This morning started out pretty uneventful, but at approximately 12:25 P.M., shortly before I was about to leave the house, it went from uneventful to EVENTFUL!!
At 12:25 P.M., I let Houdini and Max out in the back yard to take care of their business. I always go outside and assure that they do what they’re supposed to do before leaving them in the house alone. Well, as usual, Max walked around and sniffed everything beneath him, except that this time I saw him near the standing water that came from the drainage/gutter system that comes from the roof of our home. So, I walked over there and saw a whole hell of a lot of God-forsaken FIRE ANTS!!! Without any thought, I grabbed Max and immediately started to rub his face, because I assumed that they were on his face. Then I looked down at his front legs and they were all over! Again, without any thought, I picked him up and rushed him to our tub. I turned on the water, put him under the running water, and began to pour water all over his body. Max is a dark-haired dog, as he is a Yorkie, so I wasn’t sure if the fire ants had made it to his body, but I was certain that they were not going to attack my sweet Max without facing death. Shortly after I got him taken care of, I realized that I too had been bitten by the damn fire ants; as evidenced by the welts on my hand and fingers. Lovely! I feel like my fingers have compartment syndrome, short of needing a fasciotomy! Yes, it’s a bit of an exaggeration!
At 12:30 P.M., I called Max’s vet, because I was uncertain of how Max was going to react to the bites he got from the fire ants. This is how the phone call went:
ME: “What should I watch out for should he have a reaction to the fire ants?”
Vet’s Office: “well you could give him Benadryl just in case he does have a reaction.”
ME: “Okay, how much do I give him?”
Vet’s Office: “You can give him 25mg for every pound he weighs.”
ME: “Okay, could you please tell me how much he weighed the last time I took him in?”
Vet’s Office: “The last time we saw him was in October of 09 and he weight 4.09 pounds.”
ME: “Let me write this down (so I do). You said 25mg of Benadryl for every pound, okay thank you so much.”
By this time it’s about 12:35 P.M. and I grabbed Max and hauled butt to the nearest CVS to buy Benadryl for my poor baby!
For those of you who are familiar with the human dosages of Benadryl, the conversation I had with the vet’s office regarding the dosing of Benadryl for my 4 pound dog would have caused sirens and red flags to go off in your head. As I was on my way to CVS, I was thinking about what she had told me regarding how much Benadryl to give Max. HELLO, it wasn’t until then that the sirens and red flags begin to go off!
100mg of Benadryl for a 4lb dog (that is what the dose would have been with what she told me)! Uh no! I was not going to give my dog 100mg of Benadryl, I’m almost certain he would have acquired respiratory depression and quit breathing all together. I know, dogs are different, but they are not that different from human beings when it comes to how much of a drug you give them. THANK GOD I knew better! We don’t even give big ass teenagers, that are bigger than me, that much Benadryl. The most I’ve ever given is 25mg to a grown-ass person, not a 4lb person (or dog in this case). I ended up giving him 6.25mg (or 2.5ml, or 1/2 teaspoon) of Benadryl.
I’m happy to report that he is doing well, despite the bites he has on his front legs and one right above his right eye. Thank God, because I love my dogs and I would do anything for them! I’m not sure what I will do, or how I will react, when the day comes that I will be absolutely helpless and can do nothing for them except leave their lives in God’s hands! (Can’t even think about it without crying!)
I hope everyone has a good weekend and avoid the FIRE ANTS that are beginning to invade our yards…Spring has arrived!
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