Click to Skip Ahead What to Do Risks Treatment Prevention Tips While the thought of your dog getting stung by a scorpion is scary, the good news is that scorpion stings are rarely fatal in dogs. Nevertheless, we recommend getting your dog to the vet immediately because of the pain it causes and to reduce the risk of complications. A yelp is likely the first indication your pet has been stung, but other signs include dilated pupils, drooling, and worse case, labored breathing. If you’re concerned about your dog getting stung by a scorpion, keep reading as we go over everything you need to do. Here’s What to Do The best thing you can do if your dog is stung by a scorpion is to call your vet before driving to the clinic so that they’re prepared for you and your pup. Once they know you’re on your way, put your dog in your car and drive them to the vet. The sting can be quite painful, and there are a couple of things you’ll need to keep in mind: Be mindful that your dog may not want to be touched at the wound site. Try to keep your pooch from licking the area. Apply ice or an ice pack wrapped in a towel to reduce swelling and pain. Image Credit: fizkes, Shutterstock Risks Associated With Scorpion Stings A variety of clinical signs can be seen in dogs stung by scorpions. The sting can cause pain, and inflammation, which can cause redness, swelling, and itchiness at the site. That’s potentially why your dog is so anxious to lick the wound. Possible signs of scorpion stings in dogs: Yelping Jumping back Limping Licking or pawing at the site Tremors Restlessness While there are about 100 species in the United States, the main one of medical significance is the Arizona Bark Scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus). It lives in the American Southwest and is of particular concern in the state that gives it its name. The venom can cause excess stimulation of the nervous system, leading to changes in heart rate, blood pressure, twitching and drooling. Treatment of Scorpion Stings Treatment for scorpion stings is primarily supportive. Your vet may sedate your dog if your pet is agitated, and deal with the sting site, as necessary. Follow-up includes pain medications to keep your pup comfortable. Your vet will also treat other signs, such as administering fluids if your dog has been vomiting or experiencing GI distress. Close monitoring of your dog is necessary since the effects can persist. While an antivenom exists, it may not be readily available; further, it is most effective only when administered right after the sting; it may not be efficacious after the fact. Image Credit: Goldfish Studio, Shutterstock Preventing Scorpion Stings Of course, you must always be on guard if you live where scorpions dwell, especially at night when they’re active. Anything that was outdoors needs to be checked before bringing it inside your home. That includes wood for a fire pit, as woodpiles provide ideal hiding places for these pests. It’s tougher if you’re not used to this kind of vigilance as a visitor to the American Southwest. You can follow many of the precautions for preventing ticks from getting in your house. Another clever trick is to inspect your home using a UV light. The shells of scorpions glow in the dark when you shine a black light on them. It’s a quick way to ensure things are safe without any nasty surprises lurking. We recommend supervising your dog when outside in the yard. Often, pets will sniff around, exploring their world without regard to the threats that may exist. If your pup is a digger, we suggest discouraging this unwanted behavior, as you may never know what your pooch may unearth. Final Thoughts Treating a scorpion sting promptly is imperative. These wounds are painful and dangerous if your dog has a strong reaction. Care is mainly supportive, with managing pain being a top priority. Some issues may persist, warranting close monitoring of your pet as they recover. Fortunately, these encounters are rarely fatal. Nevertheless, prevention is necessary if you live in a place that scorpions call home. Sources https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/scorpion-stings/symptoms-causes/syc-20353859 https://www.merckvetmanual.com/toxicology/venomous-arthropods/spider-and-scorpion-bites-in-animals https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/anaphylaxis-in-dogs https://extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/pubs/az1768-2018.pdf https://www.cell.com/cell-chemical-biology/pdf/S1074-5521(99)80085-4.pdf https://azpoison.com/sites/default/files/poisonologywhen_scorpion_meets_cats_and_dogs2.pdf Featured Image Credit: Rob Hainer, Shutterstock The post My Dog Was Stung by a Scorpion, What Should I Do? Vet Approved Advice appeared first on Pet Keen.

