Emergency Vet Clinic Again! Wasps and Dogs

Last night on our way out the door to dinner, our 5 year old picked up one of the patio chairs and said "Look at me!  I’m strong!"  Then he dropped it and a flood of wasps swarmed up from the underside.  We got him away safely and went to dinner thinking we’d take care of the nest after dark when the wasps were sleeping. 

Well, Teddy, my 75 pound dog, decided to investigate.  Whether it was to greet them or eat them, I don’t know.  I am sure she tried to lick them, because her face was all swollen!  She could barely open one of her eyes.  So I called the emergency vet clinic for the third time this month and they told me 1 mg of benadryl per pound of dog and to watch to make sure that her airway didn’t swell up.  So I gave her three little pink pills and lots of hugs.

Today she’s fine.  I’m glad she recovers so quickly!

No Drinks for Dogs!



Alcohol is toxic for dogs.  Your vet might not ask how many drinks a week your dog has, but maybe that’s because they know if they are having any, they wouldn’t be there. 

I couldn’t find anything on the web about alcohol and dogs so I am posting my experience so others can learn from it.  Note that I used to have a friend that fed his dog beer and the dog didn’t have any noticeable side effects.  But one drop of gin was way too much gin for my dog.  Here it is …

We were having a drink on the porch with friends and my boyfriend finished his gin and tonic and put the glass on the floor.  One of the dogs knocked it over and both dogs ate the ice cubes.  We didn’t think anything of it since the drink was empty.  An hour later my dog Teddy couldn’t walk straight, a half hour after that her legs wouldn’t support her at all, she was having trouble breathing and she started vomiting all over the floor and herself.  (And made no move to clean herself up or move out of it.)  She was also terrified and just wanted to lie as close to me as possible.  Wait till you watch your dog try to flop across the floor to get next to you – it’s terrifying.  Two hours after the gin flavored ice cube she was fine.  (I then felt like I might need a gin and tonic myself!)  Before we remembered the glass and the ice cubes, the emergency clinic vets were thinking back problems and neurological disorders.  When we finally remembered the knocked over glass, they immediately said that was it.  So, NO ALCOHOL FOR DOGS.  Not even a drop!

Chiropractic Care for Dogs Update



As many of you probably read, my dog Teddy has a slipped disk and I took her to a chiropractor who works on dogs.  It’s time for an update.  I took Teddy to the chiropracter three times, and I did not treat her back or her pain in any other way.  She no longer yelps in pain!  I haven’t heard a yelp in over a month!  To be conclusive that it worked, I think I would need to get another xray in a few months but if she’s happy and not hurting, I’m happy!

Other popular dog posts:

Get email when your dog leaves the yard

Attach the collar to your dog.  Define the area you think your dog should stay in (i.e., the backyard, Chase!) When your dog leaves that area, you’ll get an email that says he’s left AND the location where your dog is at the moment.  If this is going to work for Chase, it better send an update every thirty seconds.

The device is supposed to be out by the end of the year and will cost $300 plus a $13 monthly fee.  As to what this means if applied to children is a topic I will leave for another time.

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > What’s Next: For the Fretting Pet Owner, a Wireless Distress Signal

What would you pay to find out how much pain your pet was in?

Having personally spent a good deal of time worrying about my dog and wondering what yelps of pain really mean – is she in pain all the time?  just when she yelps?  how much pain?  does it just startle her or is is excruciating? – I know I would pay a significant amount of money to answer the question "how much pain is my dog in?"  Well, now, thanks to an Ohio nurse, I can find out.   She’s developed a $600, palm sized device that measures stress, a good indicator of pain level.  She’s selling them to vets, but I bet wealthy individuals would be willing to buy them, and I bet a whole bunch of us would be willing to rent them when trying to diagnose chronic health problems in our pets.

Ohio researcher designs, builds device to measure pets’ pain

How much would you pay to find out how much pain your pet was in?
<$10
$10-50
$50-200
>$200

 
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