if you’re out in the sticks and can’t get to a vet, have a look at this:
Marko: Always our pleasure and happy July 4th, Dr. Lee. Dr. Lee is nice enough to even do this on Independence Day, so thanks very much. So, I’m going to get right into the question and it’s a question on bee stings and the question is as follows. “Last night, my girl Currie was stung by several bees and went into anaphylactic shock. It was so scary. She could not breathe. Her face was swollen, her eyes closed, her underside and ears went bright pink and her gums very pale. I called the emergency vet and they told me to give her 25 mg of Benadryl every 6 hours (3 doses in total) and she was fine. I urge all of you to have that on hand as it saved her life. My husband is allergic to bees and we did have an EpiPen, but the dose was too strong for the dog, but you can get an EpiPen from the vet for dogs. I set my alarm for 3:30 a.m. for her second dose. We did not sleep all night. I was so worried about her, but this morning she was fine and ready to take on the day.” So, I guess Dr. Lee, I wonder if you could give us tips in general on bee stings for both cats and dogs. How important is it to be aware of this phenomenon that I’m sure occurs all the time?
Dr. Christopher Lee: Bee stings can range from being mild, painful irritant up to a life-threatening problem. The difficulty is that if the dog, cat or human is sensitive to the bee sting and has an allergic reaction. An anaphylactic reaction can kill dogs, cats or even humans with just as little as one sting. So, the problem with bee stings is that death and serious complication can arise from as little as one bee sting if the patient is sensitive to it. Also, multiple bee stings, you can have a level of venom inside of the patient, which can cause a serious problem. It can lead to heart problems such as [unintelligible], kidney problems, liver problems, and overall systemic reaction. While sometimes we can get one bee sting, it’s also not uncommon to have multiple bee stings. When a bee stings a dog or cat, they actually release enough pheromone that triggers other bees in the area to become more aggressive. Also, carbon dioxide and dark colors will enhance the aggressiveness of the bees. So, when you mix that all together, you can have quite a number of bee stings in a very short period of time. As far as treatment, Benadryl is important, but may not be the only thing that’s necessary. There are five proteins inside a bee venom and only one of them is going to be directly affected by the Benadryl. So, Benadryl is important, but certainly if the patient is having systemic reaction such as something above and beyond just the isolated sting type, a trip to the veterinarian may well be warranted. If the dog or cat is having anaphylactic reaction, death can occur usually within one hour, so getting the patient to the emergency hospital is important thing to do.
snipped at:
http://www.pets.ca/newsletter/pet-podcast-trans21.htm
Sorry about the duplicate posting of Vn_s’s info.
Hope all goes well for you and your dog.
Thank you. That’s what I was going to say. Having been stung by wasps several times and having a bad reaction, I’ve driven myself to the emergency room a couple of times. Once my arm was swelled up like a drum from a wasp sting. The next time I took no chances and went right to the emergency room.
The right animal or person can die from anaphylactic shock.
“An anaphylactic reaction can kill dogs, cats or even humans with just as little as one sting.”
Go to the vet right now.