Any veterinarians? Snake bit dog.
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TAKE HER TO THE VET! WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
Check online, or give us your area and we can look it up for you.
Normally in most larger areas there is an emergency animal clinic that's open 24/7
You might have to drive an hour or two to get there.
In an emergency, if you have a handheld stun gun or engine you can pull a wire off of you can try this:
However I would suggest you promptly get them to an emergency vet.
That being said, face bites are often less deadly than leg bites due to less big direct pathways.
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Ohh boy. Even though your vet is closed you still should be able to call them for emergencies
Depends on how much you are willing to spend on after hours er and antivenom treatments. Went through this with a bulldog, a boxer, and a rattler'
Baby rattler stupid dogs decided to fuck with it. Bulldog got tagged once in the shoulder. Boxer aptly named Bubba was a tough badass dog and kept going back for more got tagged in the face multiple times. His head swelled up took em to vet think it was 600 each for each antivenom treatment. Boxer survived and lived for years. Bulldog seemed ok then keeled over 2 weeks later.
Baby rattler stupid dogs decided to fuck with it. Bulldog got tagged once in the shoulder. Boxer aptly named Bubba was a tough badass dog and kept going back for more got tagged in the face multiple times. His head swelled up took em to vet think it was 600 each for each antivenom treatment. Boxer survived and lived for years. Bulldog seemed ok then keeled over 2 weeks later.
Both my current dogs have been bitten by copperheads in my yard. One at 5 months old. They will 99.9% be fine but they will swell at the site and be sore. It would be a worth a trip to the vet for anti inflammatory, antibiotic and pain meds for their comfort. There is no copperhead antivenom that I know of and though painful they rarely ever kill.
One of the dogs is a 15# mountain feist squirrel dog that is now the most viscious copperhead finding rocket around.
One of the dogs is a 15# mountain feist squirrel dog that is now the most viscious copperhead finding rocket around.
Had a small dog (beagle) bit hiking once by a timber rattler in the muzzle. it was a buddies. We got out, took it to the vet. The antivenom was to expensive for him. Just took beneydril( i think) and some anti-inflammation meds, face swole up like a football. Dog ended up perfectly fine. Id take it to get looked at and make the best call.
Many times they get a dry bite or a very low venom bite too. Yes I live in copperhead headquarters. Kill at least 3 or 4 a year in the yard.
Yes this is a fact they don’t always bite with venom for sure but they will get infected if you don’t get it treated
I am stunned that anyone wouldn't go out of their way to take a snake bit dog to a vet.
I have strong opinions on this and a lot of experience, but I'll just say - if she's responsive and drinking, and it's been more than an hour, she'll probably be just fine. Probably. My ex has a terrier half that size that's been bitten by copperheads three times now. I hope yours will be fine too.
Each vet visit was $1000 or so.
Each vet visit was $1000 or so.
Copper heads are very common in my area. So are corn snakes which are very similar in color. Even if you know the difference I doubt that many people could tell you which one is which in a quick encounter.
That said, there's not much that a vet could do about a copper heads bite. Unless the dog is having trouble breathing or something it's best to clean it with peroxide and keep it calm and watch it.
That said, there's not much that a vet could do about a copper heads bite. Unless the dog is having trouble breathing or something it's best to clean it with peroxide and keep it calm and watch it.
I worked for a vet in high school and saw my share of snake bites. This is true. Their nose which they use to sniff snakes is the biggest target and will balloon up. Leg bites are worse and hurt like hell.Check online, or give us your area and we can look it up for you.
Normally in most larger areas there is an emergency animal clinic that's open 24/7
You might have to drive an hour or two to get there.
In an emergency, if you have a handheld stun gun or engine you can pull a wire off of you can try this:
However I would suggest you promptly get them to an emergency vet.
That being said, face bites are often less deadly than leg bites due to less big direct pathways.
So update. Came home from work this morning to find her resting comfortably in her crate. Pretty much no outward sign of a bite. Either it was a very slight envenomation or not a snake at all.
