worried like no other...

[m4tt]

Got home at around 2:50PM from school... walk into the room, let rascal out of his kennel, he looks fine, played a bit, took him outside, i was outside with him... less than 15 seconds for him to take a leak, and then go back inside to eat!

he ate, im in the bathroom as he eats, he finishes right as i get out of the bathroom. all is ok.

go upstairs, talk to some people on MSN, call mom, ask her where she is etc... hang up with mom... its 3:10PM

look at rascal: "Hey buddy! come here pu--what the f**k?!!!---Rascal Here!"

top of his snout, right behind his nose, swollen, and the left (his left) of his snout. swollen. i feel it, its firm, he doenst wince etc... odd... ok, moms busy, Lets go to uncles! (for those of you that dont know, i hold this uncle in the highest of thoughts, hes more of a dad to me then my dad is. hes had many many dogs and knows whats what) walk down two houses, uncle looks at him, "yeap, looks like a bruise matt, keep an eye on it just in case though... odd how its formed like that, it doesnt look like blood under the skin..." i was at his house at 3:18PM(ish). afterwards, got home at 4:30PM(ish). dorked around on computer, painted some warhammer minis, then at 5:15PM(ish), got him outa his kennel (kept him in there so i could rutinely check on him etc). now i had checked on him 15 mins before, and his face was ok, well now, left side of his face swollen, around his eye was, and multiple spots on his back and his stub of a tail where starting to swell. ok im worried now, call vet, they say it sounds like an allergic reaction. give him a benedryl, 25milligram dose. alrighty easy nuff...

now it turns all to hell...

run around the house screaming at no one "WHERE IS THE GOD DAMN BENEDRYL!?!?" go to my uncles he doesnt have any... go to neighbors (all 5 of them) NO-ONE HAS ANY FREAKING BENEDRYL. ok, drive time to rite-aid less than 5 minutes... run time to rite-aid, hell if i know, i didnt keep time!

i ran

well lets say ive never ran that fast, nor that far for a very very long time. got the benedryl, sprinted back home... (i live up a very very large hill... by the way...)

now, more hell... this has been a great day! (sarcasm, school was bad as well).

ok, theyve added PAPER to the back of the FOIL things the tablets are in... (pet peeve!!!)... i couldnt get it off, take knife... cut... quicker! put in a small slice of salami, give to dog... dog eats salami, regurgitates pill, spits out... *swear words*... ok throw that pill away... new pill... put in cheese, same thing happens *even more swear words*... ok im a bit angry, get 3rd pill, cut open the package... get pill... grab dog, open mouth, place on back of tounge, he swollows, i get him to drink water... ok hes taken the pill...

he is now in his kennel, sleeping... breathing ok... gonna check on swelling in a bit... gave him pill 15 mins ago...

pictures:

BEFORE pictures



now.. swelling after i gave him pill (2 mins after)



just checked on him... swellings down a bit... GOOD!

[Master Yarak]

Maybe a spider bite or a sting of some kind. I hope he recovers quickly and that you can discover the cause. You as heck don't want to go thru this again.
Yarak

[m4tt]

yea, problem is with fur etc you cant really look for bites etc. im going to look very closely at his snout when the swellings down more... see if i can see anything there, as it was the starting area of the spread... odd though, the swollen small lumps on torso/legs, seem to be the same size and consistancy of bug bites... and ive gotten many bug bites! (especially laying down in ferns etc from playing airsoft...) hmm... if only i could see through that fur without shaving him lol....

[jake34705]

fleas redbugs or skeeters check all the warm spots on his body for more. oh and chiggers! they go under the skin and itch like theres no tomorow. and if you scratch them it swells. so give him a good bath with lots of flea and tick soap. and while your bathing him take a comb and brush him very well. then after dry him very well and comb him again. =). i know this cause that same exact thing happend to my dog.

EDIT.

oh yea. and a good way to look at his bare skin is to while your bathing him take a comb and go backwords through the fur.

[m4tt]

idk how warm it has to be for half the things you just named... lol up in Washington, pacific northwet, its been COLD... so idk... i was gonna give him a bath anyway later tonight.. dont have any flea/tick shampoo/soap... or we may... idk...

[jake34705]

well for chiggers it can be anything. skeeters warm. fleas is anything prettymuch. yea just give him a nice warm bath use the best shampoo you have. and brush him out wet and dry. that should get out anything in his coat.

EDIT.

OH and check his gums! he could have somthing in there. you said it was on his snout? so yea lift of his lips and check under there. he might have eatin somthing hes not supost to.

[kurt]

JTRs can have serious allergic reactions. Check the enviorment he was in when you noticed it. Sounds like an ingestion or bite, I know that's fairly broad but a little detective work should narrow it down. First thing I would check is the food and the area around his bowl. Kurt

[m4tt]

ah, ok, good idea...

ill wash the area down just in case and... idk what about his food... its always in a tupperware thing that snaps shut...


ok... 5 hours later... he is.... pretty much better! took 2 benedryl but... better! woooo

yay for rascal! lol

[m4tt]

SH!@t! its back... he must have eaten something! 4-5 hours after he takes a benedryl the working time stops, and he starts getting swollen cheeks/eye brows and such again... the bug bite like things on his torso come back.... i dont think its a bug... i think he ate something, must still be in his system effecting him...

got an ortho app. 2mrw morn at 845... mom said becuase id already be late to school, if dogs still like this, i can stay home...

[kurt]

Have you changed brands of dogfood ? A different laundry soap for washing the kennel pad ? Has anything changed now from way it was before the problem started? Kurt

[m4tt]

god, i cant think of anything... hmm...

im staying home 2day with him, i dont want to take any chances.

[oldguy]

Hey Matt, Sounds like you care about this dog, as you should. Take him to your vet !

Good luck and keep us posted.

[m4tt]

just got off the fone! his app. is at 830, my dads taking him to the vet... and my moms takn me to my app. we tried reschedualing MY app. but we couldnt....

[HawkingRage]

if it isnt a bug which i didnt think it was in the first place except for a spider i would find a place to isolate him, away from anything he knows. like your uncles or somewhere else. bees are gone so spiders are the next only insect i can think of. food- treats, dogfood, anything changing can cause this but it would have to be something drastic.

think ingestion- inhalation- anything on skin or mucus membranes.

vaccinations recently? DHLPP2 can and will cause reactions up to 2-3 days later in some small dogs, especially terriers and small bull breeds.

i really hope all goes well.. just be calm anquiet demenored, your dog can read you and if he sees that you are worked up he will get worked up, blood pressure and such in a situation cant be all that good.

[m4tt]

ok good news/bad news

vet said it was probably a spider bite, or some other bug bite/sting. gave him a shot that lasts 3 days...

bad news...

second case in washington state, and vets have no idea what it is.