Brutus had a reaction to Vectra this morning. It was the first time that I have used it on him, but after talking with their company's vet services, along with meeting with one of their reps to discuss, at length, Brutus's health issues. I've been using it on all of the other dogs with no issue, so it seemed like a no-brainer that switching Boo over to it was the way to go. I was wrong.
I applied the Vectra this morning about 30 minutes before leaving for work. I do this monthly, & the dogs stay in their crates for the day so that nobody licks anyone elses neck, & accidentally ingests the drug. As I was walking out the door, I heard Boo howling. He has a distinct howl, & he rarely uses it, so I decided to go back to see what was wrong.
When I walked back in, I knew that something was wrong. He was very agitated, & excited, drooling profusely, & trying to get out of the crate. (He does drool a little, normally, but he likes his crate, & never acts up in it) I decided to take him out again, just in case he needed one more potty break. When we got outside, he fell over & seized. It wasn't a horribly long seizure, nor was it violent, but it was obviously a seizure. Once he came out of the seizure, I called our vet to let him know that I was about to be on the way. Then I bathed Boo in dishwashing detergent to try to get the Vectra off of him.
When we got to the vet clinic, he had started vomitting foam. The vet checked him, gave him an anti-vomitting injection, hooked him up to IV fluids, & recommended that I take him to the specialist who is treating him for AIHA. I agreed, & we were on our way. I made the, normally, almost 3 hour drive to Houston, in an hour & fifty minutes. Even with me driving like a maniac, we did not make it there before the horrible diarrhea began. The jeep may never be the same again.
The specialist agrees that he is/was having a reaction to Vectra, & recommended keeping him for a few days to try to make sure that this stress doesn't cause him to relapse. He is stable right now. He's still hooked up to IV fluids, & he still has diarrhea, but he's alert, & waggy. I am hoping that he will just handle the reaction like a normal dog, & that he doesn't relapse into AIHA again.
I have to say that the vet, & staff that are caring for him are awesome. Boo can be a bit difficult at times (somedays he's a jerk) but he loves two of the techs at this clinic, & they seem to love him too. They were both working when we arrived, & they both came to meet us to help get Boo worked up. Once we had decided what was going to happen, one of the techs asked Dr. V, if she could go home, take a nap, & come back to take the night shift so that Boo had a tech that he liked round the clock. The doctor quickly agreed, stating that it was a great idea. I know that it's a little thing, but it meant a lot to me.
I know that, when I chose to use Vectra on him, that I was trying to make the best decision for his well being, but I can't help but feel guilty that I caused this.
If you can spare a good thought for my boy, I would really appreciate it.