I was able to get hold of an old vet acquaintance last night who helped advise me through the sharing of some photos.
Many thanks to all who reached out to help. I do have two emergency vets in my area, but my run in with one of them previously proved them to be outright crooks. My dog would die before I returned there, so I was very hesitant to take her to another. If I were guessing a trip there would have cost $3000-4000, while my regular vet would be $400-$500. It’s a shame somebody would use your love for your pet to rob you blind.
I was able to get hold of an old vet acquaintance last night who helped advise me through the sharing of some photos.
Many thanks to all who reached out to help. I do have two emergency vets in my area, but my run in with one of them previously proved them to be outright crooks. My dog would die before I returned there, so I was very hesitant to take her to another. If I were guessing a trip there would have cost $3000-4000, while my regular vet would be $400-$500. It’s a shame somebody would use your love for your pet to rob you blind.
I currently have 3 dogs and have had many more in the past. All have been bitten by copperheads in the past. Each time I give them some Benadryl and plenty of water and they recover fine in a day or two. Some of my dogs have been bitten multiple times and it seems each year they have less of a reaction.
Glad to hear your dog is recovering.
Glad to hear your dog is recovering.
I have a saying that comes from experience, "Vets are money grubbing rip-offs."
My g/f took in two kittens their feral mother brought to us. After handling them I came up with a strange looking legion on my hand. I called local vets and asked if they could sweep my hand with a black light to check if it wasn't ring worm. Every one said no, I'd have to bring the kittens in. When I did, a young lady vet came in the exam room and asked what I was there for and I told her I needed to check these kittens for ring worm. She said "In that case, I'm going to let you get them out of the carrier" and acted like she was doing us a favor for even looking at them. She weighed them, told us one was a male and when I asked if the other was a female she said "Yeah" like we were indigent non payers. She didn't go over them with a light or anything and said "I don't see anything. It's probably not ring worm."
Then she proceeded to hand us cost sheets for a battery of tests for Feline Aids, Feline Leukemia, etc. that were in the hundreds of dollars. I told her "Thanks but not today" and she told us where to go to pay for the "exam" and she her assistant left the room. The charge was $80.00, $40.00 per kitten, to weigh them, tell us their sex and be told they probably didn't have ringworm.
I was sent a cheery questionnaire a day or so later asking how was the experience at their clinic. I told them what I said here and said I won't be going back.
They develop a tolerance to the venom. I remember there was a guy who worked at an animal farm who intentionally let himself be bitten to develop the tolerance.
Google says:
www.mirror.co.uk › news › weird-newsMan 'immune' to deadly snake venom after allowing himself to ...
Oct 07, 2013 · Ben Burrows. An American man claims to have built up an immunity to snake venom - and was so confident he allowed a deadly black mamba to bite him. Tim Friede says he has built up a tolerance to ...www.theguardian.com › environment › 2018Poison pass: the man who became immune to snake venom
Feb 11, 2018 · A lot has been written about Steve Ludwin, widely known as the man who injects snake venom, and lately his life has turned into a non-stop frenzy of international journalists and film crews...www.nytimes.com › 2011/06/18 › usBill Haast, 100, Florida Snake Handler, Is Dead - The New ...
Jun 18, 2011 · William E. Haast was born on Dec. 30, 1910, in Paterson, N.J. He caught his first garter snake at 7 at a nearby canal. His first serious snake bite came at age 12, when he was bitten
Sorry to hear that some have had bad Veterinarian experiences.
My wife is a Vet, and as I'm the clinic manager, perhaps I can shed a touch of light on a few things. 1) Just like humans, a diagnosis without hands on is a no-go. As well, no Vet is going to look at a human and make a pet diagnosis. The possibility for medical malpractice suits and getting your ass in hot water with the state (prescription regulations etc...) are very real. 2) Veterinarian services are just that...services. Nothing that they do is to save the life of a human. Pets are generally considered property...so the level of investment in their health starts and ends with the owner, not the Veterinarian. Meds are frigging expensive, and markup is extremely low for the vast, vast majority of clinics. Where the profits are made is in the office visit. You do want to or don't want to run a battery of tests is fine either way. We won't judge you if you choose not to get them. However checking a pet for one pretty obvious condition on the owners request kind of ends the visit if nothing is found and no additional services are requested.
