A delivery of firewood brings more than wood into a yard. Through September and October a stack is a favourite nesting site for yellowjackets, which are at their most aggressive in autumn, and a sting inside the mouth or a face that swells fast needs seeing immediately. The pile also brings rodents, damp and splinters.
Why autumn is the wrong season to be relaxed about it
Firewood arrives in late summer and early autumn so it can season before it is burned. That timing puts a new, interesting, climbable structure in the yard at the same moment two other things are happening.
Yellowjacket colonies peak in late summer and then run out of work. The queen stops laying, the larvae the workers were feeding are gone, and a few thousand wasps switch from hunting protein to seeking sugar, with nothing to do and a short temper. Through September and October they are more likely to sting with less provocation than at any other point in the year.
At the same time rodents are moving indoors, and a woodpile is the ideal waypoint: dry, sheltered, full of gaps, and usually stacked against a wall that leads somewhere warmer.
Wasps: the part that can be an emergency
A nest in a woodpile is often invisible until a dog noses into a gap or someone pulls out a log. What follows is rarely a single sting, because yellowjackets sting repeatedly and recruit.
Most stings are painful and unremarkable: a swelling, some licking, a dog who is sorry for themselves for an afternoon. Three situations are not.
A sting in the mouth or throat. Dogs snap at wasps, which is how this happens. Swelling inside the mouth or at the back of the throat can narrow the airway, and that is the one that needs to be moving towards us immediately. Watch for drooling, gagging, pawing at the mouth, a changed bark, noisy breathing or obvious distress.
A severe whole-body reaction. This develops within minutes to an hour and does not depend on how many stings there were. Signs are a face or muzzle swelling quickly, hives spreading over the body, vomiting or diarrhea, pale gums, weakness, collapse, or breathing that becomes fast and effortful. Go now.
Many stings at once. A dog who disturbs a nest and takes a lot of stings needs checking, and how many counts as a lot depends on their size: a dozen on a small dog or a cat is a very different load from a dozen on a large one. Two things can follow, a severe allergic reaction and a drop in blood pressure during one that strains the kidneys, and the effects on the kidneys and on red blood cells can show up over the following days rather than that evening. Phone us with a rough sting count and your dog’s weight even if they seem fine.
What to do: get away from the area first, because standing still to help means more stings for both of you. Do not try to squeeze or scrape at a yellowjacket sting the way you would a bee sting, because yellowjackets rarely leave the sting behind. Use a cold pack wrapped in a cloth on a simple local swelling. Give nothing from a cabinet or a cupboard, including anything you have at home for yourself or left over from another animal. Phone us and describe what you are seeing.
What else lives in the pile
Rodents, and whatever was put down for them. A woodpile is a reliable rodent shelter, and a cat who hunts there is hunting where bait is most likely to have been placed. If you or a neighbour has used any rodent product, keep the packaging, because the active ingredient determines everything about what happens next. If you have seen your pet eat bait, or you find bait that has been chewed, phone us straight away with the packaging in your hand and do not wait for them to look unwell: with these products the signs run days behind the exposure, and the early window is the one worth using. Pale gums, unusual tiredness, breathlessness or unexplained bruising in a hunting cat is a same-day visit.
The rotting heap beside the woodpile. A dog who chews damp bark is most likely to swallow splinters, but the pile of rotting leaves, fallen fruit or yard waste that usually sits next to a woodpile is a genuine source of mould by-products that set off tremors and fits, usually inside the first hour or two. A dog who has been in that and has started shaking or twitching needs to be on the way here, not under observation at home.
Splinters and bark fragments. The most likely injury by a wide margin, and the least dramatic. Splinters in a pad, between the toes or in the mouth from carrying a log, and bark dust in the eyes. A splinter that has gone in deep is better removed properly than dug at, because a fragment left behind becomes an abscess a week later. An eye needs a lower threshold than a paw: do not let your dog rub it, put nothing in it, and if they are squinting, holding it shut or streaming an hour later, phone us the same day, because a scratched cornea goes downhill quickly.
