Dance Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee

Holy moly. What a dramatic dog day...no kidding. I am beat. No Sand Dune, no nice doggie walk, no Power Yoga...an absolute chaotic day of dogs. Where do I begin?

After coffee this morning, I tried to get into Power Yoga but the girls were outside barking as the neighbor was raking up the leaves that he'd just blown around his yard for 20 minutes. I guess the girls don't like the sound, or maybe they know I am not a fan of him. Anyway, their barking was too anti-zen for me to get into my yoga routine. So I scratched that for the morning and opted to go take the girls for a walk...tire them out and then come home for another try at it.

So we get one block down the street and for the first time in 5 years Bean takes a dump. Ok, I've carried that little doggie poop thing on my leash all this time and finally get to use it...great, but the idea of walking 2-3 miles with poop and two aggressive wiener dogs didn't sit well. So we turned around to throw the poop away and start again. Well, chubby butt starts acting like she's done walking her 200 yards and wants to go nap...so I unleashed Bean when we got in the yard and said good-bye...because Bailey needs to walk for miles. Of course as soon as I close the gate, Bean wants to go - damn kids! So I leash her back up and head out into the front of our street. As we walk 10 feet toward the beach I spy a lady with a Rott is coming from across the way, so I turn the girls around to head in the other direction...trying to avoid the little dog attack scene that they like to create when other dogs come into view.

Well, I don't know what the hell...this lady must have wanted to see the cute little hotdogs and double timed it over to me and the girls with her 150# Rott and then all hell broke loose as MY dogs went into attack mode as soon as she got within 20 feet. Now Bean is 15# and Bailey is 11# - its not a lot of weight there, but those freakin' little wieners acted like they were K-9 dogs after the kingpin of the South American drug cartel. Scared the stupid owner of the Rott off.

Mind you my girls act ferocious...they are all bark and growl and teeth...but they have never bitten anyone - knock on wood. But I don't trust all that mouthy noise because as Cesar Milan says they go into a "red zone" which you cannot distract them out of until the offender has passed. This is why I walk them late at night...and turn immediately when another dog is in sight. Its the reason we can't go to dog beach as a family or the dog park. It's the biggest hurdle in our doggie family life.

So. I get pissed and take them home - literally 8 feet away. I know part of it was that they were so close to home and saw this other dog and went into protection of territory mode. Got it, but not happy with it. So they got in trouble. Trouble being me not looking at them, dragging them in to the yard and standing there for 5 minutes until they just gave me that look of knowing. So I decide to take them to my grandmothers for a quiet day alone...since she was going out to a party and my brother was at class. They could play in the front yard and get tired and I could take care of some computer stuff. Yeah, great idea.

We drive in silence to grandma's...cause I am still mad at them. We arrive to find we aren't alone, my aunt is using the newly fixed PC...but whatever. I let them out in the front yard, fill up their water bowl and then quickly go inside for 15 seconds to put my phone down. I come back out and Baily is limping...right rear foot up high in the air; no whining or crying though. Ok, so I immediately figure she stepped on something...and guess it would be a bee or thorn right? Logical. I carry her in, soak her foot in water and try to rub the thing out with a dry towel. I can't see anything...so I put her down and she crawls into her little doggie bed, licks her paw and I keep looking. This is 2 minutes since the leg went up. Seeing nothing I decide to have her sit with me on the porch and let Bean play in the grass while I look for the thing in her paw/leg.

So she is sitting on my lap when her front legs look like she might be wobbling. I don't know why I thought it was her and not just the way we were sitting, but I put her on the ground and she definitely was wobbling and then BAM, her front legs collapse. I immediately check her gums and they are deathly white...even I know that they shouldn't be that white - thank god for Animal Planet or I'd never know to check the gums. I run her back to the sink and notice her eyes look completely dilated. This is no more than 5 minutes after she got there in the yard...so I know something is very very wrong.

Luckily my aunt was there because I needed Bean to stay with her...and I jumped into the car with Bailey and rushed like a mad woman to the local emergency animal hospital. I apologize to everyone I cut off or rushed by...but she went from quick panting to nearly dead in the 10 minutes it took to get her there. I cut across two lanes of slow moving traffic and skid into the hospital parking lot, jump us out and rush in. The girl asks me what happen and I am going a million miles a second with my story and then just pull back her jowls to show her gums. Well, my story must have sucked because seeing those gums got them all moving. Bailey was rushed to the back and I just broke down.

What happened? Apparently, my dog is a little too much like me. We are both anaphalactic it appears. They could not determine what got her - spider, ant, bee or wasp...but suspect it was one of the four. Bailey's system is already compromised by an ongoing battle with demodex manage (due to puppy mill breeding) and whether this contributed to her heighten state of allergic reaction or not is hard to say, but she is officially anaphalactic. I'm going to assume it was a bee or wasp cause I've seen them both out there...and fallen victim to them twice in the last 2 years. But I didn't realize my dog could die from this until today.

So, $166 later - which in my mind was bargain...Bailey is resting and recovering. She will now need to go to our regular Vet to get an epi-pen prescription...which will always have to be nearby. Epi-pens are ridiculously pricey and expire within 1-2 years. I haven't even renewed my own because $100 year for something I might never use is ridiculous to me...up til now. Bailey and I both are getting two...one for the house and one for the car...er, make that another one for her doggie ER kit (no kidding) when we go on walks; along with regular Benedryl tabs. That's $500/year+ btw for all those pens that may never be used. Ridiculous.

At this point, I am almost considering some insect repellent and dog booties for her. No, really...walking in unknown territory this might be a necessity. With each subsequent allergic reaction you, the anaphalactic, come closer to having a fatal episode. I think every dog owner needs to school themselves in allergic reactions though. It was only because of my own anaphalaxis that I suspected she might be having a reaction and knew to check those gums...her throat had all but completely closed up by the time we got to the ER. And let me tell ya, that is scary...because you start losing consciousness and if you've got no one around and no epi-pen then you quickly realize that this could be "it."

In people, the triggers can be numerous. There is a gentleman in the UK that almost died of it after being bitten by his kid's pet hamster...proteins in the hamster's saliva were suspected. This happened to me after a small dog bite that barely punctured the skin of my wrist...back then I had no idea I was so sensitive or even allergic to anything. Now I know that wasps, some kind of spider, dog saliva and a few other things will do this to me...but I am sure there are other triggers. I guess I realized today that both Bailey and I need to wear an emergency medical ID thing to let people know in case we collapse...and I need to show my family how to use an Epi-pen on me and her. Unbelievable.

An expensive lesson today concerning bees/wasps. I can't help think that that damn stinger cost me the leather toadstool and my Barrados that I have been jonsing for for at least another month or two. On the other hand, I would have paid 4x that amount just as long as my dog is alive and well...and there was a moment from the car til talking to the ER Vet when I thought she was a goner. So thanks to the angel that was watching over her today and made sure her mama was around to help her. I can't imagine if I hadn't been and come home to find her gone. I would have never have known why or how. Frightening that your world can change that quickly.