Monday, March 3, 2014

Ziggy & The Bee

This happy funny face belongs to my buddy "Ziggy."  Zig has been with me since I started my pet sitting business six years ago.

Before putting my name out publicly as a professional pet sitter I made sure that I joined PSI (Pet Sitters International), became a Certified Professional Pet Sitter, got insured, bonded and obtained a business license.  I also made sure that I became certified in Pet CPR/First Aid.

I recently updated my certification through Pet Tech by taking their thorough eight-hour long course.  The American Red Cross was where I initially became certified.  That particular course was good and taught the basics.  However, it was taught by a mature female instructor who had to start and stop several times and consult the same handbook she had given us when she forgot how to do stuff.  It was easy to drift off in that class and she at times, looked like she was sleeping with her eyes opened.  But many of the important bullet points I remembered.

One lovely summer day I was walking Zig.  We had barely started off on our walk when he kept biting at his front right paw.  I thought he had gotten a sticky-burr stuck in between his pads which happens often.  In that case, I just pull it out.  I bent down to check him out and a bee fell out from underneath his paw!  I looked at the bee and could see his stinger was missing.  

Several seconds after that, his leg started swelling up!  He was having an allergic reaction.  A long time ago I had purchased baby benadryl for my pet first aid kit.  I never had to use it but hoped it would still do the trick despite it's expired shelf life.  I got Zig back home right away, broke the benadryl in half, per my first aid training from the mature woman at the American Red Cross, and gave it to Zig with a treat.

I waited a few minutes and the swelling began to subside quickly.  I called the client right away to see if she wanted me to take him to the Vet to get checked out.  Ziggy was fine, had no trouble breathing and wasn't limping anymore.  She told me to go ahead and finish the walk and if anything didn't seem right when we got back home to give her a call.

All was well on our return after the walk.  The client was relieved and I felt grateful for having had the training I did at the time with the "eyes-wide shut" instructor.  And now Zig and I avoid bees like the plague.