A Doggy emergency

**welderguy** · 04-07-2014, 07:37 PM

My brother in law came over and brought his little dackson along, she is a cute little thing about 8 or 10 pounds. Well she was playing with something and yelped and just stood there for a minute then just fell over. he grabbed her up and she was non responsive wheezing and labored breathing. I knew what it was as soon as he said she was stung by a bee. She was going anaphylactic. I have epi pens at home both adult and JR , I called a vet friend told him what was happening. well he said that even the junior dose was too much. Well now what to do

well I found out what the inside of an epi pen looks like, I pulled one apart with plyers. there is a vial and plunger system inside, so I set up a syringe and needle extracted .037 mg injected her and within a minute she was bouncing back to her normal self.

I called my Vet buddy back to thank him and to also set up an appointment for my BIL to get her checked and get some doggy epi , and I found out there is no such thing as an epi pen for dogs, so I requested a vial of epi to have on hand.

**crashdive123** · 04-07-2014, 07:42 PM

Quick thinking. Glad it worked out OK.

**Rick** · 04-07-2014, 07:57 PM

It's scary stuff no matter if it's a person or a pet.

**1stimestar** · 04-07-2014, 08:28 PM

Wow, awesome save there buddy!

**hunter63** · 04-07-2014, 08:34 PM

Wow, what an experience....congrats man.....good job.
Maybe a new product line?

**welderguy** · 04-07-2014, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by hunter63

Wow, what an experience....congrats man.....good job.
Maybe a new product line?

Its funny you mention about a new product line, I just got off the phone talking to a few contacts about just that. Wonder ehat kind of market there would be for a pet epi pen
or epi-pet

**hunter63** · 04-07-2014, 08:47 PM

I gave insulin to a dog with diabetes for a couple of years...got it at the drug store like people meds.....Why not?

What about Benadryl?.........DW carries some along with the Epi......?

**2dumb2kwit** · 04-08-2014, 10:53 AM

Good job, WG.
I've said for years, that you can tell a lot about people, by how they treat animals.
(And how animals act towards them)
It's easy to see, that you're one of the good guys.

**RandyRhoads** · 04-08-2014, 11:05 AM

Good save, quick thinking. Curious how you knew the dose though, does it say concentration on the box? Haven't looked at mine in a while but I thought it just gave the total dosage in the shot, and also most of the solution stays in the injector. Curious how that plays out. Is the dose listed how much actually gets delivered. Of how much could get delivered but doesn't?

**WolfVanZandt** · 04-08-2014, 12:07 PM

Cool! Where'd you learn how to solve problems? That's not something they teach in school......

**welderguy** · 04-08-2014, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by RandyRhoads

Good save, quick thinking. Curious how you knew the dose though, does it say concentration on the box? Haven't looked at mine in a while but I thought it just gave the total dosage in the shot, and also most of the solution stays in the injector. Curious how that plays out. Is the dose listed how much actually gets delivered. Of how much could get delivered but doesn't?

I did the math on dosage as you would for a person, body weight, age, health, and for an Infant baby that is 8 to ten pounds its between .0325 to .0375, there is .15mg epi in an epi pen junior, so i didn't screw up and give too much or not enough I called a buddy thats a veterinarian and he said yes that is the correct amount.
I pulled the epi pen apart and loaded a syringe and needle up to administer the shot.

**welderguy** · 04-08-2014, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by WolfVanZandt

Cool! Where'd you learn how to solve problems? That's not something they teach in school......

Depends what school, I was a full time medic for a while now I just do the VFD when I have time as a first responder.

**WolfVanZandt** · 04-08-2014, 03:11 PM

Cool! Experience counts. Most of the schools I've been associated with do teach standard curricula that include problem solving but it's mostly word problems that don't generalize very well to real life problems (in fact, most of the problems they give to solve leave the student wondering why they're in the class at all - two trains going in opposite directions at different speed - when will they meet? - a common (and correct) answer is "who cares?"). Your experience would make a gripping and interesting problem. "Your dog is going into anaphylactic shock and there's an Epi pen for a human adult.......how do you save your dogs life? Use any resources you think are appropriate to solve this problem, but do it fast. Your dog only has about 10 minutes to live."

**natertot** · 04-08-2014, 03:20 PM

Good thinking and good save!

**Rick** · 04-08-2014, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by welderguy

I did the math

Uh....don't wait for me to calculate the right dose. I'd still be doin' my gazintas and the poor dog would have to recover on its own.

**welderguy** · 04-08-2014, 08:17 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

Uh....don't wait for me to calculate the right dose. I'd still be doin' my gazintas and the poor dog would have to recover on its own.

Its so easy a caveman can do it

**welderguy** · 04-08-2014, 08:36 PM

Since this incident I have been doing some web browsing and came across this
http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet...y-in-dogs/4397

Recently it has been clearly documented that grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure in dogs. It is unclear whether this is a new problem, or if the toxic nature of grapes and raisins became recognized after the establishment of a computerized animal toxicity database about 25 years ago. Whatever the case, the number of identified cases of illness or death in dogs after they have eaten raisins or grapes is on the increase.

Grapes and Raisens are toxic to dogs I learn something new everyday folks !!!!