Tikva came round the side of my chair, between it and the bookshelves, and started shaking her head and crying. When I told her to back out and come round so I could see her, her cheeks were up like a balloon and as I watched her whole face was swelling and she had a row of raised hives from between her eyes to all over her head. Obviously an allergic reaction to... what? I did not bother telephoning the surgery but called David, who must have broken all speed records to get here and took Tikki straight to the surgery. I am not sure what time it was but it was maybe latish in the afternoon. Loads of people waiting - Tikki was unhappy because David was outside as the waiting room was packed. Anyhow, he kept coming in to see how Tikki was and while we were waiting the swelling on her face and head slowly went down, but then hives started appearing all over her legs and her body. They did not seem to bother her and she was not scratching but I was on tenterhooks until it was our turn. I did not know either the Vet [who did not speak English] or the nurse [who does] although I have spoken to the nurse on the phone a few times. I am sure the Vet is a good one, otherwise Ram would not have employed her - middle-aged large Russian - but apart from asking what was wrong, which was obvious, she seemed to ignore me. Just got a thermometer and took Tikki's temperature - did not say whether it was normal or not. Picked Tikki up from the table and took her back into the [now empty] waiting room to put her on the scales. 5.7 kilos, exactly what she weighed on my scales when Ram was here last Tuesday for her Parkworm shot. Again not a word - gave Tikki an injection in her butt, told the nurse to tell me to take Tikva back into the waiting room for 15 minutes to make sure she did not have a bad reaction to whatever it was, then back into the examination room - she got some pills out, gave Tikki one, put some in an envelope and wrote how many to give her. The lovely nurse wrote down what the injection was - it was Diphenhydramine, which is Benadryl, and the tablets? Prednisone. Exactly what I take if I have a bad allergic reaction to something, even though I am prescribed a daily antihistamine as a precaution/preventative, but that still does not stop the occasional bad allergic reaction to something. Anyhow, it is just coming up to 9.15pm - Tikki's supper was due at 8pm but she has not asked for any food so I will wait until she does. Sorry this is so long but I was so worried. And I did not like that Vet.
So sorry for your ordeal...and I don't mean that to be flippant. I don't blame you for not liking the vet. She seemed to lack bedside manner. Some people are all business when it comes to certain things and they forget they need to deal with people. I hope Tikva is feeling better and that things have calmed down a bit.
When the nurse [I forget her name] took Tikva into the examination room and put her on the table, the Vet said "Mah Bayah" - what is the problem, so I asked her if she spoke any English because it would have been easier to explain what had happened. No. And from then on she more-or-less just ignored me. But you would have thought she would at least have stroked Tikki and maybe said hello Tikva to make her feel at ease with a strange person, not just get a thermometer and lift up Tikki's tail to take her temperature. For all she knew Tikki could have objected and turned round and bitten her. And then just picking her up and carrying her to put her on the scales then bringing her back and dumping her on the table again. She was just so cold with her, almost as if she did not like dogs. I hope she was not so cold and abrupt with the two puppies and the kitten that had gone in before me, for their first shots. Tikva had only been to the surgery once before, that was when Michal took her to be spayed, and she was sedated as soon as she had been weighed. Then Michal brought her back home once she had recovered from the anaesthetic, as first Michal and now Ram, come here for all her shots and basic check-ups. So she is used to being handled by a Vet but she was in a strange place with a stranger doing things to her. Anyhow, she asked for some food about 9.30pm but I did not give her much, and she is now zonked on the couch. In a minute I will open the door for her to go out for a final pee - she will wake as soon as she hears it - then she will come straight in - be unclipped from her harness, and shoot through the place into her crate and zonk off again. Needless to say the slightest sound from her will wake me.
I hope Tikva is soon back to normal, the treatment sounds right even if the vet was less than ideal. I once had a similar reaction with my Lowchen dog, Spike. As I was setting off for South Wales Ch. Show in the early hours of the morning, and it was a warm night, I had left the back door wide open and the kitchen light on. When I came into the kitchen it was occupied by my gang - plus a swarm of wasps. I eventually got rid of the wasps, packed the Lowchens into the car, and set off. After about 2 hours on the road, the lad started to vomit, and by the time we got to Builth Wells he was very hot, bright red along his spine, and flinched if you touched him. We had to wait till 9am for the show vet to arrive, and she gave him a largish tablet which she said was cortisone. This worked and he did recover, - just about ten minutes too late for his class. She also gave me a further two tablets, and said that with a dog that had had such a severe reaction, I should always carry them. I did carry these, or similar, tablets for the rest of his life. Worked like a charm, he never needed them again! I hope the same is true for Tikva.
Jade once had a similar reaction. Her face swelled like a balloon. I 'phoned the vet and he said to give her piriton and to 'phone in two hours if the swelling hadn't gone down. Half an hour after the 'phone call, her face was completely back to normal. I never found out what caused the reaction and there were no bite wounds I could find. Very strange. That vet sounds competent, but awful. I imagine you were mightily upset with her with good reason. I hope little Tikki is well and truly over her ordeal x
Thanks everyone - Tikva is back to her skinny self and after me waking her at ~11.30pm to go out for a final pee, she came in to be unclipped and literally zoomed through into the bedroom and waited for me to open her crate. And to get a bikkie out of her cupboard because of course she must have her little bikkie once in her crate, before she goes to the sleep end and curls up on her fluffy padded sleep mat. Not a sound, until ~6.30am when she eeped to tell me she needed to go out. Went out for a pee and poo, back in and straight through to her crate, and then slept for another couple of hours. I wish I could keep her indoors all day because the allergic reaction can only have been caused by something chucked into the yard - some kids sometimes throw ice-cream wrappers as they go past, and of course Tikki will investigate strange objects in her yard. I had debated whether to phone Ram this morning about that Vet - hopefully a locum as I honestly cannot see him employing someone like that permanently, however competent she is, but decided not to, although I will mention it when I take her for the blood test for a base level, which will have to wait for another two weeks now, as she will not have finished the course of Prednisone [marked Veterinary Prednisolone] until; next Monday, and Pesah starts that evening, ending the following Monday evening. I know Ram will be on call during the first and last days, which are Holy Days, just as he is on Shabbat, but reckon he will only open the surgery for half a day during the intermediate days - and a non-urgent blood test is just that, not urgent. But that Vet was rude to me by ignoring me just because I asked if she spoke English. She did not even bother to ask if I speak Ivrit, which of course I do after nearly 32 years years here - probably at least twice as long as she has. Just ignored me. And I definitely did not like the way she was handling Tikki.
I plonked round the yard yesterday as far as Tikva can reach - and a bit further - with a large plastic bag and a picker-upper, picking up every last scrap of whatever should not have been there. I think I will have to do that regularly now, as yesterday afternoon, after I had cleared the yard I saw two boys strolling past eating ice-cream on sticks - and throwing the sticks into my yard when they had finished. I called them back to come pick up their rubbish but did they? Of course not. However, thankfully Tikki is OK now and no longer looks as if she has been covered with bubble-wrap under her skin! Another six days of Prednisolone though but when squished in a tiny piece of cheese she takes the tablet chickchack.
