What to Do if Your Dog Is Stung by a Bee

What to Do if Your Dog is Stung by a Bee

Dogs are very curious by nature when it comes to exploring outdoors. Especially during spring and summer seasons, your dog may experience a bee stung. As in general, they do not get stung by a bee but when they do it might be very unpleasant experience for your dog as well as yourself.

You must be thinking, what you should do if your dog gets stung by a bee, this post will help you identify the symptoms of a bee sting, home remedies and time when you really need to consult a veterinarian.

How to Keep Your Dog Safe and Prevent Bee Stings

It's very common for your dog to get stung by a bee during spring and summer season. During spring and summer season, bees are more active collecting nectar from the flowers.

Do not take it wrong way as a threat, and do not stop taking your dog outdoors. You should always let your dog sniff on their walk. Instead of restricting your dog you should implement certain precautions to reduce the likelihood of unexpected encounter with bees.

You must quickly check the area to avoid your dog's unexpected encounter with a bee.

Usually dogs tend to get attracted by sweet smelling bee hives. Try to keep your dog away from bee hives when you go out for a walk or outdoor play.

Do not play or walk through areas full of flowers. It's very likely that bees are in the flowering area during spring and summer season.

Avoid wearing dark bright clothes during hike. Honey bees tend to get attracted by bright colors.

Always keep your dog on a leash to get better control. It will help you pull your dog away from the vulnerable areas during outdoor fun.

Try to take your dog out during morning or after dark. Usually bees are more active during late mornings and early evenings.

Consider to apply bug spray made for dogs. Do not use human bug spray on your furry friend. Check out bug sprays especially formulated for dogs. 

 

Signs Your Dog has Been Stung by a Bee

It is not easy to find a bee stung on your dog body. Especially if your dog got stung in furry area. You may not be able to spot the stung easily.

Notice sudden change in your dog behavior, such as yelping, touching face with paw or biting the same area over and over.

Try to calm down your dog and check the area on dog skin. Usually bee sting is a small swollen red color area. Be careful, it is painful to your dog.

 

What to Do if Your Dog Gets Stung by a Bee

It is very important to inspect and determine whether your dog's bee stung is treatable at home or you really need to consult veterinarian.

If you notice following then you must consider to visit vet.

You must consider to take your dog to vet if you notice stung on nose, in the ear, in the mouth, near eye or poop area. It is always good to get it checked by veterinarian to make sure everything is fine.

If your dog has multiple stung on body then it will be very uncomfortable and painful for your pet. Also, multiple stung might give allergic reaction to your dog.

Overall, bee stung symptoms can be mild to severe. You have to check and determine the symptoms.

Symptoms of a mild reaction
Mild reactions can be treated at home. Mild reaction symptoms are as below

• Swelling
• Red in color
• Itchy
• Painful for your pet

Symptoms of moderate reaction
Moderate reaction needs close monitoring and an advice from a veterinarian. Make sure to check if your dog has following moderate reactions.

• Swelling that gets spread gradually.
• Lazy and Lethargic behavior
• Loss of appetite.

Symptoms of sever reaction
A severe reaction can be dangerous for your dog. If you see any of following symptoms of sever reaction then you must take your dog to veterinarian.

• If you notice swelling around the head and neck, that cause difficulty in breathing for your dog. Sometimes swelling around neck might affect airway.
• Swelling in neck might make your dog drooling a lot. It is an indication that your dog has trouble swallowing.
• Vomiting or diarrhea
• Seizures
• Sudden change in behavior such as aggression due to pain, trouble breathing or uncontrollable itching.

Once you take your dog to vet, you are assured that they will take care of your furry friend with appropriate treatment.

But, in case of mild or moderate reaction you might want to do some home remedies to help your dog relax and recover.

 

Home Remedies

Remove Stinger - It is recommend to try to find and remove stinger from the skin by scrapping with the help of small card. Try not to use tweezer as it might inject more venom from the stinger into the skin.

Soothe the sting - Baking soda paste made with water help soothe the sting. Also you can use ice pack to the swollen area to reduce swelling and pain.

If needed find a way so that your dog doesn't scratch the area.

Consider to give your dog water and soft food to make it easier for your dog to chew and swallow.

Consult your vet to check if it is ok to give Benadryl to your dog. Do not give any medications without consulting vet.

Oatmeal bath will help if your dog has multiple stings on body. It is recommended to add one cup of plain oatmeal powder in a bath tub full of lukewarm water. Let your dog soak for 10-15 minutes and then rinse thoroughly. Also, It's always good to train your new dog for bath at home. It helps during unexpected situation like this. 

Outdoor play with your dog is always a fun for both of you and your dog. But, by following basic precaution you can avoid bee sting.

Hope this guide will help you tackle unexpected situation if your dog is stung by a bee.