Dog Ate a Wasp – What to Do Next

Dogs are curious animals and this can sometimes lead them to do silly things like eating a wasp. Here are the immediate steps you should take if your dog gets stung.

Monitor Your Dog Closely

First, I would give the vet a call and monitor your dog’s condition closely. The swelling should happen very quickly if your dog got stung by the wasp. This situation will get dangerous if the sting happens near the dog’s throat as the swelling could lead to asphyxiation. The vet will be able to give the appropriate advice and ask the dog to come in if necessary.

Give Your Dog Diphenhydramine

When you are calling the vet, ask if it is safe to give your dog a diphenhydramine like benadryl. The vet will also be able to give you the correct dosage to give to your dog in such a situation. Most first aid kits for dogs should come with this medication.

Benadryl can help your dog by alleviating the symptoms that may come with wasp stings such as swelling, coughing, and nasal discharge.

Remove the Wasp’s Sting

If your dog got stung somewhere along the body in the process of eating the wasp then there are steps to remove it safely. When you take the wasp’s stinger out of the dog’s body, it’s important to scrape it out. You can do this with a credit card.

First, make sure your dog has calmed down then gently scrape the credit card from one side to another until the stinger pops out. It’s important to not pinch the wasp’s sting as this could cause more of the venom to enter the dog’s blood stream.

How to Stop a Dog from Eating Wasps

What if it is a repetitive behavior where your dog is eating the wasps time and time again. There might be situations like this when your dog might not seem the brightness. Our suggestion for this would be to teach your dog the leave it command. This is an important safety command that can be used for a variety of situations.

One training method for the leave it command is do the following: 1) place a few treats along the floor 2) leash your dog then let your dog see the treats on the floor 3) walk past the treats with your leashed dog while saying the command “leave it” 4) if your dog successfully walks past the treats without making an attempt then reward him with a treat and plenty of praises.