Friday, November 14, 2008

chubby face

One of the first things Badger does each morning is go outside. He'll then scratch at the door when he's done and is ready to come back in. One morning last week, I noticed he looked a little weird a little while after he'd come back in. He was fine when he woke up, but at that time, his snout was looking like it was getting a little bump. I remember when I was a kid one of my dogs was bitten by some ants and the swelling reduced with milk. I thought Badger might have been bitten by an ant, so I gave him some milk too. The morning progressed, Brianna went off to school, Rodrigo left for work and I took Alec to school. As soon as I got back from dropping off Alec, I noticed that Badger had gotten worse. His snout was completely swollen. It looked all roundish like Snoopy. I immediately called the vet and was asked to take him in.
They took his temperature and vitals and everything looked good. It turns out that he either got stung by some sort of insect or maybe ate some insect. Either way, he got an allergic reaction and that's why he was all swollen. Badger wasn't telling us what had happened. : ) He received two shots and we were on our way. I love my vet and her whole staff. They were all kissing Badger and calling him "Chubby Face" trying to make him feel better. I'd be giving him treat as they took his temperature and when he got his shots. I think he likes going there because of all the attention and treats he gets. His tail is always wagging when we're at the vet's.
We had to give him Benadryl twice a day for three days after that and just monitor him to make sure he didn't have any reaction to the medication. By that afternoon, all the swelling was gone. I felt very relieved and I'm sure Badger did too. So, we had Benadryl for the kids at this time (the liquid kind) but we weren't prepared for Badger. I realized I have to prepare for him as well, so I'm putting together a Doggy First Aid Kit. My furry baby tends to get into more mischief than my two-legged kids, so I think this is a good idea. Now I just need to find the perfect box for it.



feeling: I know I'm going to be a wreck when I watch Marley & Me
listening to: U2 (Miracle Drug)

3 comments:

foodiechickie said...

Aww poor Badger. I hope he feels better soon!

Jesser said...

LOL. Poor Badger!! They get into such mischief. They're every bit as bad as kids. We still carry insurance on Loki tho he's settled down A LOT. My uncle fed his dog peroxide (on the advice of the vet) when she accidentally got into some sort of poision, so maybe that should go in the box. And I would get a Scooby Doo lunchbox, personally. ;)

Bailey said...

Same thing happened to our pooch this summer. I freaked out because I knew she'd been stung and her eyes immediately went bloodshot and her nose started to swell. I hope Badger is ok and if he did eat an insect, that he learned his lesson