This is mostly an asking-for-help post, but will have some information as well, which will hopefully be helpful for others.

So...leaving out the raunchy parts of being fully intimate with a male dog for the first time, I'll just cut to the chase: I think I had an allergic reaction to canine semen. Possibly. And it wasn't quite a typical reaction if it was...

Basically, about half an hour after my "exposure", I started getting strange abdominal cramps, not really painful but unusual for me. Over the next hour or two, those cramps moved farther up my digestive tract, and I started getting sharp chest tightness (like what I'd imaging an anxiety attack to feel like), but not trouble breathing at the time. I also had a bit of a "bruised windpipe" sensation, and the following morning, I had a moment at work where I almost fainted standing up. The chest tightness turned into soreness a day later, and two days after, I was having trouble taking deep breaths. Three days later, I could breathe better again and things were on the road to improving, though they still haven't recovered fully yet.

But...that's everything that happened. Right after the fact, I felt fine. I never had hives, or itching, or swelling that I'm aware of, immediately or at any point after. I'm not a doctor, but from what I know of and have read up on about allergic reactions since, this seems very atypical. I don't think it was some kind of infection, either...there was no blood afterward, and I don't think I punctured anything.

Basically, I'm doing my fair share of research trying to find out what this means for me and my future ability to be intimate with dogs. I've found out several things summarized below, but any help, particularly firsthand experience with similar issues, would be much appreciated.

• severe reactions to canine semen are fairly rare; mild to moderate ones are common
• repeated exposure on a regular basis can, in many cases, reduce the symptoms somewhat
• some male dogs cause symptoms, and others don't, or cause more mild allergy symptoms
• those who are only somewhat allergic seem to find antihistamines like benadryl helpful in most cases
• there's a hypothesis among at least one friend that the reason some zoos may be allergic to only some dogs and not others is that the allergy may actually be to bacteria on a dog's penis and/or sheath, not his actual semen. Gentle but thorough washing of the area may help the issue

Here's the part that's a big unknown for me: most zoos who've mentioned benadryl being helpful have had typical allergic reactions. It seems as though histamine is the chemical that causes all that itchiness and irritation and swelling right off the bat in those, and since I didn't have any of those symptoms, I'm unsure if it'd help in my case. I hope so...

This has just really taken me by surprise, honestly. I have virtually no other allergies, and while I'd heard about allergies to canine semen before, I never expected the cruel reality of it to show up in my life. If it means I'll have to take extra precautions and deal with a bit of suffering on my end to help make my canine companions happy in the future, I can live with that; if it means I'll have to give up that kind of intimacy entirely, that's going to be a very hard blow.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.