HELP - CHEWIE'S JAW IS SWOLEN

DustyVinci · July 2009

I was just outside and his jaw and completely swolen. Can anyone tell me what's wrong? PLEASE HELP!!!

Minx · July 2009

you prolly needa take him to the vet o-o its possible that the swelling can go down to his throat then he woulnt be able to breath o-o

iluvdogs111 · July 2009

OK this is a stupid question but is he a dog?

CallyKats Dachshunds · July 2009

I'm not a professional or anything but... -is there something he could've eaten that could have poisoned him or something? -could he have gotten bit by a snake/semi-large spider that did something? or -could he be allergic to something you gave him? just possibilities i've found out from mi cousin's dog i spend quite a bit of time with.

iluvdogs111 · July 2009

What does the swelling look like? Is it just in one spot or all around his jaw? Are there any bite marks? Did you recently switch his food type or feed him something you don't usaully feed him?

DustyVinci · July 2009

Okay, sorry I was in a hurry before. Yes, he is a labrador retriever. He could have been bitten by a snake or something but I don't know - we looked around the area and didn't see anything. He could be allergic but we don't know anything. We can take him to the vet tomorrow morning but they are closed now. I gave him his normal food but I threw a few milkbone treats because we were low on food. We're bringing him in the house now and I'm gonna watch him all night. The swelling is on the sides of his mouth and it's pretty big. He seems irritated when I mess with it but he doesn't try to bite or anything. He seems very very calm and has gagged a few times. He's drinking and panting though. The swelling is only on both sides of his mouth right now but more on the right side. It's pretty hard swelling - not soft and flimsy.

DustyVinci · July 2009

we don't see any bite marks but he is missing some hair on his front left leg that look something like bite marks but no blood. He has been scratching quite a bit though which prolly coulda caused that part

CallyKats Dachshunds · July 2009

could he have gotten parts of the milk bone stuck in the sides of his mouth to irritate it, that could easily cause swelling. i would only think of that if he rarely has milk-bone treats though.. if it's more hard than soft i would suggest something like a bite (snake, spider, etc) because usually the muscle tends to swell(but i'm not positive)

iluvdogs111 · July 2009

Anything else irreguler? Vomiting? Does he seem like he's in pain?

lovefrompaige · July 2009

Poor puppy. . . I hope he gets better soon Dusty

Krolak · July 2009

o_o; dusty. it'd be best if you brought him to the vet first thing in the morning. you dont wanna take any chances. if there are bite marks.. then he was bit -dies- xD but like i said.. ;; dont take chances.

iluvdogs111 · July 2009

Also, does he live outside most of the time or go outside a lot? Does he like to hunt in the bushes where he could've been bitten by something?

CallyKats Dachshunds · July 2009

also, sometimes bites are small enough that they don't show up. >.> sadly, which makes it a little hard to determine. could he have been scratching at his jaw enough to make it swell due to stress or something?

DustyVinci · July 2009

He lives outside all the time. During the day he's out tied in the yard and at night he's in his pen. There are something like bite marks on his leg, not his mouth. We are taking him first thing in the morning right when it opens, if I can help it. Chewie's inside now. Like I said, he's kinda gagging (like trying to throw up but nothing coming out) and huffing a little like when a dog has heartworms. He seems to be in a little pain but he just seems more irritated than "aaaack I'm in pain!!!" So it's rougher if there's a bite? That would be my bet... I'm just praying that it wasn't that poisonous water snake cause he is right next to our pond and we have some of those around the place. He also likes to try and catch wasps/bees in his mouth

iluvdogs111 · July 2009

If he's gagging and huffing he could be having trouble breathing. Has the swelling gotten any worse or better since you first noticed it?

CallyKats Dachshunds · July 2009

he could have caught a few bees. :? i had to drag mi cousin's dog away from a nest he tried to get at while we were wandering the woods. :roll:

DustyVinci · July 2009

iluvdogs111 wrote:

If he's gagging and huffing he could be having trouble breathing. Has the swelling gotten any worse or better since you first noticed it?

