Ok, yesterday I was totally wrapping up my freak summer cold, (which thankfully only lasted a few day) so I was thinking things were going well. I had a relatively nice day at work and got to go shopping (retail therapy, yeah!) with Adam and Simeon after work. Then we stopped by our house to feed the dogs and consolidate to one car. So we took off and ran a few errands, grabbed a bite to eat, and headed back to our house to crash for the night. I was up in my bathroom getting ready for bed when Ellie wandered in for a drink of water.

Now Ellie is very set in her ways about drinking water. She always comes over and drips all over the nearest person as soon as she has consumed an entire bowl of water. So I instinctually go over to her and kind of clean her up a bit (this also cuts down on accidents due to slipping on wet linoleum). As I reached down to lift up her head I was shocked. I had to do a double take. Ellie’s head had practically doubled in size. I instantly recoiled. For a minute I wasn’t even sure it was my dog. My beautiful black lab had swollen up so badly she looked like a Shar-Pei! Her eyes were reduced to slits and her jowls were so huge it looked like she had two tennis balls in her mouth!

I called down the stairs to Simeon and Adam to come up stairs. Realizing they couldn’t hear me, I ran downstairs with Ellie in tow. I showed them her face and said we needed to call the vets office. I frantically ran upstairs to find the number, knowing that after hours they give you the number of the emergency 24-hour office. I wanted to find the office that was closest to our house, but for some reason they kept telling us we needed to drive to Tualatin! So Adam started calling the vet offices to get more information. After several attempts, he got a technician on the phone who walked Simeon through the necessary questions to help us find out why our dog was so swollen. The best thing they could determine was an allergic reaction. They instructed us to give her Benadryl and if that didn’t work we would have to bring her in.

Not being allergy sufferers, we didn’t have anything on hand, so Simeon and Adam ran to the nearest store to buy some Benadryl. We disguised the medicine in a jellybean and Ellie quickly slipped into a Benadryl induced stupor, and laid down to sleep. Not knowing if she would have a reaction to the Benadryl, we were constantly checking her to make sure she was still breathing and the swelling was going down. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep last night!

We awoke this morning to more of a Rottweiler than a Shar-Pei, which was quite a relief. She was still kind of swollen, so we gave her some more Benadryl. The only changes in her attitude are as a result of the Benadryl, so I know the swelling isn’t hurting her. But I am still the concerned “mother” and I am going home to check on her at lunch today. If she is still swollen, I am going to take her to the vet and make sure everything is ok.

From what I have been able to deduct on my own researching dogs with swollen faces and no other noticeable side affects, it that she was most likely stung by a bee and had an allergic reaction. Dogs tend to swell around their eyes and mouth because they chew on whatever bites them. But I will keep you posted on what happens next!

But I really want to thank Simeon and Adam for helping me keep calm last night and taking care of my lil’ furbaby when I wasn’t able to function. I guess I’m not always so cool, calm, and collected in an emergency as I thought. Its good to know I have people around to help me when I need it. Thanks guys. I love you both!