I just wanted to share my story in case it helps someone else.
I have a cat pebbles that got bit on the neck 11 day ago by a copperhead. or at least that's what I think it was. It could have been a pigmy rattlesnake or even a cottonmouth. we have all three varities in our yard/area..
But I suspect a copperhead.
When she initially got bit, it bled for 24 hours out of one fang hole. One fang went deep and she was very weak and feavery. I did not think she would make it through the night. Her little head was swollen up too. There are no 24 hr vets in my neck of the woods so I had to rely on myself and the internet that first night.. I gave her a tiny piece of benedryl to control the swelling and a tiny tiny piece of aspirin to bring her fever down and to help with pain. I don't know what her fever was but she was very hot in her head area that extended down her body. I know aspiring thins the blood but I was helpless. I made the decision and just did it and prayed.
That first night I crated her in a large dog crate and put her crate beside me and i slept on the couch hoping she would make it through the night. She slept all night. She did not move. I kept checking her to make sure she was breathing. The next morning the bleeding had stopped and there was a spot on her blanket the size of a saucer where she bled all night.
she got bit on sunday the 13th... 11 days ago.
I called the vet Monday morning on the 14th and they told me there was nothing they could do. They said since she made it though the first night that she would live. They could not give anti-venom because they did not know what kind of snake bit her.
So I went to the feed store and brought some amoxicillin capsules 250mg. I got some pain control antibiotic ointment. And I already had some Kerotolux shampoo at home. And peroxide. And vitamin c.
So what I have done everyday (and am still doing) I sprinkle an antibiotic pill plus one crushed 500 mg vitamin C on her canned food. I shampoo the bite everyday. And after each shampoo I dribble half and half water/peroxide on her wound and then put antibiotic ointment on it. And I leave it open to the air.
The second day when she woke up, she drank and ate. The wound at that time was yellow with no hair. The skin was dying.
An immense hole developed from the venom. She had a lot of necrosis. I scrubbed it down daily with kerotolux which is a god send soap for cats. i suggest everyonen keeping it on hand. It's over 20.00 a bottle but it sure helped her.
it got a lot worse before it got better. But she made it and she will be fine. She eats and drinks like a champ and loves her neck being washed because it itches as it heals.
She has been a little trooper.
it's hard to believe she had done so well in 11 days.
I know she wants outside but I am leaving her in until she is completely healed.
So the pics are on the 14, the 19th and the 24th.. It is amazing progress....
This is the morning after she got bit. her skin is yellow and the hair is gone. I had no idea that venom was so destructive to the skin.
The is on the 19th... 6 days after the bite. The skin had died but was trying to heal. The vemon created a huge hole that you can't really see here as it's flapped over. She never once acted like she was in pain except for that first night. I have kept all the dead skin scrubbed off. One of the fang marks is circled and the other is right against the red box. the one beside the red box is the one that bled. If you also notice, in the first picture, these same fang marks are circled. The wound size increased as the skin died. This wound in this pic is about a 1.5" to 2" diameter. it was big.
And this was today after i washed it and doctored it. it is healing very very nicely. She is going to be okay.. it is much smaller here as the new skin grows. probably the size of a quarter now. It's healing fast. Real fast.
And here she is resting right now.... She still doesn't have her energy level back up. but it's sooooo much better than it was. She is sleeping on my husbands box of martini glasses.... She's my petty baby girl... and right now she can sleep where ever she wants to.
i hope one of my cats never had to go through this again. She has been a little trooper. She eats, drinks and does not seem to mind taking her vitamin C or her sprinkled antibiotic. In fact, through it all, I think she knows I am helping her. She just sits and holds her head up for me to wash her neck and doctor her. She knows afterwards, she will get some good kitty food.....
but anyway, that's what I did for a snake bite.
Jenn
I have a cat pebbles that got bit on the neck 11 day ago by a copperhead. or at least that's what I think it was. It could have been a pigmy rattlesnake or even a cottonmouth. we have all three varities in our yard/area..
But I suspect a copperhead.
When she initially got bit, it bled for 24 hours out of one fang hole. One fang went deep and she was very weak and feavery. I did not think she would make it through the night. Her little head was swollen up too. There are no 24 hr vets in my neck of the woods so I had to rely on myself and the internet that first night.. I gave her a tiny piece of benedryl to control the swelling and a tiny tiny piece of aspirin to bring her fever down and to help with pain. I don't know what her fever was but she was very hot in her head area that extended down her body. I know aspiring thins the blood but I was helpless. I made the decision and just did it and prayed.
That first night I crated her in a large dog crate and put her crate beside me and i slept on the couch hoping she would make it through the night. She slept all night. She did not move. I kept checking her to make sure she was breathing. The next morning the bleeding had stopped and there was a spot on her blanket the size of a saucer where she bled all night.
she got bit on sunday the 13th... 11 days ago.
I called the vet Monday morning on the 14th and they told me there was nothing they could do. They said since she made it though the first night that she would live. They could not give anti-venom because they did not know what kind of snake bit her.
So I went to the feed store and brought some amoxicillin capsules 250mg. I got some pain control antibiotic ointment. And I already had some Kerotolux shampoo at home. And peroxide. And vitamin c.
So what I have done everyday (and am still doing) I sprinkle an antibiotic pill plus one crushed 500 mg vitamin C on her canned food. I shampoo the bite everyday. And after each shampoo I dribble half and half water/peroxide on her wound and then put antibiotic ointment on it. And I leave it open to the air.
The second day when she woke up, she drank and ate. The wound at that time was yellow with no hair. The skin was dying.
An immense hole developed from the venom. She had a lot of necrosis. I scrubbed it down daily with kerotolux which is a god send soap for cats. i suggest everyonen keeping it on hand. It's over 20.00 a bottle but it sure helped her.
it got a lot worse before it got better. But she made it and she will be fine. She eats and drinks like a champ and loves her neck being washed because it itches as it heals.
She has been a little trooper.
it's hard to believe she had done so well in 11 days.
I know she wants outside but I am leaving her in until she is completely healed.
So the pics are on the 14, the 19th and the 24th.. It is amazing progress....
This is the morning after she got bit. her skin is yellow and the hair is gone. I had no idea that venom was so destructive to the skin.
The is on the 19th... 6 days after the bite. The skin had died but was trying to heal. The vemon created a huge hole that you can't really see here as it's flapped over. She never once acted like she was in pain except for that first night. I have kept all the dead skin scrubbed off. One of the fang marks is circled and the other is right against the red box. the one beside the red box is the one that bled. If you also notice, in the first picture, these same fang marks are circled. The wound size increased as the skin died. This wound in this pic is about a 1.5" to 2" diameter. it was big.
And this was today after i washed it and doctored it. it is healing very very nicely. She is going to be okay.. it is much smaller here as the new skin grows. probably the size of a quarter now. It's healing fast. Real fast.
And here she is resting right now.... She still doesn't have her energy level back up. but it's sooooo much better than it was. She is sleeping on my husbands box of martini glasses.... She's my petty baby girl... and right now she can sleep where ever she wants to.
i hope one of my cats never had to go through this again. She has been a little trooper. She eats, drinks and does not seem to mind taking her vitamin C or her sprinkled antibiotic. In fact, through it all, I think she knows I am helping her. She just sits and holds her head up for me to wash her neck and doctor her. She knows afterwards, she will get some good kitty food.....
but anyway, that's what I did for a snake bite.
Jenn
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for a complete recovery!
im so happy for you!! 
