Heatwave: how do you and your pets keep cool?

You have a point Patrick our cat lived for 20 years because it was not stupid in hot weather it lay upside down legs apart in seeming “Ecstasy ” . I have found it hard to find a stupid cat they all seem to know what you are thinking , your state of health etc . Your right about dogs. In cold weather you couldn’t prise our cat out of my wife’s lap or out of my wife,s side in bed ,my wife bought one of those lambswool hammocks that attach to radiators –it liked that .

I just leave upstairs windows open at night and have no problem sleeping. In warm weather I sleep under a quilt cover. The duvet was washed and put in storage a couple of months ago.

I used to have a fan in my office at work because it had three large windows and did become very hot in summer, despite the windows being open and blinds down. I quite liked working at home in hot weather.

They won’t be allowed in after Brexit.

You can easily disturb a nest. I was suddenly aware of whizzing shapes followed by a couple of stings on one ear while emptying a compost heap last week. Only wasps, and I then saw the wonderful papery structure that they were building in the depths of the vegetation. I really couldn’t blame them as I was destroying their house. I went in crying to mrs r and she administered cider vinegar to the ear which rapidly recovered.

Ian didn’t post his post for amusement BUT—- American 50,s cold war advert–Duck + Cover -crouch low on the ground and cover your head —Russians are excited by nukes exploding in the Soviet Union –dont provoke – MAD is guaranteed . Eradication of both the West+ Russia is guaranteed.

Nasty, Malcolm. You were lucky to get away with just a couple of stings.

Interesting, I haven’t hear of Giant Asian Hornets before so thanks Ian for bringing them to our attention. I had to look them up so thought a couple of images might be appropriate:

We had a hornet in the house a few weeks ago, definitely not an Asian one. It was safely directed out of a window. We have always had them around here but they have never been a problem.

These photos could do with a scale added, Alfa, but they are not called GIANT without reason.

Here is some information about insect bits and stings, how to treat them: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/insect-bites-and-stings/ It’s worth having antihistamine cream handy.

“Asian giant hornet
Vespa mandarinia japonica2.jpg
The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia), including the subspecies Japanese giant hornet (V. m. japonica),[2] colloquially known as the yak-killer hornet,[3] is the world’s largest hornet, native to temperate and tropical Eastern Asia. They prefer to live in low mountains and forests, while almost completely avoiding plains and high-altitude climates. V. mandarinia creates nests by digging, co-opting pre-existing tunnels dug by rodents, or occupying spaces near rotted pine roots.[4] It feeds primarily on larger insects, colonies of other eusocial insects, tree sap, and honey from honey bee colonies.[5] Some dimensions of this hornet are a body length of 45 mm (1.8 in), a wingspan around 75 mm (3.0 in), and stinger length of 6 mm (0.24 in) which injects a large amount of potent venom.[6]

The Asian giant hornet is sometimes confused with the yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina), also known as the Asian hornet, an invasive species of major concern across Europe, including the UK.” Wiki
Asian Giant Hornet

Yellow legged hornet

Might be an idea to consider ticks and the issues related to them, Lyme being perhaps the most worrying. Dealing with wasp nests is also a useful topic and perhaps keeping bees could be very useful.

Raising awareness of common problems and providing up to date advice would be useful. Some of the advice online is not very good and treatment for bites and stings is not all up to date.

“ NHS advice – avoid home remedies such as….vinegar….” Well, perhaps it was coincidental, but when mrs r gently massaged my ear with vinegar (cider, but no doubt others would do – maybe balsamic for the Italian Vespa) the pain and irritation from double wasp stings rapidly disappeared.

I think for bee stings the remedy was bicarbonate of soda, but I have not suffered a bee sting since I was rwo, when exploring our lawn I spotted this big yellow and black friend and picked it up to examine it more closely.

Massaging a bite or sting will help reduce the pain but it really needs to be done with an alcohol-soaked swab to minimise the risk of infection. Covering with a dressing can help avoid the risk of infection. We naturally scratch itchy skin and it’s not a good idea.

Bees leave their stings behind (and die as a result), so its important to remove them promptly to avoid more of their venom entering the wound.

When I was young the advice was to put oil or butter on burns and I have no doubt that this advice is still used. I presume that current advice is to use cold water until the pain stops.