rash on puppies

Question
I have two male 7 month old Boxer puppies (different litters).  Two weeks ago, one of the puppies had a swollen right eye, and a few hours later, he broke out in a rash all over his body.  It looked as if he had a million fly bites, but each area grew to the size of a quarter and looked like welts under their hair.  I gave him antihistamine for about two days and fed him strictly Science Diet, versus, the Science Diet mixed with some all-natural dry food.  He was fine after about two days (and one night of solid crying because he was itching so bad from the rash).  This morning, my other puppy had a swollen eye and now a rash.  I started giving him antihistamine and I think I will throw out the dry food that has the all-natural food mixed in.  It is very weird that both puppies came down with the exact same symptoms.  If it is not the food, I can only think of berries on a particular tree that they sometimes get to in the backyard, or any other bark or bush they chew on.  Have you ever seen this?

Thank you

Answer
Hi Kelly,

Thank you for writing to me about your boxer puppies.

My gut feeling is that it's not the food that's causing this problem but I would definitely check out Science Diet website to see if there are any recalls.  Additionally, phone them and let them know what happened, making it clear that you are not certain what caused the problem but that you were feeding their all natural food.

The berries you mentioned would more likely be the culprit..or they are getting into a nest of bees or some kind of bug.

There is also the possibility of vaccinosis, depending on when they were vaccinated...there can also be a delayed reaction.

Please see if you can set up a big X-pen (J&B Wholesale Supplies) so that the pups stay safe.  You wouldn't want to see them go through this again.

As a last resort, if this happens again, I would take them to the vet for an evaluations.

Do a tour around your home and see if there are any items they might have gotten into.  Puppies are notorious for getting into places they don't belong! (lol).

Best Regards,
Shelley Davis