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Wasps Can
Kill
CANINE HEALTH INFORMATION
It is an increasingly dangerous world we live in. Scary movies are box office hits and newspapers shriek headlines meant to set off alarms and draw the reader in. People quite naturally become saturated with this sort of nonsense but in this case, being aware of risks can save your dog or your child's life. Some things are just too deadly to use or have near kids and pets. |
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WARNING! The
family was getting ready for a weekend outing when it happened. The
puppy was romping about, getting in the way, and like the children,
excited about going. Suddenly
he was sick. Within a few
minutes, he was staggering, frothing, eyes glazed. They
jumped into the half-packed car and sped to the emergency clinic. Too late. The
puppy died within minutes of their arrival.
As the family struggled to cope with the shock, the puzzled vet
asked if he could perform an autopsy.
The father, holding his little girl, nodded affirmatively. In
addition to a couple of stings on the puppy’s face, three wasps were
found in the his stomach. They
did not go willingly for there were also lesions evident on the tongue and
in the back of the throat. The
vet explained that anaphylactic shock occurred as a result of the stings,
possibly before the puppy swallowed them.
He may have bitten at the wasps as they stung him or he may have
just thought it great fun to catch the things.
They will never know how he came to ingest the wasps but the stings
brought on anaphylactic shock which led to heart failure. Anaphylactic
shock can cause fatal temperature spiking and other almost instantaneous
effects. It has nothing to do
with being allergic to bee stings. The
puppy died as surely as if he had been shot or run over. The
mother remembered treating her son for a wasp sting.
He had been playing in the muddy soil caused by a leaking gutter.
When they checked later, they found a huge wasp nest high up under
the eaves. There
have been over 1,000 confirmed human fatalities resulting from attacks by
killer bees. The wasps did
not appear to have attacked in great numbers and thus the incident could
have gone unnoticed. Had the
family not been right there with him, he would have just been found dead
and chances are, no accurate cause of death would have been established. Check
your home this summer. If you
have outside kennels, be especially watchful.
Safely destroy and dispose of all nests, even the “dirt-dobber”
variety so that your dog does not fall victim to a preventable accident. |
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