twist on it (he eats chicken all the time,) and he also ate maybe 30 pieces of Royal Canin, which is brand new to him. Other than that there's been no changes in his diet and he's had nothing new. We went to class this morning but I didn't notice any of the other dogs looking sunburned... ... Could he just be hot? Or maybe he got a mosquito bite and he's having a rection?

His mood seems normal. He's crashed out on my lap right now but he wanted to play earlier, he was excited to go outside to take a wee, and he's in a pretty good mood, I just can't fathom what's going on with his body. Has anybody had any kind of experience with this before? He's been hot a million times and he hasn't looked like this. . .

Here he is:

This is him normally (yes all of his beautiful hair got cut off :cry*ing: but it's hot and it will grow back



This is his face tonight, which bothers me.. if you can see his lips, they look like he has lipstick on (and we haven't been in the sun,)



And here's his tummy (which is bright red..)


Avi said I am totally over reacting (of course,) but I don't know what to do. I could take him in but he seems to be acting fine? I might check on him every 2 hours or so tonight and then see how he looks in the morning? I don't know, please let me know what you guys think.

Thanks in advance. :flwr:


***EDIT!!!***

Weirdest thing in the entire world. As quickly as it came, it's almost gone now. He's still a little pink, but nothing to worry about I don't think. That was the weirdest thing ever...

He just got so pink so fast.. It was like a red pink..scarlet color.. very weird. His lips are still a little red but they aren't as bad as they were.

It's very late here in Toronto now and definately past Kosmo's bed time and mine so we are going to cuddle up and go to bed together. Scary things like this make me want to cuddle with him forever. I'm going to wake up tonight during the night to make sure he's still alright but he seems to be a better color now.

No idea what could have caused that, but it does seem like some kind of allergic reaction . . .

If it was food related, wouldnt he get the runs or vomit or something? and if it was a bug bite, wouldnt he have some kind of bump? Maybe it's too early to tell but I am at a loss for the cause.

How old is he? If he is very young, I'd take him in to see the emergency vet. Do you see any swelling?

How old is he? If he is very young, I'd take him in to see the emergency vet. Do you see any swelling?

i have checked him out and i can't find any bumps on him .. i can't see any swelling, just everything is pink pink pink.. and he's dead tired. But it is past his bedtime so I guess that's to be expected. He's 6 months now. He's acting normal like I said, he's just sooo pink! Like, If I look at his white fur, I can actually see a pink undertone. It's so bizarre.. .. ..

I have no experience with this, but according to one of my books, the inflammation could be caused by allergy or sunburn, like you mentioned. Was he out in the sun very much today? Has he been drinking enough water?

You could try benadryl, but you would need to know the dosage for his weight.

He didn't go in the sun at all really. If I take him out, 5 minutes later his tongue is hanging at his feet, lol. He drinks enough, but he hasn't eaten too well the last few days.. but last week he ate like an elephant, so I guess he's just going through his "spurts" again. I know he gained 1lb in 10 days last week so that's why he was eating so much. I'm not too worried about the food.

Does he feel hot?

With a puppy you have to be very proactive. Do you have a 24 hour emergency vet in your area? Maybe you could call them and describe his symptoms, then they could tell you if he should be seen right away.

Kathy I just updated it ... he sort of returned to normal.. .. still a little pink but nothing like it was. So weird..

Yeah we have an emergency vet but they are close to us and I wanted opinions first because I am a cavalier rookie and I didn't know if something was common that wasn't serious, you know?

He's no warmer than normal. He is laying down next to me now slaying dragons (lol) and crying and running and everything else so he must at least be having good dreams! wonder what they dream about?

That's good that he's returning to normal.

Geordie, my blenheim boy, has this weird thing that happens when he is stressed - the whites of his eyes turn pink. This happens at agility class sometimes. Then his eyes return to normal a short time later. I never noticed if his skin turns pink when he is stressed. I will pay closer attention. This may be a blenheim thing!

Yikes it's late - I'm going to sign off now.

it was probably nothing, but it sounds kind of like an allergic reaction. If it was me, i think i would've give him the rawhide thing with the chicken twist, if that's the only thing he never had before, or the royal canin. i know you said he had chicken before, but if you said he's never had that particular kind of rawhide chew, then it could have some additives or flavorings that might include some allergen. Again, it's probably nothing and i probably tend to overreact, but what you described sounds like some kind of hypersensitivity. in answer to your question, i do not think that allergic reactions always involve gastrointestinal symptoms. they can just involve the skin, or just about anything.

anyway, i'm sure glad it went away! he is so cute, and his belly looks especially adorable.

Glad he's returning to normal Sara, hope you had a good night with him.

It's a dreadful worry when something like this happens - it does sound like a reaction to something though.

I wouldn't introduce more than one new food item at a time, and leave it a few days before anything else new, if he does get diarrhoea from something, you could compound it and wouldnt' know what caused it.

I know with people they can get a skin reaction to a food item, with no GI upset, so I guess it's the same for dogs.

It sounds like an allergic rash to something. It could be preservatives on the rawhide or an ingredient in the RC or something he came in contact with outside.

Goodmorning guys@ OK it's morning. Good news is we made it through the night. Kosmo is back to normal this morning. I took him out to go to the bathroom and he layed down in the grass and fell asleep.. LOL he sure is lazy

I think I'm going to take away the rawhide thing for today and just try introducing the RC again in small amounts and see if it happens again. I don't know what happened and I was probably over reacting, but that kind of stuff is scary! He could have found something outside I guess, but I have been keeping him on a very tight leash because he keeps eating the weeds and getting the runs.. :yuk: So he only gets the freedom of the sidewalk now. It's either that or I get a muzzle for him, and he's too cute for that.

I was looking at the pictures again and I do notice that his eyes were red too. I noticed one last night but chalked it up to him being dead tired. He always lays around for the rest of the day after puppy class.

His tummy was all pink when we got him believe it or not, LOL. He grew so many freckles, they all make me laugh when I look at them. He also has them under his fur everywhere. I love it His little hernia scar seems to be healing nicely as well.

And Cathy, you think it could be stress related? We were painting the bathroom last night but Avi would stay and watch him while I painted and vice versa. I know he's not allergic to the paint because he wasn't even in the same room, and we painted this whole house when we moved in and he didn't have any reactions at all. I don't know what could have stressed him out if that's what it was? Yesterday was a normal day.

we went to clases yesterday and I got him his new food and then of course he was dying to get out of my arms to eat all of the new toys (which he destroys within 5 minutes, literally) so I got him some rawhide thing instead. They are the "rollover" brand and they have an expiration date but it's not for 2 years so maybe it was that? Maybe he's allergic to the preservatives in it or something like you all have said.

Thanks guys for all of your opinions. Stuff like that is just scary. He was fine one second, and then the next he was RED. It looked like he got an extremely bad sunburn, that's the only way I can describe it. He acted normal though so it was probably some kind of minor reaction like you all said. Thank you for all of your concern. Thank God it went away.