Sap and pitch. Cedar and fir pitch sets hard in a coat and in the fur between the toes, and it pulls the skin. Soften it with a cooking oil or a dab of petroleum jelly, work it out gently, then wash with a mild dish soap. Do not use solvents, mineral spirits or nail polish remover on an animal.
Spiders. Worth mentioning only to put it in proportion. The spiders in a North Shore woodpile are not a meaningful danger to a dog or a cat, and bites are rare and almost always minor. The wasps are the real concern.
The stack itself. A tall, unsupported pile on soft ground topples, and a few hundred kilos of wood coming down on a dog sleeping in the shade of it is a crush injury. Logs also roll off the top when the bottom shifts. A dog who has had a stack come down on them needs seeing the same day even if they get up and walk it off, because chest and abdominal injuries from a crushing weight are routinely worse underneath than anything you can see. Keep them quiet rather than walking it off, and phone us on the way.
Raccoons and skunks. Both will den in or behind a large stack for the winter, which gives you a confrontation waiting to happen every time the dog goes out after dark. If there has been contact, phone us the same day. Raccoon bites and scratches are deep punctures that close over the top and build into an abscess a few days later, so they need looking at even when they seem minor. If your dog takes skunk spray to the face, flush the eyes with plain water or saline for several minutes and phone us, particularly if any was swallowed.
What not to burn, because the smoke matters
Burning painted, varnished, pressure-preserved or glued wood produces smoke carrying compounds that irritate airways, and pets sitting near a stove are closer to it for longer than anyone else in the room. Railway ties soaked in creosote are in the same category and should never go in a stove. Construction scraps, old fence panels, particle board and pallets all belong in the yard waste, not the firebox.
Burn clean, dry, seasoned wood only. Damp wood smoulders instead of burning and produces far more smoke, which is worth knowing for a household with an older cat or any animal with an airway problem.
Birds are extremely sensitive to smoke of any kind. Cats are worth watching closely too, because smoke is a known trigger for feline asthma and a cat who already has an airway problem may react before anyone else in the house does. Coughing, fast or effortful breathing, or a pet who will not settle after an evening by a smoky stove means come in rather than wait, because airway irritation can build for some hours after the exposure.
Stacking it so none of this happens
- Keep the stack off the ground and away from the house. A rack or pallets with an air gap underneath, and a metre or more from any wall. Wood stacked against siding is a rodent bridge into the building.
- Cover the top, not the sides. A tarp over the whole pile traps moisture and grows the mould. Cover the top and let the sides breathe.
- Check for nests before the dog goes near a new delivery, in daylight, from a distance. Watch for steady traffic in and out of one spot for a minute.
- Deal with a nest at dusk or after dark when the colony is inside and slow, or have someone do it. Keep pets indoors for the rest of the evening and the following morning.
- Fence the pile off or put it where the dog does not go. The single most effective change, and it covers the wasps, the rodents and the collapse risk at once.
- Stack no higher than it is stable, on level ground, and do not let a dog sleep against it.
- Sweep up bark and chips where you split and carry wood. That is where the splinters and the mouldy fragments collect.
- Block the gaps behind and under it before winter if it is a permanent stack, so nothing dens there.
Come in through our emergency care for a sting in the mouth, a face that is swelling, or a dog who is tremoring. Our diagnostics team checks kidney values and red cell counts after multiple stings, and with that one a second set of samples a day or two later is the check that matters most, because a delayed problem usually shows up there. Tell us if your dog goes off food, drinks or urinates noticeably more, or looks pale or tired later in the week. Our medical services team handles splinter removal, wound care and the recheck, and our wellness programs are where parasite control for a cat who hunts around a woodpile is worth sorting out in advance.
