Copperhead bite

[Usmc5811]

I went out this afternoon around 1pm for a short walk with my 8 year old niece and my 4 year old Akita named Fuji. Got out the neighborhood and entered the park, which was having a wounded warriors bike race also.
After thanking some for the sacrifice they gave for this country. We started into the wooded trail and after about 50 yards Fuji was just off the side of the trail. All of a sudden she started shaking her head like she had been bee stung. I immediately knew what had happened and backed my niece and dog back down the trail. Then slowly eased up to the area where it happened and sure enough about a 2' copperhead was coiled up in the leaves. Looked at the dog and 2 fang marks in her lower jowls. Well that ended the walk, we turned around and headed to the house. Loaded her into the pathfinder and off to the vet. By the time we see the vet, it has been over an hour since she was bit.
Now I grew up in the country and seen a few dogs and cats bitten by a copperhead and most survived. Other then swelled up for a few weeks. Sure enough the vet tells me the same thing gives her some antibiotics and something for the pain, and sends us on our way and to come back tomorrow.
I tell you it's amazing how tough these family members can be. Other then a little swelling you wouldn't know anything was wrong. I'm in more danger from the wife for walking her in the park...lol...No irregular breathing, drooling/foaming, shaking or weak when moving. I'm pretty sure with it being an adult copperhead that she was lucky and got a dry bite. Time will tell but here is a pick 3 hours after the bite. Kinda looks like she has wad of tobacco in her gums but other then that no problems.

 

[mauser9]

Hope all continues well with the dog. Can't stand snakes myself. Hopefully it won't happen again.

 

[rickflst]

Hope she recovers well. Glad to hear she is still doing well

 

[richardw]

Glad to read it was a copperhead and not a timber rattlesnake. From the age 7 through 10 I spent summers with my Uncle Joe and Aunt Stella in Tamaqua, PA in the Blue Mountains of PA. Uncle Joe taught me to shoot his Savage 29 pump 22. We hiked the mountains together. He was a coal miner who died of black lung disease, but before he died he taught me how to shoot.

We were hiking on a mountainside one summer and I disregarded his advice. I went off trail and manged to get bitten by a copperhead. I thought I was going to die. After Uncle Joe killed the snake, he assured me that I would be ok. Turns out that after about two weeks of swelling and pain I was fine.

I hike the same woods ever spring through fall these days. I rarely see a snake, but if I did I would only shoot it as a last resort. Snakes are just being snakes, and we have to give them some space whe we come upon them. I hope your dog is fine, and I suspect it will be.

 

[Bob L]

I am glad to here that Fuji will be Ok. Must be that the snake caught her totally by surprise.

 

[UncleEd]

"Snakes are just being snakes....."

I've heard this and read this many times.

Well, dogs being dogs, our kids being kids and us adults being
adults, nuts to the poisonous snakes.

 

[M E Morrison]

I went out this afternoon around 1pm for a short walk with my 8 year old niece and my 4 year old Akita named Fuji. Got out the neighborhood and entered the park, which was having a wounded warriors bike race also.
After thanking some for the sacrifice they gave for this country. We started into the wooded trail and after about 50 yards Fuji was just off the side of the trail. All of a sudden she started shaking her head like she had been bee stung. I immediately knew what had happened and backed my niece and dog back down the trail. Then slowly eased up to the area where it happened and sure enough about a 2' copperhead was coiled up in the leaves. Looked at the dog and 2 fang marks in her lower jowls. Well that ended the walk, we turned around and headed to the house. Loaded her into the pathfinder and off to the vet. By the time we see the vet, it has been over an hour since she was bit.
Now I grew up in the country and seen a few dogs and cats bitten by a copperhead and most survived. Other then swelled up for a few weeks. Sure enough the vet tells me the same thing gives her some antibiotics and something for the pain, and sends us on our way and to come back tomorrow.
I tell you it's amazing how tough these family members can be. Other then a little swelling you wouldn't know anything was wrong. I'm in more danger from the wife for walking her in the park...lol...No irregular breathing, drooling/foaming, shaking or weak when moving. I'm pretty sure with it being an adult copperhead that she was lucky and got a dry bite. Time will tell but here is a pick 3 hours after the bite. Kinda looks like she has wad of tobacco in her gums but other then that no problems.

I trust you dispatched the snake?

