Yesterday we were well into our walk and had noticed a few bluebottles on the beach and carefully stepping around them. Paxy had taken no notice previously. She ran past this one with the ball in her mouth dropped it, air scented and then found it and proceeded to pick it up. The stinger must have stuck on her tongue a bit because she was flipping it about a bit and no command of "leave it" which she is usually good at would work and of course she kept dancing away. Anyway down it went. OMG! Well we immediately turned around but at least 40min walk from the car so we watched her carefully.
She was still bouncing around and while she still wanted the ball thrown she didn't want to touch it with her mouth initially. So we carried it for a while and she whined and carried on so OH threw it and she caught it and then we noticed a thin stream of drool. We gave her a bit of a drink back at the car and went home. She didn't seem to have any other symptoms of toxins (and no anaphylatic shock like bee stings!) and I did a quick google search at home which was pretty bare and she was running around barking like mad so pretty normal really! So rang the emergency vet just in case they said bring her in we'll see if she can vomit it up. So off we go at 8.15pm.
She's very good at the vet, all there pretty incredulous at what she'd done though! Anyway they checked her over and did a vet net search and revealed that really the only problem would be if bluebottle was rotting she might get a gut infection. So we have some Peptosyl (sp?) 3 times a day for a couple of days. No known problems with dogs eating bluebottles. That's the good news.
This is when we get to the HOWEVER. Her heart beat was 70/min. Which would apparently be OK if she was a Great Dane. So off she went for a 5 min ECG where she managed to get up to 100/min because she was nervous. Vet said normal range for her should be 120/min and nerves should take it up to 160. ECG was normal, he didn't think it was an electrical problem and not related to her heart murmur. He seemed to think it might be related to the vagus nerve which can control pulse, breathing. So basically he said to try and take her pulse throughout the day after activity, while sleeping etc to get an idea of her normal. He is sending a report to our normal vet and he said she may have to wear a halti for 24hrs (like the human version) to record pulse rate. The main reason being that if her heart rate starts to fall to 60 or below she will start to have fainting episodes and may struggle with any activity. So ... I feel a little blue today.
I was really proud of her though she behaved beautifully being checked by unknowns and was a little concerned when her bottom beeped when her temp was taken but wanted to kiss the vet when he was listening to her heart. She was pretty calm and although she wanted to go she was patient and well mannered! Finally got home just before 10pm and she and I had dinner and then to bed! Both a wee bit tired!