Wasp 1 - Max 0

Yesterday there were a bunch of wasps buzzing around my weeping pussywillow tree. Max was interested in both the tree and the wasps and the inevitable happened. He ate one - whether he tried to catch it or it just flew into his open mouth I'm not sure. I realized right away and he tried to spit it out but couldn't. I gave him an ice cube (which is usually a pretty high value treat) but he ignored it. I couldn't see any swelling and he wasn't having trouble breathing but he was definitely NOT himself. When he didn't touch his supper I knew something was really wrong so I called the emergency vet line. He met us in the clinic, gave Max an antihistamine and a steroid shot and was just examining him one last time when he noticed the stinger was still in his tongue (it hadn't been visible before to either of us). Between the vet, hubby, me, and the vet tech who just happened to pop in to pick something up we finally managed to get the stinger out. Max perked up visibly so I made the mistake of letting him have supper. Within a couple of hours he was vomiting. He vomited four times over two hours before he stopped. Not sure if that was a reaction to the drugs or the venom. Anyway he woke up this morning (of course I slept with him last night) acting fairly perky so I gave him half rations for breakfast and so far so good. I hope he has learned his lesson. I have no idea where the wasps came from anyway because we don't usually see them until late August/September. I'm allergic as well so if they continue to swarm the willow it will be bye bye tree.

Poor little fella, hopefully he'll learn his lesson. Must keep an eye out for this Holly's always chasing wasps and bees around the garden now summers coming.

this has given me nasty flashbacks! the same thing happened to me years ago at a friends BBQ i was drinking out of a can,next thing wot the..i was running up & down with my tongue out going argh whilst everyone laughed themselves silly. the sting was still in but luckily a friend got it out with her fingernails.we rang the hospital& they said if my throat closed up to go in it hurt like blue blazes! went home & spent the rest of the night in pain with a iced lolly in my mouth.
i hope Max feels better soon-he has my sympathies!!

He was feeling good enough today to try and eat stones and try and "help" me plant my garden :bang: Hopefully that doesn't become a habit and is only because I'm trying to starve him to death (his words) today. I bought a wind chime and put it beside the willow tree. He's not at all fond of our large wind chime so I'm hoping that will dull his curiosity.

My BIL did exactly what you did tupup. He was a hurting cowboy for awhile.

Glad to hear Max is getting back to normal

There is a homeopathic remedy called Apis, which is made from bees and is really good if you have a reaction to a wasp or bee sting. You can probably get it in health food shops - follow the instructions on the packet.

Glad to hear that Max is alright, I have to watch Jasper with bees, he trys to run and snap at them, he went for one yesterday, luckily I was out in the garden at the time and saw what he was doing, silly boy.

We've had 2 wasps in the house - both quite dopey, like they usually are at the other end of summer. I'm not sure where they've come from. One was on the window sill, and I was really glad I'd taught both dogs to "leave it" and "wait" on command as I killed it and disposed of it. The other was found by my OH in that same area the next day, it was on his shoe, and as he went to pick the shoe up, the wasp stung him. Luckily I always have piriton in the house for Maddie, so gave OH a tablet, and rubbed on some anti-histamine cream. He made a huge fuss (but I guess wasp stings hurt.) but calmed down after a little while. :badgrin:

LOL at your dh - I can vouch for the fact that wasp stings do hurt! Max never yelped which is why I questioned at first if he had even been stung.

I've never seen them here before late August so I'm not sure what's up with these guys. I did go out and buy some benadryl - I keep it on hand for myself but noticed it was nearly 2 years out of date. I think we couldn't really see the stinger until the antihistamine shot started to work. Although his tongue and mouth weren't greatly swollen there must have been some swelling.