Daily Archive

Note: This is going to be a long post, so please bare with me.

Hilo is the furball with brown spots in the majority of my photos. He’s cute enough to make anyone smile, and I can bet you on that one.

Friday morning, we dropped both Maui and Hilo off to get their yearly exams and vaccinations. Before we headed out, we made sure that in the notes it read that Hilo was not supposed to receive the Lepto vaccination. He did not receive it last year, and he was not to get it this year either. ((Hilo’s littermate died of complications after receiving this vaccine.)) The receptionist told us it was noted in his patient file.

When it was time to pick them up, the nurse had notified us that Hilo vomited in his crate. Gloria looked at his paperwork and saw that Hilo was inoculated with FIVE vaccines! What?! I was told he was only to receive TWO vaccines that day.  On top of the other four vaccinations that Hilo received, he was also inoculated with the Lepto vaccine.

That explains the vomiting.

We quickly notified the nurse who administered his exam, and she looked stunned. A couple of minutes later, the vet (not his usual vet) rushed Hilo back to get a couple of shots to fight the allergic reaction: steroid (epinephrine) and diphenhydramine (fancy term for Benadryl) shots. To monitor his progress, the vet asked that he stay a few more hours.

While waiting, so many thing raced through my mind. I knew that this was a HUGE erroneous mishap.  How is it that a nurse and a vet oversaw the notes?! Did they even look to see that he was allergic to that vaccine?! Is Hilo going to make it?!

We wait a few hours, and he seems “fine”. …at least that is what they told us. We drive home, and he seems thrilled to be out of the clinic even though he’s acting strange. Within 15 min of being home, he starts walking funny and his back starts to break out in rashes and hives. We notice that he has diarrhea. The steroid and diphenhydramine shots obviously didn’t help that much with his reaction to the Lepto.

Maui is a highly allergic dog, so I knew that Hilo was having an anaphylaxis.

We immediately called his vet right before they were about to close. She told us to rush him to the pet ER.

Sigh.

We rushed him to the ER, and they basically do more tests on him. They poked and probed him, again. The ER vet told us it was an anaphylactic shock. ….duh! I could have told you that when I found out he vomited the first time. She administered another dosage of shots to help the allergic reaction and requested that he stay over night to monitor him.  She told us that he needed to be hooked up to IVs to help his system get through the shock.

We had to walk him towards the back, and he didn’t want to go. It was late, and I’m pretty sure at this point, he just wanted to go home and cuddle up next to Mommy.

The rest of the night, we stayed up hoping that we would not receive a phone call that every parents fears the most.

No call. Phew. …but are we in the clear? No.

We rush back to the ER bright and early in the morning, and they let us greet him. My heart broke just looking at how tired he looked.

They sent us back to the “ICU” with the rest of his IV fluids.

He spent all day being monitored, and of course, they poked and probed him… AGAIN!  When the clinic was about to close, they let us pick him up. Hilo was so ready to get out of there, and we were so relieved to see he was doing much better.

They sent us home with pills galore.

TONS and TONS of medicine for Hilo.

…and that’s how the story goes.

If Gloria had not looked at the paperwork, we would have never seen that he was given a Lepto shot. Thus, I don’t think that our little furball would have made it through the anaphylaxis. The reaction to his body would have been too much for him.

Right now, he is drowsy from all of his meds, but I rather have that, then not have him at all.

He is having so many issues right now, and we are trying to keep him hydrated. If things worsen throughout the day, we are going to have to take him back to the vet. I’ve got my fingers crossed all remains well.

Thanks for all of the positive thoughts and prayers from everyone this weekend. It was definitely needed and much appreciated.

(and Gloria, Maui, and Hilo.)

PS: I will post again soon with scrapbook updates, but for now, I’m going to tend to our little furball.