It seems about the same. I hope he's not having trouble breathing... Geez, I wonder if we can even wait until morning Oh, and is there anything I can do to draw the swelling down???

iluvdogs111 · July 2009

Honestly, I'm no vet. I don't know if gagging and huffing could be trouble breathing but that's just my guess. Any bees nests around his pen? (Sorry for all the questions, jsut trying to come up with an answer.)

CallyKats Dachshunds · July 2009

i would suggest doing your best to keep him calm..and i guess you could try an ice pack wrapped in a few rags.. :? not sure about that one though.

DustyVinci · July 2009

iluvdogs111 wrote:

Honestly, I'm no vet. I don't know if gagging and huffing could be trouble breathing but that's just my guess. Any bees nests around his pen? (Sorry for all the questions, jsut trying to come up with an answer.)

No, thanks for asking a lot of questions. I'm just looking for an answer. No, we don't have any nests around that I know of

CallyKats Dachshunds · July 2009

oh, and try and keep his head above his heart. I'm pretty sure that works for all mammals.

DustyVinci · July 2009

We're going to try mixing vinigril (sp?) in vanilla ice cream and feed it to him to down the swelling

iluvdogs111 · July 2009

Ice seems to work for people. Not sure about dogs. I was searching on the internet and came across this website. I have no clue if it's any good. You could try it. :? <a href="http://www.justanswer.com/veterinary/dog?r=ppc"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://www.justanswer.com/veterinary/dog?r=ppc</a>;

Doggirl1995 · July 2009

I'm pretty sure ice should work for most things. Because swelling is an inflation of the tissue, and ice helps to cool it off and shrink it down again. I hope your dog feels better soon Dusty!

Poor thing.

DustyVinci · July 2009

Thank ya Horse

He's just lying in his cage now. He doesn't have much energy but he seems alright. If he had been bitten by a poisonous snake he would be down and in alot of pain, right?? And vamp, what does that mean "keep his head above his heart"? :oops: Oh, and it looks like another part is swollen as well. His neck looks alot bigger, like where normally there's extra skin there anyway, there's even more now like it's swollen

CallyKats Dachshunds · July 2009

this probably doesn't matter anymore. >.> (stupid computer went crazy so i couldn't use it the rest of last night) but what i meant by keeping his head above his heart is that like instead of having him lay down on his side or something, probably stay up with him and try to hold his head up while he sleeps. like, have him lay his head on you somewhere so that it would be higher and above where his heart is. i twisted mi ankle and it was almost broken so the doctor told me to make sure i keep it elevated above mi heart to keep the swelling down, as well as keep it iced down. but i hope he's better now. :?

Zagari Wolf · July 2009

Sorry to hear about your dog. My first thought was bees. My boy (RIP) always have fun catching bees in the summer. He was a nutball! lol Try giving him Benedryl. Give him half a mg per pound. My dog is allergic to grass as weird as that sounds. But, a lot of APBTs are known to be allergic to grass. Good luck! I hope he's feeling better soon. I believe you said it already but, he should probably go to the vet. Let us know the outcome.

3eagles · July 2009

Zagari Wolf wrote:

 Try giving him Benedryl. Give him half a mg per pound.

I agree. Give him a lot of Benedryl.. My aunt's Golden Retreiver was bit by a Rattle snake and the vet told her to give him a ton of Benedryl. He didn't even need the antivenom. Even if it's just an allergic reaction to grass, food, whatever the Benedryl will help that too. Good luck! Hope he's alright.

DustyVinci · July 2009

Oh, sorry for not updating you guys. We've been giving him some other thing (I can't spell it) but it brought the swelling down and now he's just the same as he's always been. We're practically broke right now (like, my dad couldn't even buy me a cookie the other day *sniff*) so they didn't want to go to the vet unless they knew Chewie was in pain and really needed to go. I, personally woulda taken him anyway but it's not my house or my money and even tho I argued, we didn't take him to the vet. He is his old self again and I can't even see any swelling anymore. I'm just hoping there isn't somethere still there that we can't see

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HELP - CHEWIE'S JAW IS SWOLEN

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