Subject:
The necropsy report is in for Gentleman George...
(I have no idea what type of dog Gentleman George is but it could
probably happen to any breed.)
We were in a panic over Gentleman George's sudden death, with him
being so very young. He would have been three years old on the 11th
of next month. If the necropsy would have shown life threatening
or disabling genetic defects, his father would have been neutered immediately.
His mother is already spayed and is retired to a love filled life of bringing
smiles to children at the hospitals and youth centres, as well as seniors
at the various care facilities and centres.
Without going into to the technical jargon and long-winded explanations
from the formal necropsy report, I will just paraphrase and shorten the
jest of it all. Two wasps (rather their remains) were found in his stomach
and the tissue samples showed that when he swallowed them, they went down
fighting, as there were wasp stings in several places at the very back
of his tongue, down his throat all the way down his oesophagus. The
report states that anaphylactic shock from these wasp stings appears to
have brought on the chain reaction leading to heart failure. It was
also reported that the anaphylactic shock can cause the dog's body temperature
to spike very high, very quickly (his at time of death was 109 F), thus
leading to the stroke.
Dissection of heart, lungs and other major organs showed that they
were healthy and normal before the stings. This tragedy was so
hard for us to handle and we had to have answers. We had to know
why he stroked out and had heart failure so suddenly, when a little over
an hour before, he was silly, playful and romping about, as we were backing
the last items needed to take with us in the motor home.
PLEASE!!!! If any of you have access to
kennel club newsletters, web pages or any other means of communication
to help pass the WARNING along, PLEASE caution pet owners about how dangerous,
even deadly wasp and bee stings can be to our four legged family members.
But by all means... do all that is possible to protect your pets from
these small and deadly pests!
--------------
Two list members say
that they keep Benadryl to hand, to administer in the event of their pets
being stung.
If your dog has severe
allergies to bee stings or other things that might be commonly encountered
in places you take your dog, consider asking your vet about stocking your
first aid kit with medication that might be needed for that sort of special
emergency. Likewise, trackers and field trainers may want to consult their
vet about equipping their first aid kits with specific supplies to deal
with snake bites.
