The Nose Knows

Thank you everybody for all of your kind comments and emails, I really appreciate all the good thoughts and suggestions.  Everyone is OK here after all of our fun with wasps or hornets.  I am not sure which they are.  The first nest we tangled with may actually have been a tree nest that fell down, I have a brief impression of a paper nest as I was going over the top of it, but it is all a muddle and I didn't have time to go out today to check.  Whatever they were, they were very large (almost double the size of a honeybee), dark colored and downright mean. They were not yellow jackets or any other wasp I am familiar with.  The second nest that we hit must have been something even meaner though as this is what poor Emma's nose looks like today...

It's no wonder she wasn't breathing properly, this had to be extremely painful.  I guess all I can say is that I am glad we didn't all get multiple stings from this monster.  I think we might have all been in real trouble if we had.

I am going to put on my bee suit and go out and try to find this nest tomorrow and see what it will take to get rid of it.  M from NC had some good suggestions.  I generally avoid killing most insects as many of them are beneficial, but these have got to go.  They are too dangerous and too mean.

I am about 99% sure that Emma and Ramsey's reactions were from pain/fear/trauma and not an allergic reaction.  Especially after seeing what Emma's nose looks like.  The vet agrees with this, but that other little 1% has me, if not exactly worried, than wanting to be prepared for any emergency.  After all, the emergency you are prepared for never happens right?  So, I am going to keep a small dose of steroids on hand just in case.  I really don't think I will ever need it, but I would rather have it and never use it than not have it and need it.  I asked about giving Benedryl, but apparently it only works well in horses if given prior to the sting so that's out as there is no way to predict such a thing.

It turns out that two of my friends also had encounters with ground hornets this weekend.  Considering the time of year and the insane weather we have had, I guess it is no surprise.  The bees/wasps/hornets are at their peak population, but there is very little food available for them at the moment.  I think we all need to be on the look out for the next few weeks.

I sent yesterday's blog post to my vet and this is what I got back, as I said, everybody is having trouble with ground wasps/hornets lately:

Sounds like a VERY exciting day to say the least.  I would say that the reaction that Emma and Ramsay had was likely a post adrenaline rush combined with the pain of the stings.  I stepped on a ground hornets nest while hiking a few weeks ago and boy did they hurt - about 15 stings later on my legs and ankles, I felt pretty miserable and they hurt for a very long time.  The whole thing sounds pretty scary to them so their reaction would have been expected. As long as they are both doing well now, no need to worry and they are not at increased risk for anaphylactic reactions in the future.

Emma's odd breathing after her second sting makes a lot of sense considering how it looks today, it must have hurt to breath so she was holding her breath, trying not to.  I also know that donkeys talk to each other in sounds that are too low for humans to hear.  I can see this happen sometimes, usually when Emma is concerned about something and wants Ramsey to come to her immediately.  I see her nostrils move, but can't hear anything other than a tiny wuffle.  However, Ramsey (who may be a hundred feet away on the other side of a wall playing with a cone), instantly drops whatever he is doing and comes running to her on high alert with no games or nonsense.

I think that some of the odd breathing, grunting and snoring noises I heard yesterday were the donkeys talking about what had happened.  The equivalent of me sitting in the barn on the up-turned bucket, holding my stung ear and saying, "ahhh jeez, that was a bit much".  Ramsey in particular is quite vocal, in a quiet way.  He is always snoring, snuffling and squeaking at me, trying hard to tell me something.  I wish I could hear more of his conversation and understand what he is saying.  Maybe he is saying he wants an outfit like this:

http://www.treehugger.com/culture/honey-farmer-creates-beekeeping-suit-his-donkey.html

If it's not one wasp, it's another

The friend whose motorcycle picture I posted yesterday (who I shall call Forest Guy), showed up unexpectedly for a visit this afternoon and we decided to take my herd out for a ride/walk.  We had just gotten a little ways into the woods (on a trail that I both rode and walked on yesterday,) FG was on Tessa, I was leading Emma and Ramsey was loose.  He was on the trail about 30 feet behind Tessa and just in front of Emma and I.  He stopped to nibble a beech leaf directly above a seething mass of furious wasps whose nest Tessa had just unknowingly stepped on.  The air was suddenly filled with a boiling mass of psychotically angry wasps, panicking donkeys, flying hooves and me screaming run, run, RUN! 

