weekend scare

I will always remember this past weekend as the weekend that Lily almost died. 

She went into anaphylactic shock after having an allergic reaction to something (our best guess is a wasp sting, because they are everywhere this year and we had just been outside working on a sprinkler head...I didn't even know dogs could be allergic to bees or wasps!).  Of course it happened on the weekend and we had to go to the emergency animal hospital (insert dollar signs here) to diagnose the issue, stabilize her, and treat her. After being treated successfully, she was back home in 9 hours...a little stinky, but back to her normal self.  Pretty amazing. I thought she was going to die for sure.

I'm so glad she is back home. She got a bath this morning and an extra long blow-dry (which she LOVES, seriously) and is now sleeping in her bed behind my desk chair. Happy as can be. Every now and then I can hear her breathe...the sound is like a ray of sunshine on my soul. 

Here are some of the signs of anaphylactic shock in dogs:  agitation, diarrhea, vomiting, difficulty breathing, stridor (harsh breathing sounds) from a swollen voice box, weakness, and circulatory collapse. In untreated cases, coma and death follow.

We knew something was seriously wrong when Lily went into the backyard and laid down in the shady grass, not moving or responding to us at all. She had very labored noisy breathing, bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and severe lethargy.

I'm not sure how to keep her away from bees. Should we try to litter box train her? She's 11 or 12...can an older dog learn to do that? Was it just a freak thing that won't happen again? Who knows. For now, I'm just going to enjoy her back home and I'm going to cuddle with her every chance I get.