More Happy Drama

I'm so bummed we don't have a decent vet here. After going to a "new" place in "O" that was AWFUL (we took Rudy and Happy there 3 times for "full works" baths and they only did 1/4 of the job), we decided to go to a different place that seemed a little more legit.

Friday morning, I took the boys to this new animal clinic for several things - and maybe I'm the one to blame for having too much to do on the checklist for one day - they had teeth cleanings (and they had to be put under a local anesthesia for this overhaul), as well as ear cleaning, all vaccinations, and the topper - anal expressions. (ick)

I called around 2:30 to see how they were doing and if it was close to time for pick up. The doc said to give them until 4:30 and then they should be ready to go home.

I arrived at 4:45pm. I waited in the waiting area for 30 minutes before the assistants finally brought Happy and Rudy up to the front. I signed the papers, swiped my credit card, and a young man helped me to the car with the boys. Happy was still a little drunk from the anesthesia and he was stumbling back and forth. The assistant helped me get all 70 lbs of him in the car, and Rudy plopped on the back seat and laid down for the ride.

The doc came out to give me the report.

"Well, they have really good teeth. We cleaned them up good. No bad teeth at all. Didn't have to pull any. All the vaccinations were done. Kate will have your shot records and collar tags up front. Now, Happy has a really bad ear infection. About as bad as it can get, so here's some antibiotics for him, and some ear cleaner. Take good care of his ears, and let me know in a week if he's feeling better."

He handed me two bottles of antibiotics - one for Happy, and the other for Rudy, and then explained that Rudy needed a week's worth of antibiotics as well - just because. "ooooookkkk...." I said, looking at him confused as to why Rudy would need meds when he wasn't sick. Catching my confused look, he said "We just give all our dogs antibiotics following teeth cleaning, just to keep from any infections."

I grabbed the shot records, the tags and all the antibiotics and ear meds, and jumped in the car. I raced home, fighting the clock. Joe and I were supposed to go out to dinner and the babysitter would probably beat me to the house.

When I got home, I looked at Happy's pills. Keflex. Hmmm....that name sounded eerily familiar. I wrapped his pill in a piece of cheese, as I did Rudy's, and tricked them both into thinking that they were treats. They gobbled them down without missing a beat, Happy still stumbling across the floor as if he had one too many tequilas.

Joe and I left to go to dinner, returning home around 10.

Happy was still groggy when we returned. We figured it was probably just a delayed reaction from the anesthesia, and that he'd be normal by morning. Joe and I had this bad feeling that he didn't feel right though. He would follow us around the house lazily, no matter where we went, even the bathroom. He laid outside the shower until I came out and then followed me over the my side of the bed where he stayed most of the night instead of crawling into his own bed. And if he wasn't on my side of the bed, he was over on Joe's side. About 4 am, he was wimpering, and breathing with a long wheezy whine. We didn't really know what to do.... he was able to walk around fine, and he was going to the bathroom fine, so we figured we'd wait until the sun rose to see how he was.

Sure enough, when we awoke, we found that he had finally found his way over to his own bed sometime in the night, but nothing was going to move him. He got up finally, looking as though he was in terrible pain, and drug his way over to the back door to go outside. He couldn't even lift his head. It was almost as if his ear were too heavy for him. After he did his business on the patio instead of in the grass, he stumbled his way back inside and back to bed. When Joe opened the fridge, he didn't even budge from him bed, which usually is the key incentive for him to hurry to the open door to beg for cheese treats. Joe had to bring him a piece of cheese, and even then, Joe had to give it to Happy while he was lying down. We instantly called the doctor following.

Doc said he should have worn off the anesthesia by 8pm the night before so this was terribly wrong and to bring him in right away. We piled into the car immediately and took him in.

We walked in, and the doctor was in surgery. We waited for about 30 minutes for him to call us in.

The moment he walked in, he apologized. "I'm so sorry. Look here ..." and he pointed to a page where I had written down that Happy was allergic to Cephalexin. "Keflex is cephalexin. I didn't even see that you wrote it on the page. Happy is in pain because he is allergic to this medicine." Happy yelped in horror as the doc pinched lightly on his neck and front legs. He asked about how we found out that he was allergic to Cephalexin and I gave him the short version of the story. He gave Happy a Rimadyl shot in his backside to counteract the Keflex and asked us to keep him in the loop on his progress.

Thank God, within a few hours he was doing 100% better. I'm soooo thankful we didn't have another Vet trip from Hell like before, 2 years ago. The med mix-up could have been fatal.