Dogs and snakebite
- Thread starter Texas Star
- Start date
I've always liked snakes, but here I can honestly say I've never come across a poisonous one. (Another reason to live in PA!) I've grown up in Beaver Co., our camp, about 1/3 of my growing up was in Crawford Co., and now I live in Pittsburgh County. I have never, ever come across a poisonous snake...but they are here. I've just been lucky. Once every couple years a farmer or landscaper gets hit. I'll stay up here & let you warm people fight with every deadly poisonous creature in North America!
One time, Daisy, the Weim, came face to face with a garter snake. They get aggressive when cornered or pikked off. It was only about a two-footer. It lunged and she was like a cat and jumped out of its way! Didn't think she could do it, but young dogs are quicker than you think when they have a split second to see their attacker.
Those Coral snakes. Isn't there another snake with the same coloring only in different order of color? I want to say King, but that doesn't sound right.
One time, Daisy, the Weim, came face to face with a garter snake. They get aggressive when cornered or pikked off. It was only about a two-footer. It lunged and she was like a cat and jumped out of its way! Didn't think she could do it, but young dogs are quicker than you think when they have a split second to see their attacker.
Those Coral snakes. Isn't there another snake with the same coloring only in different order of color? I want to say King, but that doesn't sound right.
OP
Texas Star
US Veteran
Yes, King and Milk snakes.
And two genera of Corals. They remind me of Asiatic Kraits.
Tropical America has additional Corals.
transit
Member
"Red next to yellow, kills a fellow. Red next to black, venom lack,"
My Doc buddy who shares my love of Brittanys had one of his dogs get bit when he moved to his new house "on the hill". Sent me a picture. Looked like a plastic surgeon had practiced a breast implant on the side of the dogs's head.
He took the dog to the vet and they administered antibiotics to avert any infection activity.
Once they got the rattle snake vaccine effective enough for my vet to approve it, my dogs all got the vaccine and an annual booster. The vaccine buys you a day or two extra to get your pooch to the vet and treated.
I would not dither a minute getting my dog to a vet if it were bit by a rattler.
He took the dog to the vet and they administered antibiotics to avert any infection activity.
Once they got the rattle snake vaccine effective enough for my vet to approve it, my dogs all got the vaccine and an annual booster. The vaccine buys you a day or two extra to get your pooch to the vet and treated.
I would not dither a minute getting my dog to a vet if it were bit by a rattler.
Tom Kent
US Veteran
When I was about twelve years old I had a Pit Bull that followed me where ever I went. We lived on about 200 acres in "the country" and one day I was taking a walk through a grown over field with my Pit Bull following behind me. All of a sudden he jumped forward and pushed me aside. When I looked at him he had a copperhead hanging on his jaw. The snake had been striking at me and the dog pushed me out of the way and took the strike. He shook the snake off of his jaw and then killed it. I took him the half mile to our house. His head swelled up and he got lethargic. The next day he was fine. I loved that dog. He died of natural causes about six years later. Dogs are tough.
Justin T
Member
I had a lab that was bitten by an unknown viper of some sort. The bite was on her back about 5" away from the tail root.
She lived for about another year, but the vet suspected that the bite triggered a form of cancer and resulting kidney failure.
I'd get the dog to the vet as soon as is practical.
She lived for about another year, but the vet suspected that the bite triggered a form of cancer and resulting kidney failure.
I'd get the dog to the vet as soon as is practical.
OP
Texas Star
US Veteran
The dog got to the vet and got antihistamines and antibiotics. Vet said it'll probably survive.
And the bill was much less than expected, as both the doc and the owner are Texas Aggies...
And the bill was much less than expected, as both the doc and the owner are Texas Aggies...
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BearBio
Member
That ONLY applies in North America. In Central and South America some corals don't follow the "rule" (e.g Wiid's coral snake).
CAJUNLAWYER
Member
Not a Texas Aggie. That being said both my sister in law and her children are Aggies and I must say their esprit de corps is absolutely remarkable and I mean for life. If you are a graduate of Texas A&M you are in the brother/sisterhood for life and believe me Aggies take care of each other!!!! I've seen it first hand with my niece and nephew getting jobs, etc. The Aggie nation is NOT a myth!
I'm a bit late for my advice to be helpful, but vets most definitely will give antivenin to a dog. One of my wife's three little yappers got bitten on the nose by a small diamondback last year. I was at work, and she hauled her off to the emergency vet clinic where the dog was given antivenin and a steroid injection as well. She recovered just fine and is no worse for the experience. My wallet is $800 lighter, though.
A friend has had several larger dogs bitten by diamondbacks over the years. None of them were treated by a vet, and all survived after being sick and swollen up for a couple of days.
A friend has had several larger dogs bitten by diamondbacks over the years. None of them were treated by a vet, and all survived after being sick and swollen up for a couple of days.
My cat got bit on the paw...it swelled up horribly. Vet gave him some pain killers and sent us home. There was a young dog that was also there at the same time. He got bit in the face twice...He got anti venom and a pain killers. Poor guy was howling for a long time. He was spending the night. I'm not sure how much exactly, but from what I gathered that anti venom shot is very expensive.
I was leading the pack string out of the Trinity Alps Wilderness area one year and tied up at the pack station at the Hobo Gulch Trailhead. The folks that ran the pack station there had a little Australian Shepherd that had been bitten on the face by a Western rattlesnake. This little dog weighed about 50 pounds and its head had swollen to about the size of a volleyball. They slipped four Tylenol down its throat and hoped for the best. The little guy laid around the pack station for a few days but then recovered completely.
You have to remember that a snake's venom is programmed to kill things like rats and mice, not dogs, and from most of the stories I've heard, most dogs seem to recover.
Not so for horses, however. Horses are usually bitten when they're out grazing and accidentally bump into one and are bitten on the nose. Their nostrils swell up and inasmuch as horses can't breathe through their mouths like a dog, they die from suffocation, not from the venom.
Anyway, it sounds like your friend's dog has a real good chance of making it.
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Sorry for the offense. It's gone.
WHOA!!! Wait just a minute!!! I didn't get to see it!! I've always felt that our ol' pard Iggy had impeccable taste when it came to pictures. C'mon on, Iggy. Post it again for the inquiring minds who've got to know!
WHOA!!! Wait just a minute!!! I didn't get to see it!! I've always felt that our ol' pard Iggy had impeccable taste when it came to pictures. C'mon on, Iggy. Post it again for the inquiring minds who've got to know!
I agree I don't like snakes but Iggys post is not offensive. And I am tired of everybody being offended.
Paseclipse
Member
My families Beagle got nailed on the back of his tongue by a Mojave green rattlesnake about a month ago. We rushed him to the vet and he spent 4 days there. Not sure how much antivenin he was given but he made it though everything. Vet bill was over $6,000 and it took him about two weeks to get back to normal.
usmc2427765
US Veteran
I spent my early , 1952-1959, summers on a farm in South Texas that was thick with rattlesnakes. Whenever one of the dogs got bit and they got bit often, my uncle would give it large doses of Penicillin that he kept in on hand for the farm animals. Seems to me most survived.
BearBio
Member
For some reason, snake venoms are particularly dangerous to primates. Maybe a Red Queen phenomenon (AKA Evolutionary Arms Race)?
Doug M.
Member
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I was not offended. Doing so requires a lot of effort in general and probably would require conduct that would in fact result in being banned.
It's just that Iggy has posted that pic a few times and judging by the responses, I am not the only one who looks at it in horrified fascination and still cannot pull their eyes away. I was flipping him some ... grief. It's good size pile of writhing rattlesnakes.
