Anyone else dogs allergic to pepper?

No, not Marquez but my step brothers 6 month old blue boy had an extremely bad reaction last week when I was there. Apparently Jake had been digging holes in the garden and the mother in low said to put pepper in the holes to stop him from digging. My brothers wife said that Jake had been outside for a bit and then came up to when she realised his eyes were swollen shut, his lips looked like he'd gone over board on fillers and he started getting hives all over his body and that they started joining up together (my daughter gets the hives from too much vitamin c (from aspartic acid) so I've seen that happen before). She rushed him to the vet where he got a couple of injections for the reaction and some tablets. When she went back the next the day her vet said that she's lucky that he didn't lick the pepper as it could've been fatal. I was in total shock when I saw the photos but when I saw him a few days later (absolutely beautiful boy) his skin looked pretty much back to normal.

I still can't believe the reaction he had from the pepper. I've actually used a tabasco pepper mix that I've painted onto wood to stop one of my dogos from eating the furniture and doors years ago with no reaction like that. Jake does seem to be allergic to a few things like fresh grass cuttings (hay fever?). Anyone else heard of other dogs being extremely allergic to pepper or other things that would cause such a severe reaction like this?

I've not heard of pepper allergies before Diane. I know a lot of people do use it as a Deterrent. Amazing that something so ordinary can cause such a violent reaction.

That's what I though too Ian. Never in all my years of owning dogs and being around them have I ever heard of or seen such a severe reaction like this and especially to pepper which I have used as a deterrent. I've had dogs that have been allergic to shampoo and chicken in the past but all they got was raised lumps - not hives like poor Jake got. Still can't get over the image of his eyes that looked like golf balls. I'm only hoping that the little man isn't going to have a life full of allergies as he does seem to be pretty sensitive at the moment.

I would never use pepper on my dog. Or any other substance like this for such a purpose, so whether he would be allergic or not I cannot or could not ever say.

yeahbut wrote:I would never use pepper on my dog. Or any other substance like this for such a purpose, so whether he would be allergic or not I cannot or could not ever say.

I honestly don't see what the problem is with using pepper as a deterrent. It's natural and not toxic to dogs and is usually a pretty effective deterrent. Rather use this than a commercial product with questionable ingredients.

Pepper! Never heard of such a reaction. Glad he is all better Diane xx

Perhaps the main deterrent then would be the vet's bill.

I'm still not seeing what your problem is with using pepper?  It's not being sprayed in their face which I would agree would be dangerous and stupid.  I wouldn't want pepper sprayed in my face but if I was to lick it when I wasn't supposed to, I definitely wouldn't be doing it again :p

And again, never in all my years of owning dogs have I ever seen or heard of any dogs having a reaction to pepper.

No never heard of that! Glad he's ok, sounds like it could have been a lot worse xx

Pepper is a vasodilator so may cause different reactions to different dogs, it's also an irritant amongst other things.