I slept in a little late this morning because I was up pretty late last night. Well this morning my hubby came running into the bedroom with Tatum in his arms and said, "Get this bow out of her hair, QUICK!" - needless to say, I forgot to take her bow out last night before bed. Well anyway, of course I jumped up and said, "WHATS WRONG!?!?!" and then he proceeded to tell me that he let her outside to go potty (he was of course out there with her) but he turned his back for a few seconds and she had layed down in an ant pile (FIRE Ants!!) and for anyone who lives in Texas...you know all about Fire Ants and how when they bite you, it hurts like HECK!!! Well anyhow, he said that Tatum started crying and running around going crazy, trying to get them off of her - so he ran over to her and picked her up (getting them all over himself trying to help her)...and that is when he noticed them on her face and everywhere
So after that is when he came in and woke me up. We immediately put her in a warm bath and bathed her and got all the ants off...you could tell that the bath felt sooo good to her.
After she was done with her bath we went to blow dry her and we could tell that she just wasn't acting right. She wasn't moving at all and all she wanted to do was lay down (which is NOT like her when she is being blow dryed!) - she was being very lethargic. Her eyes also looked like they just wanted to close. So I immediately stopped and looked at her gums.....OH MY GOSH
They were PAPER WHITE. Had absolutely NO pink to them what-so-ever
I ran into the kitchen and got the Nutri-Cal and immediately rubbed some on her gums, and on the roof of her mouth. I tried to let her lick it off my finger but she would not accept it (which was another big sign that something wasn't right because Tatum
LOVES Nutri-Cal - she also would not accept a treat). Also, she was shaking VERY badly...and I mean non stop shaking...lots of it
So I had the phone in my hand and was ready to call our vet but my hubby suggested that we give it 10-15 minutes to see if she perked up some after the Nutri-Cal.
After about 15-20 minutes, she was a little more perky, and accepted a little more Nutri-Cal off of the tip of my finger without my having to force it. She also ate a small treat and I put some ice cubes in her water and she drank some of that...and licked on a single ice cube as well. She was still shaking so badly though, so I decided to get the heating pad and wrap it in between one of her fleece blankets and put it on her bed to keep her warm. She LOVED that and layed down and took a nap. After she woke up though, she was itching so badly because of the ant bites - and she kind of acted like she maybe wanted to throw up
So I gave her some Benadryl (which again made her very sleepy) and as of right now, she is still asleep in her little bed with her heating pad
My poor baby. I just feel sooo bad for her. Even her little ears aren't standing up like they normally do. They are flopped down (especially her right one) because she isn't feeling well
My hubby feels sooooo bad. He was holding and cuddling her for the longest time. He felt just awful. I just HATE those Fire Ants!
Needless to say, we are going to get some Fire Ant killer later on today.
Here are a few pictures of my poor little baby....totally not feeling like herself
You can see her little ears are floppy and she is just so "out of it". I feel so bad for her
I was in tears when all this happened as she was so lethargic and I saw how white her gums were. It scared me half to death.