Kanga & Roo: Hospitals and Ice Cream...

So we had a bit of a rough day on Tuesday. I took Rae in to get her Bordatella and Parvo boosters in the afternoon. I'm always hesitant about this, because when she was a puppy the first time I brought her in to get her vaccinations she went into anaphylactic shock and scared me half to death. The vet figured out that she was allergic to an ingredient called Lepto in the Parvo vaccine. Since then I always speak with the vet before doing that booster to remind him and she's never had a problem.

This time was no different. I reminded the vet and he assured me that the vaccine was Lepto-free. I assumed we were good to go. Since her birthday was yesterday, post-vet I took her to Pet Smart to pick out a toy. We then went home and I started doing work, she played in the living room with the squeaky sheepy toy she picked out.

A few hours later she jumped up on the bed and I noticed she looked really weird. Her face was SUPER swollen. Her snout was so swollen I couldn't lift her lip up to look inside her mouth, she had big bumps on her head and when I lifted her up I saw she had hives all over her belly. Naturally I panicked. This was around 7:30pm when our vet was already closed so I called the Small Animal Emergency Clinic in town. They started to ask me questions about what was going on, but a few minutes into the conversation I started panicking that if things got worse we should really be at the hospital, so I just stopped them and said I was going to bring her in.

When we got to the clinic they immediately took her back into "triage" and said that I had to wait out in the waiting room. I was not happy about this at all, but I wanted them to hurry up and take a look at her as soon as possible, so I agreed. A few minutes later someone came out to take a history and then the wait began. It took almost an hour for someone to come out and give me any information. My anxiety reached new highs. I began to think of all the worst possible scenarios. I truly consider my dog to be my first baby and I could not bear to think of not being able to take her home healthy and happy. When they came out they let me know that she had some kind of allergic reaction to the shots and they had to give her antihistamines and steroids to get the swelling down. They also tried to cool her off since the hives made her skin really hot. Luckily no anaphylactic shock though; her vitals were fine.

I was able to take her home and called the vet the next morning to get to the bottom of it. Apparently she may just be allergic to something else in the vaccines now, so we're going to have give her Benadryl before doing all vaccinations and do all shots in the morning so she can stay at the vet as a precaution during the day.

I'm just thankful she's healthy and happy. She turned 4 years old on Thursday and has brought more happiness and companionship into my life these past four years than I thought imaginable. We celebrated with a bit of vanilla ice cream and of course her new toy. Happy Birthday Roo!!!