Snake Bit

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Not me this time but, LBJ got nailed last night.  We got home about 9 pm and there was a deer in the rose garden having a lite dinner.  So LBJ jumped out of the truck to run it off.  She was gone about 45 min then came to the back door.  I let her in and noticed a drop of blood on the right side of her face.  It was tender to the touch and soon started swelling.  I figure she came across a Copperhead but I do not know for sure.  I found no dead snakes in the rose garden but she did go off after the deer.  This morning she would not get up to go to work so I gave her the day off since wife is home.  I went home at lunch and she did eat a hot dog with me and went out to pee.  She sure looks bad and you can tell she hurts.  Just have to ride it out.  If she lives we will both be 3 for 3 now.


 

[Larry]

I bet she will be alright as most dogs can live through a snake bite if they are young and in good health.  We had a weiner dog get bit right above the eye by a big rattler, and our doberman got bit in the leg.  We got the vet to give a shot to fight the swelling and infection.  Both dogs still had a lot of swelling along with pain.  Week to 10 days later they had full recoveries.

Hope LBJ does well...she will remember not to cross the path of a snake again though.

[Dan_Shade]

ack, I hope she pulls through.

[LOGDOG]

Arky,

   On March 28th my Akita got bit twice by a copperhead. It was night but under the security light we have up and she just didn't see it. She stepped on it and it got her. Those darn copperheads camoflauge so darn well. She took two in the paw and it swelled super fast. It was 9 p.m. and we tossed her in the car and took her to the Animal emergency hospital. By the time we got there her paw was about 2-3 times the size of normal. They gave her a shot for pain and swelling - Diphenhydramine & Butorphanol. Then she was prescribed 42 Cephalexin 500 mg each and 8 Rimadyl 100mg each.

   Those snake bites are nasty - especially in the face or neck. Fast treatment is key to a full recovery without neurological damage. My total bill for all the meds and emergency visit was $280.00 - a small price to pay to keep her healthy. She's recovered 100% now. I hope you can get LBJ in to the vet and that she makes it through. DANG copperheads!

LOGDOG

[Danny Dimm]

I went to Tanzania a few winters ago. Took my dog, Diesel, with. [115 lb Rotty] He was a big hit with the folks there. I biggest concern was that he would run into a poisonous snake. He don't know about snakes. Stuck his nose to close to a 7' pyton and got bit three times. Then the fight was on. Had my hands full tryin to catch the snake and keep the dog from killing it at the same time. It ended well. Did talk to an american biologist that lives in Iringa and they had a dog about the same weight as mine. Got tagged on the nose by a black mamba. Made it about thirty feet before it died. Now that's a serious snake. Good thing is, it don't hurt. You just go all tingley, then you die.

[easymoney]

 here in the good old us of a they release rattle snakes into the wild saying we need more rattlers in the woods. the dumbest idea i have heard of. it is even against the law to kill one. i feel the only good rattler is a dead one.

[woodmills1]

must be the winters but snakes are thin up here

[Radar67]

easymoney, just where is this happening? I don't know of a law or release program around here.

[TexasTimbers]

How's she doin Arky?

Woodmills we have another bumper crop of snakes this year. We also have more frogs than I have ever seen this year. Almost like a science fiction movie at one point last month. Lots of field mice too, but not as many mosquitos. That doesn't make sense. No complaints though. I'll takes snakes and rats and frogs over skeeters anyday.

Hope 'ol Lyndon Baines is hanging tough . . . . .

[asy]

Arky, that's awful news, please keep us updated, I sure hope she's OK.

asy

[fishman]

arky, give her some Albon, 1cc. to 5 lbs. body weight, for 3 days, will help with swelling and infection, you will to get from vet or make a road to here, we keep it on hand,  good luck,    Bill

[Jeff]

I sure hope LBJ does O.K.  I'm sure glad we ain't got that concern for our dogs up here.

Hope 'ol Lyndon Baines is hanging tough . . . . .

Arky's LBJ stands for Lucky Beagle, Junior.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  LBJ looks like she will live now.  She started eating and drinking Sat afternoon a little but still looked really bad.  She got up and out of the house Sunday for a little bit.  She is a lot better today and came to the mill with me.  She has not been out chasing critters in the log yard but she is getting around good.
  This is her third bite and I was a little worried becasue she is 7 years old now.  Her mother was 7 or 8 when she died of a snake bite to the throat.  I do not take them to the Vet for such things.  The dog will live or die on about the same average reguardless of care.  I know it sounds cold blooded but I do love the little dog and she is with me like my shadow almost all the time.  But I have seen people spend lots of money on a dog or cat (now there is a waste of coin) to keep them alive and then they go out and get hit by a car.  I know of some who have spent more on a dog then their kids and the old poor thing just hangs in there.  Can't see or hear and just lays around hardly able to breath and every little thing they load it  up and haul it to the Vet.
  But today LBJ is still kicking and we are going to go fishing  and enjoy the day as she really likes smoked trout.

[LOGDOG]

The dog will live or die on about the same average reguardless of care. 