Mica Miller was the wife of pastor John Paul Miller in South Carolina before allegedly committing suicide — but her family and community are skeptical. Mica, who was only 30 years old, was found dead on April 27 at a state park in North Carolina of what seemed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The coroner ruled her death as a suicide. However, according to an affidavit filed by Mica’s sister, her family is questioning the conclusion and blaming Mica’s husband for alleged abuse. Her sister recalls Mica telling her “on many occasions” that “if I end up with a bullet in my head, it was not by me. It was JP.” The day after Mica died, her husband gave a sermon explaining that his wife had committed suicide and that she was not well mentally. Allie Beth Stuckey, a devout Christian herself, is troubled by the video of his sermon. “I think this is a very, very strange way, personally, to announce the death of your wife. Now, I can’t read into motivations or what that actually means, but just from my outsider perspective it seems a little weird,” Stuckey explains. Days prior to her apparent suicide, Mica had served her husband with divorce papers and sought a no-contact order against him. This wasn’t the first time she had filed for divorce, as she had filed for one last October on the grounds of adultery, but the case was dismissed. She had also reportedly called the police a number of times in the weeks leading up to her death for slashed tires and finding tracking devices on her car. John Paul had admitted in messages to slashing her tires. John Paul also has a bit of a checkered past. In 1999, he was convicted of driving his pickup truck into a woman twice as she was filling sandbags near her home because of flooding. He accelerated into the woman after she asked him to slow down and dragged her 100 yards down the road. When John Paul got divorced from his first wife — whom he had cheated on with Mica — his wife alleged in the divorce documents that John Paul had confessed to her and other church staff that he had sexual encounters with underage girls he met at the church and an addiction to prostitutes. “I just want the truth to be known,” Stuckey says. “There are a lot of troubling details about this; there are a lot of disturbing parts.” While it’s unclear what the truth is about Mica’s death, Stuckey does know one thing for certain. “He should not have been a pastor. He should not have been in leadership of the church.”Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

A Catholic "brother" who lives in a hermitage in Kentucky has come out as "transgender" in a recent announcement that has the support of the local bishop.Earlier this month, Brother Christian Matson, a 39-year-old hermit associated with the Diocese of Lexington, told Religion News Service: "This Sunday, Pentecost 2024, I’m planning to come out publicly as transgender."'I became Catholic after I transitioned because of the Catholic understanding — the sacramental understanding — of the body, of creation ... and primarily because of the Eucharist.'Matson has an usual story to tell. First of all, Matson is likely a biological female, though media outlets and her bishop, John Stowe, use male pronouns in reference to her. Matson told RNS she had a "sex-change" in college, several years before converting to Catholicism from the U.S. Presbyterian Church, and considers this "sex-change" part of her "medical history."Matson also felt called to a Catholic religious vocation, but because of her gender-related "medical history," is prohibited from entering into marriage or the priesthood, which is restricted to men. So, Matson spent about a decade earning various graduate degrees in theology and, in front of her spiritual director, even made private vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, though to whom she pledged obedience is unclear.She also reached out to various religious communities, but none would accept her. Even the Jesuits, long considered to be among the most liberal Catholic religious communities, gave her a flat rejection. "They said, ‘No, we just don’t see how this would work for us,’ which was crushing, because that’s where I felt called," Matson told RNS.Then, a canon lawyer suggested to Matson that she consider becoming a diocesan hermit. "There’s no problem as long as there’s a bishop who will accept you," the canon lawyer explained, according to Matson's recollection, "because there’s no distinction by sex and you’re not in a community — you’re by yourself."In 2020, Matson connected with Bishop Stowe, who was willing to entertain the idea of a trans-identifying individual becoming a hermit in his diocese."My willingness to be open to him is because it’s a sincere person seeking a way to serve the church," Stowe told RNS. "Hermits are a rarely used form of religious life ... but they can be either male or female. Because there’s no pursuit of priesthood or engagement in sacramental ministry, and because the hermit is a relatively quiet and secluded type of vocation, I didn’t see any harm in letting him live this vocation."Matson then joined a Benedictine monastery and eventually became a Benedictine oblate, which St. Paul's Monastery in Minnesota defines as "Christian women and men who actively associate themselves with a Benedictine monastery using the Rule of Benedict as a guide.""Benedictine spirituality is flexible and adaptable, open to all who seek God and is a way to live out the Gospel message," the monastery's website adds.Matson says she now lives in an Appalachian hermitage "with my German Shepherd rescue, Odie, and with the Blessed Sacrament, which was installed in my oratory shortly before Christmas."Matson claimed she wants her "disclosing" of her transgender identity to foster a change in the Vatican's view of transgenderism, which has not "not engaged with the science at all." "You’ve got to deal with us, because God has called us into this church," she continued. "It’s not your church to kick us out of — this is God’s church, and God has called us and engrafted us into it.""I became Catholic after I transitioned because of the Catholic understanding — the sacramental understanding — of the body, of creation, of the desirability of the visible unity of the church and primarily because of the Eucharist."Bishop Stowe noted that he and Matson both knew that Matson's transgender identity would spark outrage among the faithful, but he feels confident that Matson is where she belongs, describing her spiritual journey as "consistent with the calling of that particular vocation."A quick glance at Stowe's X posts reveals that he strongly aligns with many liberal political causes, especially regarding illegal immigration. In December 2022, he even compared illegal aliens in the U.S. to the Holy Innocents slaughtered under King Herod.He also demanded stricter gun control in the fallout of a trans-identifying mass shooter murdering six people at a Christian school in Nashville in March 2023. A year ago, he also retweeted an anti-bullying quote from Pope Francis, which said: "Every man, every woman, every boy, every girl has the duty to be authentic, to be themselves, and the right to be respected."In the following video, Bishop Stowe gives a message to Christians during the season of Advent: Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

