Tuesday, August 30, 2011

What Not to Do With a Bee

Don't eat it. 
Don't chew it.
Don't even taste it.
...It bites back!

Alfie on Charissa's lap; you can tell his nose is still swollen and puffy, even under all his whiskers!

Poor Alfie, he already didn't feel good; then we noticed that he was acting strangely and his whole snout started to swell -- fast.  It scared me that his breathing didn't seem normal, so I called the vet -- only to find that he was out until Wednesday!  Ack!!  We got in to see another vet and pretty soon Alfie got a shot to bring the swelling down. 

Turns out he had an insect sting right inside his mouth -- pretty nasty.  The weird thing is that since Alfie's been sick, we've been supervising him extra carefully outside, and no one knows exactly when he got stung -- he didn't yelp or anything like that.  The first indication we had that something was wrong was him wiping his face with his paws, and rubbing his head on the furniture indoors.  With his furry whiskers, we didn't see anything wrong at first.  But when Charissa took a closer look, she let out a little involuntary shriek...poor dog, his nose was all swollen up on both sides and hard to the touch.  By the time we got him to the vet, poor boy, he was pretty bad off!  Thankfully, the shot worked quickly!

We also got something to help with the tummy issues he's been having...he's had to fast 24 hrs., and now he'll be on boiled rice and chicken for 3 days before transitioning back to normal food. 

closeup of Alfie's soulful eye looking upward
Home-cooked meals?  Can't be all bad!

4 comments:

Elijah said...

He's such a handsome boy!!!

Camilla and Darwin said...

Poor Alfie! Darwin keeps going after bees, I'm going to have to watch him even more strictly!

Infrequent Flyers said...

Poor Alfie, bees are tricky little things. Another not-to-do with bees is step on them. Cabana accidentally stepped on one last month and got stung on her paw pad. Thankfully, the after effects seem to go away pretty quickly. I hope that will be the case for little Alfie!

Anonymous said...

Goodness Alfie! Feel better soon!!