It is possible he had it coming...

Oh, Haskell.

What to do about Haskell?

(Or, as Banner calls him, "A$$ Cow".)

Outside of being hit by a car (before I found and adopted him), and a couple of accidents along the way; Haskell has always been my easy keeper.  He maintains his weight eating less kibble than his sisters, loves to wear costumes and coats and is the BEST behaved dog at a party.  Especially when wearing a red bow tie.

He is patient with Banner.  Although, when he has had enough, Haskell has no problems with relocating to the child-free safety of the dog run...much to Banner's chagrin ("A$$ Cow!  Wheer ah oooo?  A$$ Cow!  Inside!  Now, A$$ Cow!...Peas?").

Sure, there are times when Haskell is annoying.  Like when he ate TWO ENTIRE HOMEMADE DESSERTS made by my brother last year, and didn't suffer at all.  Not even slight intestinal distress.

(Not that I was hoping for my dog to be sick or in pain.  Trevor, on the other hand, was really looking forward to all those slices of angel food cake and gingerbread brownies.  A little bit of indigestion on Haskell's part would have made Trevor feel a whole lot better about the situation.)

And then last week when we had people over for slow cooker tortilla soup that had been simmering for  ten hours in the kitchen.  Don't get me wrong.  The soup was fabulous (as it always is when Trevor makes it), but it would have been even better if Haskell hadn't stolen the FOUR AVOCADOS off the island, gently pealed them in the dog run, ate the good part and left a pile of skin and seeds behind a potted plant.  Just like the desserts, we knew it was all Haskell, too.  Because Gypsy and Alley simply think about eating something other than kibble, and get the runs.  Haskell, on the other hand, stomach of steel.  

It is obnoxious, really.

So, imagine our surprise when we arrived home from date night Thursday to discover Haskell's face was swollen up like a Shar Pei.  Other than looking ridiculous with lips that weighed at least ten times more than usual, Haskell was fine.  No difficulty breathing, no tummy upset, drinking/eating normally, no mouth sores, bad breath or broken teeth.  Granted, he didn't seem overjoyed with my poking his face, but that probably had more to do with annoyance (and the fact he was trying to go to sleep) than pain.

Rather than rush him to the emergency vet, we decided to wait and see.  The next morning, his face was slightly less swollen, and by the time we got home from work he was all better.

Still no idea what caused his head to swell, but I'm guessing it was an allergic reaction to…something.  Maybe a bug or spider bite?  We will probably never know, but it safe to assume it wasn't anything stolen from the kitchen.  At least not this time.

Poor swollen-headed, big-lipped A$$ Cow.