Can pets be seriously harmed by wasps and red ants?

You may never consider that you need to control wasps and red ants because they can be a potential deadly threat to your pets. Due to the curious nature of pets, insect bites can be more dangerous to pets than people. Pets can carelessly chase a wasp, or accidentally trample through an ants nest, leading to a big problem. While a single insect sting or bite is painful to our pets, more than one sting or one inside the mouth can quickly become dangerous.

Some pets are highly allergic to certain insect stings. A severe allergic reaction could be deadly to a pet, causing breathing difficulties and swelling. If a stinger is present in your pet, do your best to remove it. Avoid using tweezers as this can force more venom out. If there isn’t a stinger you may be dealing with a wasp sting. Multiple stings from a wasp can cause organ damage and death.

Fire ants are most attracted to pet food, so make sure that you don’t leave any food out after meal times. If you see your pet being bitten, carefully brush off the fire ants with a gloved hand. Trying to remove the ants too hastily will aggravate them even more, and incite even more biting. Multiple bites most certainly require veterinary attention and treatment. If you have a small dog or cat, even one bite can be dangerous so it is necessary to get them checked over by a veterinary professional immediately.

To minimise the threat of wasps and ants, routinely monitor your garden for hives, nests and ant beds, and keep your pets away from flower beds which wasps favour. Any that you find will need to be eradicated by pest professionally by a pest control expert in a way that is harmless to your pets.