We are open 8:00 AM to 1:00 AM Monday to Friday, and 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. Weekdays that covers almost the whole day, so most yard incidents fall inside it. The gap to plan around is the weekend, because we close at five on both Saturday and Sunday and most wood gets stacked and split on weekends. If your dog is stung in the mouth at six on a Sunday, or a face starts swelling fast at any hour we are shut, go straight to the nearest open emergency hospital and have a passenger call ahead. An airway that is narrowing does not wait.
Our guide to bears in autumn covers the other reason to think about what is stored in a North Shore yard at this time of year.
Questions we are asked
My dog was stung once on the leg and the swelling is the size of a golf ball. Is that normal?
A local swelling around a single sting is a normal reaction and usually settles over a day or two. A cold pack wrapped in a cloth helps, and so does stopping your dog licking it. Two things change the answer: if the swelling is on the face or inside the mouth, or if it is spreading fast, set off now and phone us from the road. Phone us if it keeps spreading slowly rather than settling, if hives appear elsewhere on the body, or if your dog becomes weak, vomits or seems breathless. Give nothing by mouth from home.
How quickly does a serious reaction happen?
Usually within minutes to an hour, and that is why the first hour is the one to spend paying attention rather than tidying up the woodpile. The pattern to recognize is swelling that spreads beyond the sting site, hives, vomiting, pale gums, weakness or laboured breathing. If you see those, set off and phone from the road. Waiting to see whether it settles is the wrong call with this one.
My dog snapped at a wasp and I think he swallowed it.
Phone us now and describe how he is. A sting inside the mouth or at the back of the throat is the version of this that can narrow an airway, and the swelling develops over minutes rather than hours. Drooling, gagging, a changed bark, noisy breathing or pawing at the mouth all mean come in immediately. If we are closed, go straight to the nearest open emergency hospital.
He got into a nest and took a lot of stings but that was yesterday and he seems alright.
Please book him in today anyway. With many stings at once the venom load itself is the problem, separate from any allergic reaction, and the effects on the kidneys and red blood cells typically appear over one to three days rather than immediately. A set of bloodwork now and again in a couple of days is the sensible way to handle it, and if everything is normal you have lost nothing.
Is a woodpile really a rodent problem if I only keep a small stack?
A small stack is a smaller problem, not a different one. What matters more than size is whether it sits on the ground and whether it touches the house. A hand’s width of air underneath on a rack or pallets, and a metre of gap from the wall, removes most of the appeal, and it seasons the wood better too. A small pile against the siding is worse than a large one on a rack in the open.
Can I soften pitch out of my dog’s paw fur myself?
Yes, and it is usually straightforward. Work a little cooking oil or petroleum jelly into it, leave it a few minutes to soften, ease it out with your fingers rather than pulling, then wash with warm water and a mild dish soap. What not to use is any solvent, mineral spirits, turpentine or nail polish remover, all of which are absorbed through skin and cause their own problems. If the pitch is matted tight against the skin or your dog will not let you near it, let us do it.
My cat sleeps on top of the woodpile. Should I stop her?
It is worth discouraging, mainly because of what is underneath her. A pile that holds a wasp nest, hosts rodents or shifts under her weight is not a good bed, and a cat sleeping there is also a cat hunting there. Giving her a sheltered box somewhere else in the yard usually solves it, since what she is after is a dry spot out of the wind.
Speak to the team at Norgate Animal Hospital
If your pet has been stung in the mouth, has a face that is swelling, has taken many stings at once, or is tremoring after chewing damp bark, phone us and come in. Outside our hours, go to the nearest open emergency hospital and have a passenger call ahead.
Published by the team at Norgate Animal Hospital.
This article is educational in nature and is not a replacement for hands-on assessment of your own pet by a veterinarian.
Norgate Animal Hospital
1435 Marine Dr, North Vancouver, BC V7P 1T5
Phone: (604) 980-2222
Email: norgateanimalhospital@gmail.com
Hours: Monday to Friday 8:00 AM to 1:00 AM; Saturday and Sunday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM