Another ER Trip and An Unfortunate Paranormal Activity: ODO 217

Published by Odd Dad Out on November 6, 2021November 6, 2021

When it rains it pours. Barely 2 days after getting home from the hospital from our last adventure, I had to rush our dog to the emergency vet not once, but twice in two days.
I also offer my less than stellar thoughts on “Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin” on Paramount+.

An ER Trip For Jasper

So, we got back from our stay at the hospital for my son’s broken arm on Wednesday morning. Friday afternoon, I had to take my wife’s dog, Jasper to the emergency vet.

Now, Jasper’s left eye had been tearing up for most of the week, and we had decided that if it didn’t clear up, that we would take him to the vet on Monday. But when I got home from school with boys on Friday afternoon, it appeared like his eye was rolling back in his head. Safe to say this moved up the timeline for him needing to go to the vet. After calling both of his regular doctors, and neither having any availability that day, it was determined that he would need to go to the 24-hour emergency vet offices to be seen.

Several hours later, the vet tells us that his eye is mostly fine, and that it’s likely just his third eyelid sticking, likely from some kind of trauma. We assumed that it was from a fight with one of the cats or maybe bumping into something in the back yard. They gave us some antibiotic eye drops and some artificial tears and sent us on our way for the night.

It wasn’t that simple…

We noticed that Jasper wasn’t eating or drinking after coming home that night. And it appeared that his mouth may have been bleeding. We just chocked it up to maybe chewing on the kennel they put him in at the vet. It was late. I gave him his eye drops and we all went to bed.

The next morning, as I’m giving him his next round of eye drops, we notice that his eye is looking even worse. On top of that, the entire left side of his face was swollen and he didn’t want to get up, even for breakfast. Honestly, between his eye and the swelling, he looked like he’d been punched in the face by Mike Tyson. Naturally, we get back on the phone to the vets to see if anyone can see him. His vet tells us that because his symptoms escalated after going to the emergency clinic, that they were the ones responsible for making it right. So I scooped him up into my van and back to the vet we went.

Because he was “medically stable” he was at the bottom of the priority list for the clinic, and I had to leave him there until they could see him. In the mean time, I had to go to work.

Later in the afternoon the vet finally called to explain the course of action. He said they needed to do bloodwork to test for infections and possibly for a rattlesnake bite. (Which I told them wasn’t a possibility, but pay no attention to the guy who’s been with the dog since he left your clinic last night.) They said that realistically the possible causes could have ranged anywhere from an insect stinger or thorn stuck in his face, to an abscess from an infection, to cancer. So, my wife was a bit concerned.

Fortunately, it did turn out to be an abscess from infected molar which we agreed to have drained immediately to relieve the swelling and pressure in his face. They also provided us with more antibiotics to help fight off the infection in his tooth and told us that the underlying issue would need to be resolved by his regular vet.

Left: swollen face Saturday before returning to the vet
Right: Smiley Jasper Monday after 2 days of treatment

He appears to be doing much better now. The swelling is gone from his face and his eye is back to normal. He has an appointment next week to take care of that pesky tooth, and then everything will be back to normal. )Now we just need to work on his weight troubles…)