UPDATE - Sparky finally did it........

[pomtzu]

He caught a bee or wasp or some kind of stinging insect, and got stung in his throat!
I took him and Myndi out late yesterday afternoon, and I sat on the back steps as I usually do, while they go nosing around the yard and do their business. I was still somewhat rattled (no pun intended) after the earthquake earlier, so wasn't really paying much attention to what they were doing. Sparky loves to go grazing and eat grass, and I'm always hollering at him to stop, since sometimes he gets some caught in his throat and then gags and hacks to get it up. He's always snapping at bugs too, trying to see if he can catch one. Well, he disappeared around the corner of the house so I couldn't see what he was up to, and the next thing I know, he comes tearing around the corner like at bat out of you know where, coughing and gagging and hacking. I knew he got stung from the way he was behaving - he was in a panic, and having trouble getting his breath. I got them in the house, and he settled down, but every few minutes would start shaking all over and gasping again. I called the vet, but she had already left for the day, so I decided just to watch him like a hawk, and if he got worse, then I'd have to take him to the emergency center. He wouldn't eat anything but I wasn't too concerned about that. He was lethargic and dejected looking, but he was breathing okay. Several times during the night he woke me up with the gagging and gasping - reminded me of someone having an asthma attack when they can't get their breath. This morning when we got up, instead of him running to the back door to go out like he usually does, he headed straight for my son and got under his desk and pawed at Steve for him to pick him up. He does this if he's sick or just not feeling good, or if he's scared about something. I couldn't get him to eat any breakfast, but he did eat a handful of Cheerios (our little morning treat), but hacked the whole time.
So I called the vet right at 8 as soon as I knew she would be in, and she had me bring him right in. Relayed to her what happened and how he was acting, and she tried to pry his jaws open to check his throat, but she had as much success with that as we did last night - be fought like a tiger! So going on what I told her, she too is assuming that he got stung and his throat is swollen and irritated, since she did hear him hacking a little bit too. She gave him a steroid shot, and sent us home with steroid pills and an antibiotic, and hopefully that will do the trick. So $68 dollars later, and some more gray hairs, I think I'm calming down - again!!!!
If you could send some PT prayers out for Sparky, so that he gets feeling better soon, we sure would appreciate it! Thanks a bunch.


Please Lord - let today be a better day than yesterday! No more surprises please.

[lizbud]

Oh no. I'm glad you got him in so quickly today.Those insect stings can
be deadly.My pups snap at flying insects too & I hate when they do that
for this very reason. I hope Sparky starts to feel better now that he's had
a shot & will take all the meds to get rid of any swelling too.


p.s. The Vet bill seems very reasonable considering & that's good.

[Pinot's Mom]

Dear Sparky,
Why didn't you call me first? I have ways of dealing with those things so you wouldn't get stung.. I'm sorry you are not feeling well. I hope your better soon.

Your kitty friend,
Pinot

[Karen]

Oh, Sparky! NOT a good idea!

[Queen of Poop]

Poor, dear Sparky, I do hope you're feeling better now. Those bugs are so tempting but they can be nasty! I hope you've learned your lesson and will leave them alone from now on. Momma does not need any more stress or grey hairs!

[Freedom]

Next time, whether he is stung in the throat or anywhere, give him half a Benadryl tablet, immediately. This will stop the reaction from developing fully.

And Benadryl doesn't have all the nasty side effects of those steroids!

PS: Call your vet and verify how much he can have, it is based on weight of the dog. Marlin is 19 pounds and is allowed 3/4 of a tablet. Sugar is 12 pounds and can only have half.


I always have Benadryl in the house, one of those must have first aid things.

[pomtzu]

Next time, whether he is stung in the throat or anywhere, give him half a Benadryl tablet, immediately. This will stop the reaction from developing fully.

And Benadryl doesn't have all the nasty side effects of those steroids!

PS: Call your vet and verify how much he can have, it is based on weight of the dog. Marlin is 19 pounds and is allowed 3/4 of a tablet. Sugar is 12 pounds and can only have half.


I always have Benadryl in the house, one of those must have first aid things.

Of course I know about the Benadryl - I always have it in the house for my allergies, and events such as with Sparky.

However, my brain went into freeze mode yesterday - twice. That's not at all like me either, since I'm normally quick to respond to an "event". But when the rumbling started and then the house started rocking, I sat paralyzed in my chair, unable to move. The brain just didn't process earthquake, since they don't happen here. Well I suppose it wasn't fully thawed out, when a couple of hours later, Sparky decided to go bug hunting. Of course I thought about Benadryl this morning - after I already had him scheduled to go to the vet.

I tried to get him to eat some lunch, so I cut up some chicken in really small pieces, and scrambled him an egg. Figured he'd eat the egg since it would go down easy. Nope - he ate the chicken and left the egg, He did some hacking while swallowing it, but I suppose it's too early to expect any results from the shot he got. Hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow after it's had time to work, and he gets one of the steroid pills too.

I hope he's learned his lesson, but I'm not counting on it.

[cassiesmom]

Awwww, sweet Sparky! I hope you feel much better soon! Gentle *hugs* to you.

[Lilith Cherry]

Ouchie Sparky!!Please leave the bugs alone - they are not friendly! Hope you are all better very soon.

[chocolatepuppy]

I always have Benadryl in the house, one of those must have first aid things.

I always have Benadryl here for the cats and dogs. Thank God I did have it when Missy had a reaction to a Rabies vaccine. My pups do the same thing Ellie, they never learn to leave the bees and such alone!
I hope little Sparky is feeling better soon. Yes, they will worry us to death!

[Bonny]

When the earth rocks it rocks. I hope Sparky will be all right & the shot & medicine kick in to take the swelling down.

It looks like maybe Irene will be visiting your area next?

[Asiel]

Life is never dull with those two is it? Gotta admit they sure are worth the sweat, what would we do without our munchkins ?

Funny because my wee one went sniffing around on her walk and she started jumping and biting at herself...I spotted a few wasps in her fur so without thinking I grabbed for her and yanked them off....thankfully I wasn't stung because I never bring my epi pen lately. Some people say if wasps build their nests on the ground it means not much snow for the winter, sure hope it holds true, guess I'll find out. Bad year for wasps, haven't been using the barn and we found nests between the walls in the dutch doors...hubby will have to spray them late at night not to get stung,

[krazyaboutkatz]

I hope that Sparky feels better soon and that this won't ever happen again.

[pomtzu]

Just thought I'd let you know, that my little bug catcher is doing much better. He ate some chewy treats yesterday afternoon, a good sized plate of chicken last night, some more chewy snacks this a.m., and he just polished off his lunch, which is his regular big meal of the day. He didn't even have any hackin' & gaggin' with his lunch either. One good thing about the steroids is that it will give him his appetite back.
He's quite cautious outside too. He actually didn't even want to go out which is not the norm for him, and when he did, he stayed close to the back porch. There was a wasp buzzing around him yesterday, and instead of snapping at it as usual, he walked out of it's way and came back up on the porch. Guess he really got traumatized when he got stung. Hopefully the memory will stay with him and he won't go bug biting anymore - and scare me more than he was scared. I can hope, can't I?
Sparky thanks you for the well wishes, and so does him Mom!