HELP ME copperhead/rattlesnakek bite on dog

[jcribbs]

She is doing good right now. Sleeping a lot but that is understandable with the amt of bendryl I gave her. Plus the aspirin.

This is a pic of her edema. Vet said this is very very common and is only a collection of water in her tissues. He said it will go down on it's own.





In the first picture in this thread you can see the scrap from the other fang on her bottom lip...

Juan just told me he does not think it was a pigmy rattler. He believes it to be a much bigger snake due to how far apart the fang marks are. It might have been something else other than the suspected pigmy and we just got lucky that both fangs did not penetrate and eject venom... She is a fast moving dog and possibly the strike was while she was in motion. Hopefully this will teach her to stay away from snakes. The fang marks are a good 2-3 inches apart. It had a big mouth.

 

[2dogmom]

WOW! I am coming into this late but I am glad everything will be alright! And now that you have posted this hopefully others will benefit from your nightmare!

 

[graciecat]

Oh Jenn,
I just saw this thread.
Poor Blossom and poor you and Juan.
You're right, if it had been Muffin she would have never made it.
I know how much you trust your Vet, Jenn.
I don't blame you for having that kind of faith in him, especially since he went above and beyond to save Toe Man's life I agree he's one smart Man and knows what he's doing.

Good luck on the snake hunt, but Dear God PLEASE be careful the last thing any of us want to read is that you or Juan got bite.

Sending lots of for Blossom.

 

[sharky]

I am so glad your vet called you back... do you have the steroids??... IMO likely a copperhead , they can be big and the venom is not as powerful as rattlers... ie many small dogs in my area get bite and survive

 

[frisk]

I just finished reading this thread and I'm so glad she's doing better! Poor girl! I hope she fully recovers.

 

[jcribbs]

Sharky, I also think it was a copperhead.... For two reasons. First, the fang marks were too far apart to be a pygmy rattler. And second, her rate of recovery. But......it still could have been a timber rattler. Since one fang scratched her but not below the skin and the other nicking her but breaking the skin, it could have been. I think she only got a small amt of venom but it was some strong stuff... I say that due to the amt of edema she suffered. I honestly think the benedryl saved her life. In the pics, you can see how swollen her neck was. I think the benedryl controlled that from getting worse so her breathing was not impeded.

The fangs grazed her. The one that broke skin, did not penetrate very deep. But it did break skin.

And I hestitantly say, she is totally recovered. The edema is nearly gone. I just got home from work and she looks absolutely normal except for slight swelling on her face and lip. The ball on her neck is completely gone. It feels normal to the touch.

I'll say something else too. The ball on her neck was the first thing I noticed. I did not "see" her swollen head. I was in the LV petting her with the only light being from the TV or it was dim. When I felt the ball I freaked out and thought she had swallowed a tennis ball and thought she was going to choke. I held it in my hand and tried to open her mouth and she cried. She has hassling and foaming at the mouth and I thought she was choking. It hurt her to touch her. I turned the light on and couldn't believe my eyes. It was horrible. I instantly knew it was a snake bite. I woke Juan and he started soothing her and putting her in the crate to avoid her jumping around and spreading venom though her system. She sat in the crate and cried while I quickly looked on line for something to do. I called the all night emergency vet in springfield and they would NOT tell me anything to do over the phone because they said if she died they would be liable for a law suit. I hung up on them. The

s. That's when I started calling my vet at home. I would never take her to the emergency vet because my son took his cat once after getting run over by a car. They told him he was only bruised after doing xrays and charged him 260.00 and he took Tiger home. Tiger died two days later of internal bleeding. I will never go there. Tiger died a horrible death due to incompentance of the damn vet on duty that night.

Anyway I have breathing difficulties myself and always keep a steroid shot handy plus benedryl. I gave blossom my benedryl. I did not give her my steroid shot however. And I also have 50 mg steroid pills that I hate to take. I did not give those to her either. But I recognized her choking as needing something quick...

Benedryl saved her. Her airway was closing rapidly. Thank god I did not sit at work and visit but came right home. She was outside and Juan was asleep. When I got home she was on the top step by the back door laying down whining.

I kept her in all day today in the cool and Juan kept her in too when I went to work. We worked different shifts today so except for two hrs, we were here with her. She was crated in the house for those two hrs. Her head was hot with fever all morning till I gave her aspirin... That helped her alot.

He put her out when it cooled down at around 8:30 tonight but left the lights on outside. I let her in when I got home. Her neck edema is gone.

I have been reading about edema and pit vipers bites. It seems the size of the edema lets you know how much envenomation occured. Here is an article on it....

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=000...OR-enlargePage

Well, time to give my little kitty her meds..... Blossom is fine.......

What a thing to happen. I hope with all my heart she remember this and avoids snakes.

She acts completely normal tonight. Slight facial swelling is all. Plus the fang marks are still there but they will heal.

Thank you for all the prayers. I'm sure they helped....

And Gracie, tuesday and wednesday are going to be "de-snaking" days...

 

[miagi's_mommy]

poor sweetheart.

I am so relieved she is doing okay. may I ask where you live? Do you live out in the country? thank goodness there's no snakes where I live since I live in the city and thank goodness she isn't a real wee puppy or the bite could have been fatal.

Please give her a hug for me and hopefully she doesn't go near a snake again. usually some snakes attack for no reason at all.

she might have just accidentally stepped on it.

 

[jcribbs]

I live in SW Missouri in on the edge of Mark Twain National Forest in a very very wooded area.

I think it was her first snake and she probably went to smell it and it bit her on the mouth.

 

[graciecat]

I'm so glad all the swelling has gone down.
Please be careful looking for those snakes!

 

[mom of 4]

I live in a Dallas suburb, near a huge park. We have all kinds of widelife roaming the area. Snakes, squirrels, possums, ducks, geese, coyotes. There is an Outdoor Learning Center (part of the school district, functions as a wifelife rescue) in the park. On one of the rare snow days here, the director was at the Center, feeding the critters, when he saw a cougar outside.

 

[catloverin_ks]

Wow! I am just seeing this!!! Poor poor girl.

Very glad that shes recovering!!!

Many that she continues to recover!!!