Turbo's Huge Reaction

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction...or does it?

Poor Turbo, his eyes and face are swollen upon waking

Saturday, April 2--Day 9

"Honey...come here. You have to look at this.  Something happened to Turbo."  I shoot out of bed at the unheard of hour of 5:00 a.m. and walk in circles for a few mintues.  I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing, but I know I'm supposed to look at something.  Shoes.  I need shoes. I grab my robe and slip on a pair of Kevin's shoes, and I floppily follow obediently.  "Is he eating? Bleeding? Dead?"  I just had no idea what to expect.  "He's fine.  But his face...it's really, um...SWOLLEN.  He must've eaten something." Ok...but is he ok?  I'm soooo nervous.  I brace myself for the worst...and walk into the garage where he is happily scarfing down all of his food. "Hi Turbo!" I say as happily as I can at 5 am.  He runs right over, wagging his little tail and chatting my head off.  "He's fine," I grumble.  I fetch an extra benadryl, pop it in some string cheese, feed it to the eager little boy, and head back to bed.

But I don't sleep easily...I'm unsure of what he ate...did he get stung by something? Is he allergic to his meds? Is this the toxicity that I had to be on the lookout for?  Should I continue with his regimen? Should I stay home from work?  I quickly learn that you can give dogs 1mg/1 pound of Benadryl every 8 hours.  We were in luck...he could have more than we'd been giving him.

I arise, have my coffee, and invite Turbey onto my lap.  I touch his face and his eyes, I check him from every angle.  He actually looks normal.  There is a distinct lack of extra skin is falling off his face like a Turkey (as we've lovingly been calling him).  I can't help but think that he is getting a little of what he deserves, he has in the last 9 days chewed: 2 dog beds, an entire bush, every "soft" dog toy we owned, 2 flip flops (not from the same set), a hose, a shower puff, and the bark right off the tree.  Something he ate OBVIOUSLY didn't sit well with his system.

The rest of the day is without much interest.  The dogs play, I clean, Turbo eats lots of benadryl and by the next day, his face is 90% back to shriveled and wrinkled and hanging off his little body.  But, as per usual, he is happy.  We have a long conversation about eating weird plants and bugs, and he hesitantly agrees to keep his mouth off the bushes and a few other things,  but in general he will make no promises.

And...they're off...chewing at the next convenient thing they can put their mouths on.

Turbo with Gracie--the sweling makes his size appear average