Scary Morning

[Victory]

This morning about 9am Dreamdancer who had been laying under the bed as is his habit, scrambled out from under it, (he really doesn't fit there anymore) and ran into the living room. This is nothing unusual he'll do that to bark at the neighbors or see what Firesong is up to or something...but this morning after a few moments he started screaming and he ran back to me still making this horrendous crying sound, I tried to calm him and when I felt his tummy it felt really tight, but not like a ball or something was in there. So I got dressed and then went to put his leash on and he was really lethargic so I called the emergency Vet clinic that my regular vet uses and got the number to the emergency clinic at the U of Minn. Vet hospital, called a friend to come get us and off we went.

By the time my firend got here he was moving a bit more but shaking his head a lot and pawing at his mouth/face some, but his tummy felt soft again. We got the ER and it seems like he got bit by some bug or another and is having an allergic reaction he has like a rash of hives on his tummy, he rolled over for the vet and it's clear to see, he has a little fever, his eyes are red around the edge too and his ear canals are a bit pink she said too. So he got a shot of benydral, he has benydral pills for the next three days and I have to watch him to make sure he doesn't get worse...he's resting now which is good because for a bit he couldn't stop shaking his head and it was preventing him from resting...and I'm supposed to keep him quiet for the next couple of days...

He's better but this was scary because it was so sudden....Also I hope GingerLily isn't prone to allergies too...

Through it all he his loving self the ER vet wrote in his paperwork, "Thank you for bringing Dream Dancer to the Veteinary Medical Center. He is an absolute joy to work with and a wonderful dog!"

I hope he will be okay, I'll be watching him close today and if he's still a bit distressed tomorrow I'm going to stay home and work from home....it'll be harder but I can remote in and do stuff from home.

[jacqui]

I'm glad hes OK.that is scary.its great your friend came quickly to bring him to ER.
we're wishing Dreamdancer a speedy recovery

[Jeff&Peks]

Time to look under the bed for spiders, Yep thats scary as hell when something happens so sudden and out of no where even worse when emergency or the vet doesn't know what caused it.. Its summer time now so all kinds of bugs and spiders are crawling around or maybe he is allergic to bee's, you know how Chows love munching on bee's no matter how many times they get stung. Pekoe will eat anything crawling on the floor so maybe he ate a spider and didn't get stung.

[Victory]

Yep I asked the vet if it could have been a spider and she said it could be. I live in the basement, (they call it Garden here in Mpls) and spiders are a problem...I try to keep them up, but in the summer they are everywhere and he could have gotten bitten by one.

[CoraP.]

It is so scary when things like that happen! I'm glad Dreamdancer is better.

[Judy Fox]

Oh Hell! Victory - so sorry - I hope the little man is ok and continues to be so.
Hugs to you all.

[Chow Chow Mama]

Look around for Hedge Apples. They're really gross looking but they supposedly keep spiders away. Put one at your door and if the furkids will leave them alone, put one in each room of your house (put put them on a plate of some type so they don't get gunk on your floors). Several people I know swear by them. I tried it last year and it seemed to have worked.

[Jeff&Peks]

Check your groceries and produce when you bring it home also, A little girl was stung by a scorpion the other day when she picked up a watermelon at the store, it came in with the produce shipments from Mexico. I hesitate to say the store but oh well, it was WAL-MART.

I don't know who has centipedes but got to watch for those also, Hawaii is big for Centipedes check your luggage and macadamia nuts....If salmonella doesn't get you then the bugs and scorpions shipped in will take care of it.

[fillyok]

That's scary!!! I hope he's doing okay after all this. I HATE spiders!!! yuk

[chow fancier]

I hate to hear them scream! Scares me to death. Good job getting him to the emergency vet so quickly. Healing prayers and good thoughts are coming your way.

[TJordan]

Oh that is scary Hope he is feeling better soon.

[IliamnasQuest]

It's so scary when something like this happens. It's heart-wrenching when they're crying like that.

My dogs will often tighten up their stomach muscles when they're upset or in pain and it makes the stomach feel hard. My first thought as you were describing it was that he was bloating - glad that didn't happen!

We're lucky up here that there are very few poisonous bugs so allergic reactions are rare. Kylee did swell up from getting stung by a yellowjacket at an outdoor show once and ever since then I carry benadryl in my "dog first aid kit". And when I was traveling one year, staying at a motel in Great Falls, MT, Trick had some sort of reaction to what I suspect was a spider bite. She started staggering and had a complete loss of coordination. I checked her pulse, respirations, temperature and it was all normal, but there was definitely something going on. Of course it was a Sunday night in a strange city where I didn't know any vets, and I had to call and leave a message at the vet's place. It took them an hour to call back and by then she was almost back to normal. I was so scared! I cut my trip short and headed back home the next day.

Very glad to hear Dreamdancer is better and I hope he doesn't have any more reactions. Is it possible to take the dogs out of your place for a day and set off a bug bomb to kill any possible creepy-crawlies? I'd have a hard time sleeping if I thought there were poisonous spiders crawling around under my bed.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

[Layla]

Scary! Glad to hear he's okay nwo though.

[Dogdad]

how scary, I am glad he is ok. I would keep benadryl in stock, just in case

David

[Tippsy'smom]

That's scary. I'm glad he seems to be ok now.

[kingalls]

How scary!!! Hope Dreamdancer is feeling better now! My guess is a wicked spider. Good luck keeping him quiet the next couple of days.

[MickChick]

I immediately thought bloat, too. You must have been frightened to death! I am so glad to hear that he is doing all right. Hopefully he will be totally back to normal soon.

Cecelia

[ciaobella]

If it moves, it's prey. Chows....
Glad it's not worse, and hope he feels better soon.

[vicster605]

Oh Victory, I know that scared the crap of you....I'm sooooo glad you got him to the Vet and can stay home with him tomorrow. Hope he's back to himself tomorrow. I'll say prayers tonight
Keep us posted ok

[janet]

oh my.im glad he's feeling better now.
yeah, some spider bites can be really bad, for both people and animals. a friend of mine was hospitalized for 3 days on intravenous antibiotics from a brown freckled spider bite. really nasty. the area where he was bit turned all black and was badly infected.
i would call an exterminator just for peace of mind. give him big hugs from us.

[Piff Poff]

I hope your wee fella is feeling a little better now.

[Laura]

How is he doing today?

[Victory]

He's much better, almost totally back to normal, the slight swelling in his muzzle is gone, the redness in his eyelids and his ears are back to their normal posistion and the head shaking has stopped...I'm supposed to keep him quiet and luckily when I'm home he IS pretty quiet, so I did stay home with him today, for one thing it was the only way to give him the benadryl every 8 hours, (6-2-10) I'm going to take a look at his tummy in a moment and see how that looks.

Thanks everyone for your kind wishes and thoughts..this place is so awesome!

[TJordan]

Poor guy, I am glad to hear he is feeling better!

[Mikosmom]

Victory,

Sorry I haven't posted in quite some time, but we are getting ready to sell our house & move from NJ to Florida; it has been hectic! I do stop by & read regularly and felt awful that Dreamdancer had such a bad experience. I'm so glad to hear that he's doing better!

However, his sister does have allergies & our first experience was when she was finishing her puppy shots. Her face blew up like a balloon, you could barley find her eyes, and she had a rash all over her tummy! Fortunately I have children's Benadryl without dyes in the house (son has allergies too) and my vet told me the dosage to give her. After that episode, he had her take Benadryl prior to her shots. Ginger Lily also gets watery eyes, but does not have entropian, and it seems to happen when both my son's and my allergies are bad.

Hope your sweet boy is back to himself again. Best wishes.