Poor Girl Just Can't Catch A Break

As if her other problems weren’t enough, Reyna got bit by something Monday afternoon/evening (I’m guessing a spider) and had an allergic reaction to it. Her face was swelling, and she occasionally had trouble breathing. On top of that, she also had 3 mini seizures Monday late afternoon, and another shortly after midnight. Yes, I know what her seizures sound like, and since I wasn’t sleeping well anyway, it woke me up.

Tuesday morning, her face was still swollen and she developed hives on her front and back legs in less than 15 minutes. So I called the vet to let them know we were coming in. My vet was off (who does he think he is, taking a day off??), so we had to see a different one. While I was on the phone with my boss letting him know I’d be late, Reyna had another mini seizure.

After taking 15 minutes to read Reyna’s file (this is why I don’t like new vets – that, and they don’t know what’s normal behavior, because they’ve never seen the animal before), the vet said she couldn't give Reyna a steroid to stop the inflammation, because it would react with her Rimadyl and could cause gastric bleeding. And yes, that could be bad. Instead, she told me to just give Reyna more Benadryl. She’s already on 50mgs of Benadryl twice a day, which I’m sure is why the reaction wasn’t as severe as it could have been. While we were talking to the vet, Reyna had yet another mini seizure. I figure that the allergic reaction was stressing Reyna’s body and sparking the extra seizures, and that once we got through the reaction, the seizures would stop. The vet’s response? Up her Phenobarbital and come back in 2 weeks for blood work.

Last night, Reyna was still having cycles of swelling and hives, and her face was still swollen this morning. She still doesn’t want to eat, and she still looks and acts miserable. I’m going to talk to my regular vet today and see what he says. I really don’t like the idea of increasing her Pb, because she doesn't need to go through the clumsy and stupid phase again.


She's really not having a bad hair day in these pictures....its the hives on her forehead giving her that oh-so-attractive bumpy look.