FAT HEAD! 1st trip to the ER.

Two nights ago, we awoke to Ripley acting like he was vomiting. After turning on the light, we saw that his nose was HUGE. It was really swollen. After prying open his mouth, we saw his tongue was swollen too. The sides of his mouth were not just swollen, but very hard to the touch. The swelling was definitely more predominant on his right side.

Thus, we rushed him into the emergency vet clinic. I had remembered seeing bees outside earlier that day and we surmised he was having an allergic reaction. The vet had that estimation as well, but said it could also be a foreign object stuck in his cheek and getting infected. Ripley wouldn't let her look in her mouth. She gave him a shot of antihistamine and steroids. We were to keep an eye on him and give him some Benedryl if the swelling came back.

Other than thinking someone was going to sneak up and shove a thermometer up his butt, Ripley seemed to enjoy the whole thing.

Yesterday, the swelling seemed ok in the morning and then it came back in a bad way on his LEFT side. We can only surmise he got stung again. We gave him the benedryl and that helped.

The vet called around 6:30 to check on him and he seemed fine. Unfortunately, after the call, he developed a habit of vigorously shaking his head. We gave him one more dose of benedryl before bed hoping that it would help. Well, benedryl makes him sleepy. He slept for about 4 hours and was up again with his crazy head shaking. Tom called the vet and she said he should come in since he could rupture a blood vessel.

Back to the ER for the second night in a row where he got another steroid shot. We also got some steroid pills. Ripley really didn't like getting his temperature taken, but that was still the worst thing about it to him.

Tom and I are super POOPED today. We can only hope we don't make it a third night in a row.