We made it several hundred feet up the trail and thought we were safe, but soon there was again a cloud of wasps chasing Ramsey, the dark (bear-colored) shape that they had already scent marked with their stingers to attack again.  Ramsey took off back down the trail, veered off just before he hit the nest again and headed for home.  At the same time, I lost my grip on Emma's lead and she also  took off to escape the wasps, save her baby and get back to safety.  Tessa was getting a bit excited by now because her donkeys were completely freaking out, but was still clueless about why they were freaking out.  Good thing too as a completely freaked horse going bonkers and pitching FG into a tree would have been just a bit more chaos then is really warranted at any one time.

I tell FG to ride on fast, make sure the donkeys made it across the road and home safe and to get Tessa out of there ASAP.  I make my slow, ponderous way back to the barn and find everybody there.  Tessa, still looking a bit confused, but happy at all the fun.  Emma, clearly favoring her left hind and both donkeys looking a little shell-shocked.  Ramsey had been stung at least 6 times, Emma 2 or 3 and me 5 times. 

I reassure myself that Emma is favoring her leg because it got stung and not because she broke it in her mad-dash gallop.  Everyone looks OK and I set about offering comfort, reassurance and painkillers - those suckers hurt.  All seems fine for several minutes and then the fun really starts.

Both Ramsey and Emma start looking a bit off.  Ramsey in particular, is breathing funny, acting wobbly kneed and lethargic. The dopey donkey look...

Several of Ramsey's stings are in his neck, just over the jugular groove  I get ice packs and start thinking about where I might be able to find epinephrine in a hurry and knowing that every vet is at least an hour away even if they can come out.  I get the ice going and within minutes Ramsey snaps back and quickly is acting completely normal.  He is breathing right, bright-eyed and is his own self.  Emma also wakes up and seems fine.  I start relaxing just a bit and thinking that their reactions were more from pain and shock and not an allergic reaction.  But, I am not 100% sure. 

Another 20 minutes and both donkeys are acting fine, but irritated at the stings.  I start thinking that everything is OK and I really don't want to end our walk on such a bad note and it would be good for both donkeys if they were to move around.  It helps take the swelling down and alleviate pain.  We decide to just go out a little and see what happens.  Both donkeys perk up immedialty and are happy to be out.  we get across the road, they are a little nervous so I let them munch on their favorite beech leaves for a bit.  They relax and become happy and eager to move again, so we did.

We ended up having a great walk/ride, it wound up being Ramsey's longest walk yet.  His foot is doing well.

Unfortunately, we aren't quite done yet.  We were returning home (down the same path that Emma and Ramsey had used to escape the wasps earlier with Tessa and me following.  We all used the same path again on our way back out), everyone was happy and relaxed.  Tessa was again in the lead with Ramsey just behind her, Emma and I about 100 feet back.  We walk over a small log and Emma gets attacked by MORE wasps.

She didn't mess around this time, just took off, grabbed Ramsey on her way by and headed back home.   She got stung on her face and twenty minutes later, she was acting lethargic and breathing oddly.  She would breath very hard for a short time and then not breath at all for 40-50 seconds.  I called the vet. 

Of course, the long distance line to my main vet wouldn't work for some reason and I got an answering service at the other and had to wait for a call back.  Just minutes before the phone fianlly rang, Emma snapped back.  She shook her head, took a deep breath and moved into the barn for a drink and started nibbling hay.  She and Ramsey have been fine ever since.

I am really at a loss about this.  If it wasn't for the scary breathing thing, I would be inclined to think this is donkey reaction to extremely painful stings.  The vet I spoke with does not know me or my animals and he was very vague in that I-don't-want-to-get-sued way that vets so often use these days.  I will speak with my regular vets in the morning. 

Meanwhile, a question for all donkey owners out there, have you ever seen reactions like this to bee/hornet/wasp stings?  Is this a donkey thing or should I be freaking out about sting allergies?