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| While Tawny and I were down at the creek one evening she was running all over the hills as usual. At one point, however, just as she was going to cross the creek, I heard her "yip" and saw her jump. It looked like a stick had got tangled in her legs. She then started snapping at her tail for a little while, as though a bee was behind her.
I thought nothing much further about it until we were ready to
head back up the hill to home. Then I saw something hanging on the side of her mouth. I thought from the distance that it was a beetle of some sort. I called her to come over, and I discovered it was a large drop of blood. I examined her and couldn't find anything wrong. I thought the stick must have bumped her mouth or something. There was no hole from which the blood could seep, but as I continued examining her, another drop of blood appeared.
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| Still, I thought not much about it. After all, dogs do get bumps and scrapes, just like all of us. We headed back up the hill to home. I put out the feed for the chickens and fed Tawny
and KC. As I was doing so, I saw that Tawny's little hole seemed to be opening up. I could actually see that there was an injury. So, I got a cloth and cleaned it for her. I applied some antibiotic ointment, just in case.
Later still, about 45 minutes after her first encounter with that stick or bee or whatever down at the creek, her jowls started swelling. Yes, it turns out that the stick was actually a rattler. She had been bitten. I squeezed out
as much of the venom and all as I could. She sure didn't appreciate that very much, but she still didn't act like it hurt much. It seemed to be just uncomfortable to her, my squeezing on her mouth like that. |
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| | | | At any rate, I called Teri my
friend. Besides being a surgery nurse, she has had animals (horses, dogs, cats) all of her life, and she is a fountain of information on such things. She suggested that I start her on antibiotics, one she had given me a long time ago, and to also give Tawny some benedryl to help with the swelling. I did so, and Tawny seemed to be fine. The swelling increased for a couple of days, but it still didn't seem to affect Tawny all that much, other than (again) simply being
uncomfortable. She still greets me with a wagging tail each time I exit the bus. She is eating fine and doing most of her usual things. |
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