One thing people can do is actually call a Vet clinic and ask ahead of time what an office visit costs, as well as a medication (heartworm prevention etc...). It will certainly allow you to find out who charges the least. People do this with auto mechanics...why they don't do it with a Veterinarian is beyond me.
The ringworm story is odd. Just wear nitrile gloves and wash your hands thoroughly afterwards. We deal with ringworm on everything from cats to calves. It takes about five seconds to see.
Regarding snake bites, rarely is there much that can be done except treat symptoms (pain and inflammation). While some people are good at identifying snakes, many are not, and then you're back to guessing (bad on liability) without an actual dead snake in front of you. There are anti-venom treatments, but that starts to get expensive in a hurry.
I'd wager that there is about an 80% survivability rate on venomous snake bites provided the dog can be seen and treated enough to ensure that the airways don't swell up too much etc...
We don't deal with that too much out here as most dog owners just let nature take its course. What we see a lot more of are hog dogs that were sewn back up on a tailgate and now suffer from a severe infection.
This can get long in a hurry, so I'll shut up now.
My wife is a Vet, and as I'm the clinic manager, perhaps I can shed a touch of light on a few things. 1) Just like humans, a diagnosis without hands on is a no-go. As well, no Vet is going to look at a human and make a pet diagnosis. The possibility for medical malpractice suits and getting your ass in hot water with the state (prescription regulations etc...) are very real. 2) Veterinarian services are just that...services. Nothing that they do is to save the life of a human. Pets are generally considered property...so the level of investment in their health starts and ends with the owner, not the Veterinarian. Meds are frigging expensive, and markup is extremely low for the vast, vast majority of clinics. Where the profits are made is in the office visit. You do want to or don't want to run a battery of tests is fine either way. We won't judge you if you choose not to get them. However checking a pet for one pretty obvious condition on the owners request kind of ends the visit if nothing is found and no additional services are requested.
One thing people can do is actually call a Vet clinic and ask ahead of time what an office visit costs, as well as a medication (heartworm prevention etc...). It will certainly allow you to find out who charges the least. People do this with auto mechanics...why they don't do it with a Veterinarian is beyond me.
The ringworm story is odd. Just wear nitrile gloves and wash your hands thoroughly afterwards. We deal with ringworm on everything from cats to calves. It takes about five seconds to see.
Regarding snake bites, rarely is there much that can be done except treat symptoms (pain and inflammation). While some people are good at identifying snakes, many are not, and then you're back to guessing (bad on liability) without an actual dead snake in front of you. There are anti-venom treatments, but that starts to get expensive in a hurry.
I'd wager that there is about an 80% survivability rate on venomous snake bites provided the dog can be seen and treated enough to ensure that the airways don't swell up too much etc...
We don't deal with that too much out here as most dog owners just let nature take its course. What we see a lot more of are hog dogs that were sewn back up on a tailgate and now suffer from a severe infection.
This can get long in a hurry, so I'll shut up now.
Glad the dog is doing okay.
Where I live in central Arizona were we have western diamondbacks (I kill one a year in the yard) and mojave rattlesnakes (fortunately I’ve never encountered one). So far, I’ve been lucky and not had any of the dogs get bitten. I get them the “vaccine“ from Red Rock Biologics every spring and they have all been to snake avoidance training. The training seems to work, last week I was walking the dogs down to the mailbox and a diamondback was crossing the road up ahead. As soon as they caught the scent they wouldn’t go any closer, had to take them back home and get the mail solo.
Is avoidance training something you can find around you? Best option in my book is to avoid the interaction but try to be prepare (i.e. be prepared and know how to respond).
