How Can A Routine Walk Turn Into An Emergency: Juno's Story

You take your dog for a lovely evening walk and suddenly you notice some bumps around the muzzle. The bumps turn into goose eggs until your dog's face swells up to twice its normal size right in front of your eyes.


What happened?

A sting? A bug bite?

Your dog is overheating, panting and breathing heavily. The tongue is swelling. The race against the clock begins.

Who takes Benadryl out on their walks?

I admit I don't either. But maybe now I will. I do have our vet's and all emergency numbers programmed in my phone, though. And fortunately our provider has a pretty good coverage pretty much everywhere.

Juno's parents did not have the numbers handy and the phone did not work where they were.

Their only option was to make it back home.

Juno was frantically running around, scratching her face, rubbing her head and body on the ground and against everything and anything in sight. Her eyes were barely visible with all the swelling and her tongue was enormous.

Finally they made it to the vet's.

A dose of epinephrine started to get the swelling down.

Once Juno could be properly examined, there was no entry wound or puncture marks to be found. She must definitely got bitten or stung but the evidence of what it could have been was not there.

By next morning Juno's face was still swollen but nowhere near as bad and her tongue went back to normal size.

Needless to say that Juno's parents now always have Benadryl tablets on hand for every walk or trip they take.

Everything ended well for Juno.

But her story comes to show that one should never venture anywhere unprepared. Some allergic reactions can be deadly.

Original story:
When Your Dog Gets Stung, Or: When Your Labrador Turns Into A Shar Pei And You Have No Idea What To Do

Related articles:
Spider Bites Dog
The Assumption Trap: Tosha's Snake Bite
Something You Wouldn't Think Cold Laser Could Be Good For: Snake Bite 
Protect Your Dog From Snake Bites
More Creepy Crawlies

Further reading:
First Aid for Insect Bites in Pets
Insect and Spider Bites and Stings on Dogs
Emergency Dog Health Care : How to Treat Dog Insect Bites 



Do you have a story to share?

Your story can help others, maybe even save a life!

What were the first signs you noticed? How did you dog get diagnosed? What treatment did/didn't work for you? What was your experience with your vet(s)? How did you cope with the challenges?

Email me, I'll be happy to hear from you!

Comments