We had a bit of a scare on Saturday.
The two dogs had to have their annual injections – heart worm and the usual other jabs for canine distemper, kennel cough, etc. Peppi was fine and was even complimented by the vet for having good teeth and being a “dear little thing, really”.
Paco hated being at the vet and found the whole experience a lot more stressful. To add to the indignity the vet said he was slightly, ever so slightly, overweight, and needs to have smaller portions at dinner and more exercise. Still, he had his shots and we went home.
Just over an hour later, we were just settling in to have a quiet relaxing Saturday, when I noticed that Paco’s face had completely swollen. In a panic we rushed back to the vet. The immediate suspicion was an allergic reaction to one of the injections he’d had, rather than an insect or spider bite, as he didn’t seem to be in a lot of pain, and there was no bite mark anywhere. The picture on the left shows Paco when we arrived at the vet. His right eye was almost swollen shut, and his muzzle was very puffed up. He looked rather miserable and bewildered.
The vet gave him an anti-histamine injection and asked us to wait in the clinic for ten minutes or so to see how he went. On the right, Paco after the anti-histamine. He looked so different to his usual self. He hated being back at the vet’s, but apart from that, was fine. We were allowed to go home – “Just keep an eye on him, if he has trouble breathing or anything, come back straightaway!”
Thankfully, over the next few hours, the swelling did go down, even if Paco did look very odd for hours. Look at his super-puffy cheeks! I tried to get him to relax by having a nap with him. This is our usual Saturday arvo pastime. This last Saturday I didn’t have a particularly restful nap, I’m afraid, as I kept waking up to have a look at Paco.
By the evening he looked almost normal again, and by Sunday there was no trace of any swelling.
However Paco now has a new nickname: Puffy, or Puff Dog. (He is normally also known as Puccy, to match Peppi.)
3 Comments
I have a cat who sometimes has a similar reaction to vaccinations. Because the injection site is between the shoulders and he can’t get to that place to scratch (that’s the point) he gets so worked up. He’s a highly strung cat as it is (Siamese), but this just puts him over the edge. Twice now he’s been to the emergency vet at near midnight for this. Our regular vet will only vaccinate him every two or three years now.
(I cam here via TFP by the way! 🙂 )
Is it possible to lessen how much Paco/Puffy eats? Wouldn’t he simply eat Peppi’s share if he wanted more?
Hi Craig, thanks for stopping by. I guess we will have to decide what to do re next year’s shots!
Jaded, Puff has been getting smaller portions this week. He doesn’t seem to be suffering too badly. We usually keep an eye on the dogs at mealtime as Paco will often try to eat Peppi’s food. He doesn’t usually get any!