Sick Puppy

I took Sam to the vet on Thurs. b/c he had this scary-looking bump on his side that started looking worse as the week progressed, so, of course, I wanted to get it checked out. I took him to the Banfield (in Petsmart) near me, where Stephanie takes her Liberty and Oliver. Dr. Rachel was very nice, as were all the technicians and they drew some cells to have them analyzed. I also signed up for a wellness plan from them that covers vaccinations, dental cleaning, routine check-ups, office visits, etc. and they said, "hey, why don't you get these 4 shots since he hasn't had them and they're covered under your new wellness plan?" And I said, "sure, why not? It can't hurt him, right?" I was wrong. Not only did he cry and whine in pain when he actually got the shots but he also had an allergic reaction. At first, he was just lethargic and shaky but then he started whining when I picked him up and he wouldn't put any weight on one of his legs. So, I took him back that same afternoon. They said, "that's normal. Only worry about him if he starts vomiting or has diarrhea." Ok, so, I took him back home.


Fri. morning he had some diarrhea but I thought, "well, I DID give him wet food yesterday, I'm not too worried." So, I'm getting ready for work, putting my lipstick on and about to walk out the door, when he throws up on the bathroom floor. That freaks me out b/c it's all chunky and he's only ever vomited that foamy-looking stuff before (and even that's very rarely), so I call the vet, they tell me to bring him in. I bring Sam in for the 3rd time in 24 hours. They tell me he's having an allergic reaction and give him a shot for the nausea (which didn't really work, btw, since he threw up all over the bed about an hour later and then on the couch and floor again that night) and that I should give him Benadryl and Imodium and if he's still acting like this in 24 hours, to bring him in again.


Great, now I'm a basket case. I give him the meds but he throws up, so I'm not sure if they're in his system or not and I decide to wait a few hours to give him another dosage, since I don't want to over-medicate my dog! I put the Benadryl in peanut butter later--no dice. He doesn't want it. I put it in bread, turkey, a tortilla, cheese, yogurt--nothing. I call the vet; I have no idea what to do. They tell me to throw it in the back of his throat. That doesn't work out so well. He keeps spitting it out. And then he refuses to even open his mouth for me...now I can't pry his jaws open at all! I call Michael at work and tell him to come home ASAP, I'm at my wits end. He gets it in without many problems and we go buy some liquid children's Benadryl and a needle-less syringe, just in case (I didn't know that was an option since the vet's kept telling me to give him half a tablet, but whatever.)


Sam's fine now but I hardly ate or slept for 3 days b/c I was so worried about him. And he gets to get his boosters in 3 weeks. Lucky us. Oh, the god news is that his cyst is benign. Hooray!