snake stuff

[mustistuff]

in as much as there is an interest in these fella's, and some recent post made by me and a few others, a week ago I stated that I would be fishing shortly with my friend, a vet, and one that at least years ago in texas worked in a clinic that treated about 3 dogs per week. that said, that while on the way fishing here is what he, we, came up with. copperhead rarely kill dogs, like maybe 10%. there is no data bank that tracks dogs and snake bites, everything is a guess, not all snakes have venom, no difference between venom in a large snake or a small snake, snake and dog training works if the dog lucks out and sees the snake, many dogs are bitten without that luck, anti venom may or may not work even if available and given short of a 4 hour time period, infection is a serious problem, the science is lacking as to whether snake shots are worth the trouble, cost, or that they even work any of the time. if in the field an antihistamine should be tried and a heavy dose of antibiotics should be given, cost treating a dog is likely to run well over $2000 with not a lot of hope in the dog being saved and or usable later, the vet treating the dog has no way of knowing whether or not there is in fact venom in the dog without sending out to a lab and getting the results two weeks later, the dogs that the vets are able to save can't usually tell you with a straight face that what they did and charged for saved the dog or not, the dog may very well have a serious reaction to the serum and then that would have to be treated, again without any assurance that the dog might make it. so, I then asked him before the fish started biting, what he would do if he were me in the field in the middle of maybe nowhere and his mutt got attacked. pray mostly and hope for the 75-80 % survival rate, get the dog out of the field, rested, antihistamine and antibiotic, water if possible and wait. this little rambling is not meant to tell to what you should do but things to consider, and somewhat your odds, and don't let anybody tell you what the real scoop is cause it ain't known. snakes are a probem, maybe, surely some areas more than others, the fact remains that your mutt is in far greater risk of getting shot while hunting, getting in a road and run over, and even greater are the odds of being injured in vehicle accident coming and going. anyway

cheers

 

[Toad]

I would agree with pretty well all of that, and my vet gave me the same advice for treating a copperhead bite. Other snakes may be more serious, I am sure, but for copperheads it sounds like the best thing to do is administer children's liquid benadryl, and just keep a close eye on the dog to make sure he doesn't swell to the point that it affects his breathing. Don't panic, and calmly drive the dog to the vet for antibiotics.

Anything can and will happen to a dog on a hunting trip. Hell, last year my little brit got her face ripped open by a friggin' squirrel!

My biggest fear when hunting has always been heatstroke, but at least that one is preventable.

:cheers:

 

[wolfcreeknc]

About 10 years ago we had a very healthy 4 years old Golden that stayed in our fenced back yard. I went outside and saw him limping some and looked at his foot/paw. He has swelling above the ankle and a little blood spot (only one). At first glance I thought bee sting but it was pretty swollen and the blood/piercing had me concerned. Called the vet and said I suspected a possible snake bite with only one fang. He said to come in and he checked it out. He too suspected a snake bite but with the size of our dog (about 90 lbs and very healthy) he said I had two options: spend some significant dollars several vials of anti-venom or give him a shot of antihistamine and keep an eye on him. He thought the antihistamine route was the best so we did that. All turned out well. As a note, we have copperhead and timber rattlers around here so can't be sure which on did it.
So lots of truth in keeping antihistamine with you; dogs that are healthy and larger fair well with bites.
Now a joke: Do you know the best thing to wear in snake country???
a second pair of underware