That's not exactly true. Sorry I have to disagree on that one. Not to mention the pain discomfort the dog feels in the meantime. For what a lot of people spend on two months cable bills a person can make their dog feel a whole lot better and give it a much better shot at a healthy future. I hope she makes a full recovery quickly all the same though. I've got a real soft spot for dogs. Hate to see any of them suffer.

LOGDOG

[LeeB]

Gee Arky, if I get snake bit will you take me fishing too?

[ARKANSAWYER]

  The first thing the Vet will ask is what kind of snake?  I did not see the snake but would guess it was a copperhead by the smell of the wound.  The other factor is time.  Here there is no emergency vet care and Doc Ponder could have been any where on a Friday night.  Since this was LBJ's third bite she has some resistance to them.  I know the pain having been bit by both Rattlers and coppers. 
  LeeB if you get bit I will take you fishing, if you live. 

[SwampDonkey]

Yesterday I saw a little garder snake curled up in the leaves. He looked cold as it was only about 60 F. It was only about 2 feet long probably, and non venomous.

[TexasTimbers]

Thanks for the correction Jeff. 

Arky I'm glad 'ol "Lucky Beagle" is okay. Sorry for the faux pas. Where I live LBJ is engrained to mean only one thing. I thought it was a little curious of you to name your dog after "him". Don't want to derail the thread but I do not care for that particular fellow Texan. Nuff said.

What I will say is that if you can sniff the bite and distinguish the scent of Copperhead venom or bacteria from any other, you and LBJ have been bit far too many times.

[Dodgy Loner]

What I will say is that if you can sniff the bite and distinguish the scent of Copperhead venom or bacteria from any other, you and LBJ have been bit far too many times.

That's the truth!  I think one bite is far too many times .  We had 2 or 3 dogs killed by rattlesnake bites when I was growing up, but copperhead venom isn't nearly as dangerous, so dogs (and humans) almost always survive, even without medical attention.

[WDH]

Arky,

I will have to send you some plants to sniff so that you can ID them for me .

[ely]

i am not sure if i have posted this before but, we had a weiner dog one time that went out and got bit on the snout. that dog was going nuts, it was a copperhead , i went over and killed it. drove over to folks house with dog and it had already started to swell. in just a few minutes time the dog had to breath out its mouth the nostrills were swelled close.
i hooked up a 4 ft piece of wire on the spark plug of my 4 wheeler  and put the plug wire back on. stood the dogs front feet on the running board.started the engine,  clamped his head down with my hand. i ran the naked end of the wire over the dogs nose several times around the bite mark. went around and around the swelling a few times too. after all the hollering and screaming quited down (mainly the wife and kids and the dog) i pitched the little guy out into the yard, he promptly hid under a car. he came out in about 20 minutes and you could not even tell he was bit. the swelling was gone and you had to look hard to find the bite marks. you have to let off the wire at times because it will kill the engine sometimes.

this works for people too. some snakes it does not work on. but on the snakes we have here in okla. it does work. probably not on coral snakes as i understand/think their venom is a neurotoxin. anyhow as a disclaimer, i am not a vet nor a doctor.
i have seen this work on spider bites as well,  my dad shocked my brother with a weedeater engine, his spider bite was already 4 hours old and as big as a golfball with the white center around the red tissue. after he was shocked several times on and around the bite he said it did not hurt anymore, the next morning it looked like a mosquito bite and went away from there.

[TexasTimbers]

. . . . you have to let off the wire at times because it will kill the engine sometimes. . . . .

It will kill the what? The engine? 

I don't care you many times you read this, it's a barrel of monkeys everytime.

 How did you ever hear of this? How was it discovered?

"Hey Pa, I got bit by a mosskin down at the fishin hole...."

"Alright son. Lemme finish supper and we'll hook you up to the hay truck for a spell and see if we can't vaporize that venom. . . . . . . ."

Spark plugs do get somewhere between 30,000 and 100,000 volts ya know! Just not much amperage so it don't kill you. .

I printed this one off.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Stun guns will do the same thing.    Most knowledgable people, metal detecting for gold, in the desert, carry a stun gun, for snake bites. 

[Radar67]

I've read the same thing about the stun guns. It has been a while, but the article was about a guy ram hunting in snake country, way off the beaten path. He had one and had to use it on his partner before the hunt was over.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  I would not hook up to a new car with a DIS system.  Them little darlings are hot.  You can hold the plug wire 6 inches from the block with a dollar bill between them and the spark will burn a hole through the dollar bill getting to the block.
  I guess next time I will bring LBJ up to the mill and hook her up to Wanda and try out the spark treatment.
  Rattlers have a musty rotten smell where they bite.  It is a sweeter smell with coppers. 
Both are hemotoxin bites and the rattles cause more rot and fall out of tissue.  Coppers seem to swell more and do not rot out as bad.  Coppers are more of a stinging sensation and rattlers are a deep slow burn.  Rattlers will give you a tummy acke so bad you can not tell which end is going to come out of.

[ely]

i knew you guys would make fun of me, but i still love you to death.

a funny ending to that story i told you, that little dog used to be the first one on the atv for aride. after that little shock therapy he would dissappear every time you turned the starter on a four wheeler.

[OneWithWood]

Arky, give LBJ a pat for me.