Where I live in central Arizona were we have western diamondbacks (I kill one a year in the yard) and mojave rattlesnakes (fortunately I’ve never encountered one). So far, I’ve been lucky and not had any of the dogs get bitten. I get them the “vaccine“ from Red Rock Biologics every spring and they have all been to snake avoidance training. The training seems to work, last week I was walking the dogs down to the mailbox and a diamondback was crossing the road up ahead. As soon as they caught the scent they wouldn’t go any closer, had to take them back home and get the mail solo.
Is avoidance training something you can find around you? Best option in my book is to avoid the interaction but try to be prepare (i.e. be prepared and know how to respond).
Mojave greens are nasty bastards. Basically the cottonmouth of the desert.
The cats my g/f and I raised from feral kittens are apex snake killers and go after them with a passion. I made the mistake of showing one of these otherwise good natured mini panthers a harmless grass snake and he went from clown mode to berserker in an instant and it wasn't a good outcome for the snake.
In fact, they attack anything that resembles a danger noodle; a garden hose thats being used to an extension cord thats being drug. I've come home to find gifts in the form dead rattlers on the porch that obviously suffered severe trauma.
Since a snake killed my first dog, the only good snake is a dead snake.
This can go bad in a hurry man. I understand the loss and desire to eradicate though. Sorry about the loss of your dog.
There are many types of kingsnakes running (slithering) around that actually kill and eat venomous snakes. We have both the Prairie Kingsnake as well as the Speckled Kingsnake around my house in OK. Killing something that preys on venomous snakes isn't going to reduce the bad snake population.
The twice bad part is that killing a snake like a kingsnake also increases the potential food supply (mice etc...) that will bring more venomous snakes to the area.
I keep a few cats around the house and hay barn, they do a pretty good job of killing every kind of reptile. We've had two small ratsnakes brought and left in front of the door this year already. I also shoot a couple of Cottonmouths per year in the creek below the house, so I'm in the eradication game as well. However I've noticed far fewer times per year that I'm having to kill venomous snakes now that I let the non-venemous live. I haven't seen a Copperhead in 2.5 years.
I guess I'm just trying (poorly) to say that leaving the good snakes alone actually makes your area better off.
Absolutely learn to recognize and identify the snakes in your area and leave the non-venomous ones alone. As scott_gresham already pointed out, they are helping to keep the food supply that the nasty ones need in check and may even help by eating them (like in the case of kingsnakes. The only snakes I kill are the venomous ones.
Once, not long ago, I killed a speckeled king snake. Silly as it seems, I still feel kind of bad about it. It was dusk, and I knew a critter would be under a rock I was moving. Sure enough, out comes this snake...it struck at me and was shacking tail like a rattler. So I didn't ask questions or analyze what the hell it was, I just smashed it with a piece of 3" conduit. Later I saw it was a speckled king snake about 30" or so. Come to find out, their defense mechanism is to mimic a rattle snake.
There is always a risk of infection from any bite wound, but that's no reason to kill them.
.. and even venomous snakes will go out of their way to avoid contact with people and pets.
King snakes are awesome. I’ll take all the colubrids I can get on my property.
I have a pet Mexican black king snake as a pet.
I have a pet Mexican black king snake as a pet.
We are lucky here in CO, our only venomous snake has warning buzzer on it. The have a rattle snake vaccine you can get yearly too.
here puppy , puppy , puppy good doggie no more pain .
grill it . Don't let a good pet go to waist .
grill it . Don't let a good pet go to waist .
Haha she made it just fine. Either was a very light envenomation or maybe just a yellow jacket lol.
Caught a Western Rat Snake in the chicken coop the other day. Occasionally when they're frightened they'll vibrate their tail against an object...almost making a rattle-like sound. And that is exactly what happened here when I stuck my face next to his.
I usually let them live, but this bastard was in the process of eating eggs.
I usually let them live, but this bastard was in the process of eating eggs.
