originally posted 8/17/06

I had the fright of my life last night and an example of why Bees and Boxers do
not mix.

Early yesterday evening, my 7 month old Brandi ate a bee. Obviously the bee did
not take kindly to being eaten and so stung her on the way down. Almost
immediately she went into shock. It was awful! She slowly sunk to the ground and
then just went limp. Still breathing and eyes open, but nothing else working on
her body at all.

I picked Brandi up and check her gums. Pure white. I have never seen anything
like it before. I have been always warned what to look for but had never
actually seen it. She was completely limp in my arms and I freaked out even
more. My husband was working on a new retaining wall in front of our house. I carried her
out there to say there was a problem. He immediately dropped everything and came
running. We brought her back in the house and called the vet. We rushed her into
emergency and were sure she would die on the way. But she kept breathing and
staring straight ahead. I felt her pulse and it was not racing.

The staff was great. They had the door open for us as we rushed her in. The
surrounded her and began to work their magic. They put her on oxygen, checked
her heart, checked her breathing and started an IV drip. As they did this I
discussed what happened with them. They scoped her throat to make sure there was
no swelling there. She had several injections and a catheter inserted in her
arm. They were able to stablize her and get color back in her face/mouth.

They sent her home with me and a catheter still in her arm in case we had to
rush her back in. She threw up several times at home but finally settled down at
10pm. I gave her a Pepcid AC which helped. Of course she slept in bed with us to
keep an eye on her.

This morning Brandi was skinny but in better spirits. She even wanted to play
with her ball. I took her in to have the catheter removed and they were happy to
see she was being a normal wiggly puppy. The vet made mention she is a very
healthy pup and that definitely helped her responding to the treatment. My
husband is home taking care of her right now.

Please hug your babies as you never know what could happen. Had I not been home,
I don't think I would have had a baby to hug anymore. And if Boxers did not have
that fondness for eating flying objects, none of us would have to worry
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