Possible Yellow Jacket Sting...HELP!!

[Rianna]

I posted this in non life threatening but was advised to post it here as well...


I walked to the patio to check on Hope earlier and she was sitting on her little corner shelf. I noticed immediately that she was favoring her front paw. I brought her inside and saw that it's swollen pretty good and trying not to put any weight on it. She did hold her food and had a snack after I brought her in. I picked her up and examined it and didn't see any signs of injury other than the swelling. I gently mashed each toe and all around her "wrist" area and she didn't flinch.

We are being invaded by yellow jackets and there was at least 2 that had somehow managed to squeeze through the wire and get in there with her.

If it was a yellow jacket sting, will the poison hurt Hope????? Right now, she is curled up in her bed inside and sleeping. She cleaned her paw several times before curling up.

Please, any advice on what I need to do. I am a mess!!!

[CritterMom]

I would keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't swell too much. Children's Benadryl can be given if she has problems. You may want to get some just in case. Watch her breathing. I would need an approximate weight to dose if you decide she needs it.

[Rianna]

Thanks! She's sleeping in a position that makes it impossible for me to see what the swelling is doing.
Her breathing looks normal. I guess I'm a bad Mommy because I've never paid that much attention to normal breathing:( She's not having trouble breathing, I do know that.
I don't have any way to weigh her either. Gosh, how horrible am I??!!

Should I wake her and check the swelling or just leave her quiet right now??

[Rianna]

p.s. I'm not 100% sure it's from a sting. She had been playing for about 2 hours before this occured so she could have injured it climbing. I don't know what really happened.

[CritterMom]

If she was going to have an allergic reaction it would have happened already. Let her sleep. She may have just hurt it playing. You can look more closely when she wakes up.

[Rianna]

Thanks for your help!! I couldn't stand it any longer and woke her up. I gently blew on her tail and she sat up and looked at me like "what?" I could see she had her paw tucked and couldn't see well enough to say what the swelling looked like. I could see her "wrist" and it still looked swollen.
I'm going to let her sleep and stay off of it as long as she will. Hopefully the swelling will go down while she sleeps.

Thank you so much for putting me at ease. I've been to the point of running to the bathroom to throw up:( Haven't done it yet so now maybe that will go away now! My kiddos are like real children to me...when they hurt, I get sick with worry:(

[Rianna]

Hope just woke up and was anxious to go back outside. The swelling is almost gone and she is putting full weight on it!! :jump

:thankyou to SammysMom and CritterMom!! :Love_Icon

Admin...please move this if need be:)

[mpetys]

Oh this is good news! I'm glad she is feeling well enough to want to go outside!

[SammysMom]

Yeah!!! Good job Mom! I laughed so hard about you blowing on her tail to wake her...:jump

[Rianna]

Yeah!!! Good job Mom! I laughed so hard about you blowing on her tail to wake her...:jump

Well...did you think I was gonna stick my hand up in her blankie and draw back a nub??? :rotfl Now you've got ME to laughing!!

She stayed out for a while and was running and playing. It's so hot here that I've got a ceiling fan and two floor fans going on the patio. The two floor fans are aimed directly at her. She's got a fresh pan of dirt to play in and when I walked out to check on her, she was pancaking in it:)
Ok, so I said she stayed out for a while, didn't I? We just had a pretty good thunderstorm come through with lightning and heavy thunder, so I asked her if she wanted to come inside, she jumped to the door and answered, "yes, ma'am...NOW" lol Both my girls are super spoiled!!

She's grooming one of her stuffies right now so she's good to go:)



mpetys...me too!!! I was frantic!!!!