It’s no secret America has a drug problem. Last year, there were more than 100,000 overdose deaths in America, largely attributed to fentanyl. Over the past few decades, American cities have struggled to grapple with this crisis. Instead of enforcing existing drug laws and cracking down on crime, some have chosen a different path: decriminalization. Author and podcast host Christina Dent recently joined "Relatable" with Allie Beth Stuckey to advocate for the decriminalization of drugs as a solution to America’s growing addiction crisis. Dent pushes a “health-centered approach” as opposed to a “criminal justice approach.” The former, according to Dent, addresses the root cause of addiction, while the latter could do more harm than good. Dent’s opinion was largely formed through her experience with her adopted son’s biological mom, who was an addict. Had her son’s biological mother been imprisoned for her drug use, Dent’s son never would have had a relationship with her, and incarceration would have done nothing to help her addiction. It’s true that throwing drug users in jail does little to help their addictions and could even harm them due to the availability of drugs in prisons. However, the ambiguous definition of “decriminalization” paired with the troubling results seen in American cities that have attempted such policies raises questions about the efficacy and safety of going this route. Take Oregon, for example. In 2020, voters overwhelmingly passed a resolution that decriminalized possession of hard drugs. Last month, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) signed a bill that reversed this measure and re-criminalized possessing small amounts of hard drugs, making it a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. The original measure failed largely due to botched implementation of mental health and treatment services, sparks in overdoses due to fentanyl, increased homelessness, and worsening public drug use. A recent report shows Oregon is one of the top ten most dangerous states in the country — it’s hard to imagine public drug use did not play a part in Oregon’s worsening crime. Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

An unforgiving frozen apocalypse is the perfect setting for a survival game. The sparseness of civilization, lack of resources, and biting cold make for ideal adversaries as you explore and try to keep warm. Ark has dinosaurs, Valheim has Vikings, and DayZ has zombies, but the newly announced Permafrost is using a glacial armageddon to put you and some friends through the ultimate trial of survival. Oh, and you can have a dog companion, so it's getting points for that too. Continue reading Stalker 2 and Frostpunk have a rival in this new Steam survival game MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best survival games, Upcoming PC games, Best sandbox games

If you plan on playing Hellblade 2 on PC, this new Nvidia driver will ensure your graphics card is up to the task. Nvidia GeForce Driver 555.85 is available to download now via the Nvidia App, GeForce Experience, or from the Nvidia website right now. Sometimes having the best graphics card isn't enough, and the additional support and optimizations Nvidia offers through Game Ready Drivers can make the difference between acceptable and amazing performance on its GPUs. This latest update brings support for Hellblade 2 and three more big games, while also adding optimal settings for four recent releases and some game-specific bug fixes. Continue reading This Hellblade 2 driver is essential for Nvidia GPUs MORE FROM PCGAMESN: GeForce RTX 4070 Super review, DLSS explained, Best graphics cards

There's no escaping AI anymore. It's in our search engines, boiling down art to expressionless slop, and giving us the wrong answers to easily verifiable questions. Not to get all doom and gloom, but it's also only going to get worse. On the upside though, so much of our art is coming into direct discussion with the wave of AI content, and a new adventure game from the critically acclaimed developer behind Norco is taking the issue head on. This is Silenus, and you can try it for free on Steam right now. Continue reading 2022’s oddest indie gets equally weird follow up, playable now MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best PC games, Upcoming PC games, Best indie games

The AMD Ryzen 7800X3D has long reigned supreme as the best CPU for gaming, thanks to its combination of loads of L3 cache and a speedy eight-core configuration. However, that performance pedigree has also meant it has held its value, making this current AMD CPU deal a fantastic buy. We may only be a few weeks away from AMD announcing its next generation of gaming CPUs, but that doesn't dent any of the value in this discount. That's because not only is the 7800X3D still the best gaming CPU, but also because those future AMD CPUs will be easy drop-in replacements for the 7800X3D, as they'll use the same AM5 motherboard socket. Continue reading Save a massive 23% on an AMD Ryzen 7800X3D in this CPU deal MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Ryzen 7 7800X3D review, Best gaming CPU, Radeon RX 7800 XT review

If you told me that The Witcher 3 is nine years old I simply wouldn’t believe you. Then I would look at the calendar, do math on my fingers, and get extremely cross at the results. To celebrate nearly hitting a decade, developer CD Projekt RED has released an expansive set of tools that should help open up the modscene for The Witcher 3 Continue reading The Witcher 3 modding just got a whole lot easier with new mod toolkit MORE FROM PCGAMESN: The Witcher 3 mods, The Witcher 4 news, Witcher 3 system requirements

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