 

[Grayfox]

My Grandfather once had a German Shepard that just had a thing for poisonous snakes. Around here that would be mostly cotton mouths with an occasional copperhead. That dog would sometimes disappear for several days and finally come limping home. Check him over and sure nuff, you'd find fang marks.
He'd curl up under the front porch and we'd place food and water where he could reach it. A few days later he'd come back out feelin' just fine. Crazy dog.

 

[Usmc5811]

I trust you dispatched the snake?

I wanted to but I you can't shoot a firearm in city limits. That along with the wounded warriors who were out for a nice day. They did not need to hear a gun report within 100 yards of where they were. And as far as using a stick, my niece weighs about the same as Our Akita (who was a little mad by then.) she would not have been able to hold her back while I gave it a good wak.
We just should have been more careful I know they are there. But normally I see them in the evening on the paved bike trail, or sunning themselves in the morning. Just wasn't expecting one at 1pm with a temperature of 86 degrees.
But a little over 9 hours since bitten other then about the same amount of swelling she's doing great. I never had to worry about this with my Jack Russell I had. He would let them strike at him, then jump and grab them in the middle and shake as hard as he could for a couple of minutes. He was a snake killer and a darn good one.

 

[DBX]

Wishing Fuji a full and pain free recovery!

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[Marshwheeling]

I thought this was going to be a knife thread, in the wrong sub forum.

 

[gman51]

I worked at a large nursery that had several cooling ponds. The ponds with brush or weeds around usually had a lot of cottonmouths.
There was a big Lab that stayed on the property and one day he evidently got bit right on his head. His head swelled up like a baseball stuck on his head. After about 2-3 weeks he was okay.
It is said if you ever go walking around ponds or high grass then have a dog with you because the dog will sense the snake. My dogs have several times let me know a snake was real close. It wasn't long before it was a dead snake. I keep the grass mowed down around my pond to keep the snakes from living in the pond.

 

[Targets Guy]

Hoping for the best for your dog. Scary stuff.

 

[jsfricks]

I'm glad to hear Fuji is doing well. I came home the other night around 9:30, hit the garage remote and saw something next to my garage door. Got out and looked and saw the "Hershey kisses" down the side. Had a shovel leaning beside the other garage door and took care of the problem. My son comes in the middle door after dark every night. He would have been home from school 30 minutes later. I don't mind snakes in the yard, unless they're venomous.

 

[richardw]

My Grandfather once had a German Shepard that just had a thing for poisonous snakes. Around here that would be mostly cotton mouths with an occasional copperhead. That dog would sometimes disappear for several days and finally come limping home. Check him over and sure nuff, you'd find fang marks.
He'd curl up under the front porch and we'd place food and water where he could reach it. A few days later he'd come back out feelin' just fine. Crazy dog.

A Devil Dog! Oohra!

 

[moralem]

Dogs are resilient like that, which is a good thing. Us humans not so much. I was bit by a copperhead about 2 years ago and not getting it attended to puts one at risk for serious tissue damage at the site of the bite. I was going to just shake it off and hope for the best until I looked up pictures of snake venom necrosis......I was at the hospital in minutes and was given two rounds of anti-venom. The bite hurts like an electric shock and the pain stays with you for about 24 hours. I would not recommend letting a bite go unattended. This is a picture of my hand a couple of days after the bite and swelling reduced by about half.........

 

[FifthWheel]

I hope Fuji is OK.

 

[Jessie]

Glad she's ok. Our terriers just killed what I think was a very young copperhead in the yard yesterday.
It was only about 6"-8" long and light tan colored with what looked like the dark markings starting to develop from its belly going up.
The only thing I know about it for sure was that it was dead.
Do the very young ones have venom?
And where is Momma?

 

[Usmc5811]

Glad she's ok. Our terriers just killed what I think was a very young copperhead in the yard yesterday.
It was only about 6"-8" long and light tan colored with what looked like the dark markings starting to develop from its belly going up.
The only thing I know about it for sure was that it was dead.
Do the very young ones have venom?
And where is Momma?

Yes the young ones have venom and are more apt to inject then an older snake. Least that's what I have been told. And if my Jack Russell was still alive you can bet that snake would have been dead before it could have struck. He was a snake killing machine.

 

[Jessie]

We've had a couple of Jack Russels and I will second that statement!
After checking the "net" I don't think this was a copperhead. Too early in the year for babies and I couldn't find a pic of a juvenile that looked the same.