Monday, June 20, 2016

What a Big Snout You Have, Flippy

Yesterday our 6 year old beagle Flip decided to go north when I went south while taking our morning walk. 

Needless to say, I was worried that he had escaped again. But he is a roamer and a hunter, so I knew he would eventually come back home. And come back home, he did. Scarcely able to put two legs in front of the back two, he ambled in around lunch time. Filthy dirty and with a visibly swollen nose and mouth! 

When my hub washed our pup, all went reasonably well. Then I tried drying his head, and there was a long cry of pain that broke my heart. After watching Flip try to put his head down on the tight and swollen face on his bed, I decided that something must have bitten him while he was out in the dark woods behind our house. 

Whenever we show signs of allergy, we take 


So after reading on the Internet that it is safe to give dogs Benadryl (diphenhydramine), we gave Flip a teaspoon of his favorite peanut butter with one little pink pill (25 mg) hidden inside. 

Not just any allergy medicine will be safe, but the one pictured above should not hurt. The ingredients are pretty straight-forward on the package and the website. 

After the first pill ( dosage=1 mg per pound of pup), the swelling was still there, but Flip could rest and showed signs of being hungry and thirsty. I fed him soft canned food early in the afternoon, but by evening he was ready for something to put his teeth into. Before I went to bed, I gave him one more 25 mg tablet with PB, and we all slept like lambs. 

Today Flip's snout still looks a bit like some other breed of dog, but he is back to his old self ready to chase an orange tennis ball or even escape into the wild.