snakebit dog!

[Jon K.]

Some of you might remember Princess the "tongueless dog".

Well, when we took her to the Vet (for a scheduled tune-up) and the vet declared that she had heartworms and must be treated. Shoot!

So we did the treatment, and have to keep her quiet for a few weeks. We keep her on a leash to prevent her from running.

The wife was walking with Princess Saturday afternoon when she took note of our other dog "Chance" barking at something on the ground. So naturally the wife ambled over to see what Chance was barking at. It was a snake. Of course Princess the super-dog charges in headfirst and gets bit!

The snake escaped, but obviously it was venomous, and the general size, behavior and coloration (as it was described to me) lead me to believe it was a pygmy rattler. Just maybe a juvenile cottonmouth, but a bit out of place for that.

Apparently dogs are naturally resistant to snakebite, I called my sister (a vet's wife in Arkansas) and she asked that we watch for secondary infection, but assured us that Princess will be OK.

The swelling has gone down quite a bit by now, so we feel pretty good about it, but what am I going to do with this stupid, stupid, stupid dog? :whiner:

The attachment shows some residual swelling on the left side of the mouth.

Hey Zio; wanna trade?

 

[Danman]

That dog has some bad luck. I hope she will be O.K. I did not know that dogs could naturaly fend off a snake bit. All snakes bit, but not all are vemonous. It may not have been a venomous one. The young ones are more venomous than the big ones.

 

[truespode]

We had a doberman that got snakebit once. His head swelled up the size of a rottweiler. It was funny after we found out he'd be ok.

Ivan

 

[Treejumper]

Glad to hear she'll be ok. I too didnt know about the snakebit thing. You need a camera with red eye reduction as that dog looks devilish. :)

 

[zio]

Jon, I'll keep zia for now. But if things change, I'll let you know.

 

[Jon K.]

Originally posted by Tree jumper
Glad to hear she'll be ok. I too didnt know about the snakebit thing. You need a camera with red eye reduction as that dog looks devilish. :)

Yep; that thar is one of them Killer Cocker Spaniels that I have heard about of late! :p

Apparently dogs do indeed have a high natural resistance to snake venom. But Dan; it was definately venomous, as the swelling will attest to.

We have no animosity toward snakes, as the attachment will show. That is my baby girl with a speckled king snake.

Princess is all better this evening!

Zio; :laugh:

 

[ktmboy]

Originally posted by zio
Jon, I'll keep zia for now. But if things change, I'll let you know.

 

 :laugh: Does your wife know about this? :laugh:  She's gotta be a heck of a woman to put up with your humor! :thumb:

 

[Jaybird]

Glad to hear your pooch is going to be OK!

Our vet keeps some copperhead and rattlesnake anti-venom on hand. Apparently cannines are better at fending off snake venom than we are, however they can suffer from alergic reactions to the venom.
Vet says it's better to go ahead and give em a dose if you are certain of the snake that bit them, especially lil bitty dawgs.