I have a 5 month old cocker who has been stung by a wasp about 5 mins ago on the top of his nose, he seems ok but he is unusually quiet and quite sleepy, his muzzle has swollen already, but he is breathing normally, do I need to contact a vet?

Hiya
If you've got no Piriton in the house, I've previously read on here...if its a wasp sting, use neat vinegar. If it was a bee sting, rub a bicarbonate of soda paste on it.

HTHs
Jo
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I've got a cocker pup who I have given piriton to.  You can get it off the shelves in the supermarket but it does make them sleepy for the rest of the day!

I've also picked all the fallen apples up from the garden to try and discourage wasps.

Thankyou so much for your replies, he seems to have picked up a bit now so maybe he was in a bit of shock - poor baby :-(  I'm off to get some piriton now so thankyou again your help was very much appreciated :-)

Really pleased he's OK, and its a good excuse to spoil him more than usual too ;)
Jo
x

I have heard od putting an onion on it, and I was stung last summer (no help to my mother inlaw lol :D She hit the wasp and it landed on my lip and stung me a good one) and we put a raw cut onion on it and it brought the swelling down to almost nothing :)  Do hope the lil one is ok

Bailey is just fine now thankyou, he woke after a looooooong sleep right as rain, the swelling had gone right down and he was ready to play again with his big brother Blue :-)

I am a terrible worrier and when I saw how swollen his face was in such a short space of time I just panicked!!! :-o And the information I got off the net didn't help - 'any stings around the nose or mouth could cause breathing difficulties contact vet asap!!' I'm so glad I have my forum's as you all calmed me down and were right, a little piriton and he was back to normal ;-)

Glad to hear Bailey is his normal self again :-)

One point to mention tho' - just keep an eye on him if he gets stung again.  Some dogs (just like us poor old humans) can develop a severe allergic reaction to wasp stings (snakes ;-) )  The initial sting or whatever causes symptoms - as it would in any dog - such as Bailey suffered but a subsequent one can cause a much more severe reaction which would need the piriton or similar drug to be injected into the dog to react more quickly.  I've known two dogs (out of 100's so don't be too alarmed!!!!) who have only survived going into "shock" by prompt veterinary intervention.

If you carry some Apis Mel 30c (homoeopathic treatment available over the counter in the chemist etc) this will help in all cases of stings eg wasps, bees etc.

Of course ALL animals including humans can go into anyphylactic shock due to an allergic response to a sting, nuts, whatever, however fortunately this is rare.

Glad to hear all is better :)