TO VET OR NOT TO VET?

[WOTANSMUTTI]

Here I sit, in the middle of the night watching to see if Wotan is swelling anywhere.

About 30 mins ago I took him out for his last pee and he was slow getting in. He was having some sort of fun in the yard, so I got my flashlight to see what. Yep. A rattlesnake. It wasn't coiled and looked annoyed but not rattling. I was hoping, as I dashed over to get Wotan (who growled at ME for wrecking his fun) that he hadn't been bitten. I'm still on patrol...

The snake has been dispatched with the help of my trusty .22 and a shovel. Oh what lives we lead.
Of course, I'll let ya'll know how this ends.
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[~8DachsieAngels~]

Gosh i just hate snakes i have seen more this year than i care to count but luckily they were not rattlers but your common run of the mill black snakes ... which Rosie my hunter quickly exterminates... i really wish she wouldnt mess with them cuz im afraid one day she will get a poisonous one and then she will be in real trouble... she always kills them (ewwwww) and then leaves them on the steps to the deck... (yuck) so when i get up in the morning i see her kill... its so gross... but they are bred to hunt and shes living proof of that. Anyways i hope Wo is ok im sure if he was bitten you would know it he would have squeeled or have a mark or something... Good luck keep us updated http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/smile.gif

Jen

[WOTANSMUTTI]

The big scare has passed- but I am red-eyed and had a horrible nightmare about Wo getting sucked under a house by a deluge of water- and then I could hear him whining!

Whenever I have anxiety about anything I always have dreams of losing Wotan<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm6.gif" border=0>
Well, Wotan wanted back "out" to sniff out his big hunt scene and then discovered I tossed the deader-than-a-doornail rattler over the fence. He was actually trying to bite through the wire to get to the carcass while stomping down what's left of my flowers with his fragrant but large feeties.

All's well that ends well as the cliche goes.

Over and out!<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm39.gif" border=0>

[Roxane]

Good news, Sonja. In the for what it's worth dept; a friend's Dobe took one on the muzzle from a mountain rattler last year and the swelling began almost immediately. Her vet treated the problem with no after-effects for the dog.
Can't you attract some 4 legged varmints so that Wo leaves the slithery things alone? Let's hear it for woodrats!
Roxane

[dutchman]

It's great to hear Wotan didn't get bit. I'm impressed if you an hit a mad rattler with a 22. The Vet Teaching Hospital here keeps a supply of anti venom on hand so at least I know where to go if we ever have an accident. I'm not sure with our guys size how much time we would have but I guess that would depend on a number of things. I understand the anti venom is rather expensive but not when are little ones lives are at stake. There was a story in the paper a couple of years ago about a local dog (I can't remember what breed) who got bit while protecting a toddler from a rattler in their back yard. The dog was treated at the VTH and made a full recovery.

As far as those four legged varmints I'm not so sure how safe they are in this area. About every other year since I moved to my current home I've received letters from the city telling us that the plague has been found in the prairie dog colony just across the road from us and what signs to look for in both yourself and your animals. Of course that colony is now gone since they started building a large water detention pond (for flood control) at that location.

I haven't taken they boys to the nearby areas where prairie dogs can be found since I suspect they may want to go to ground after the little barkers. Besides not knowing what diseases the dogs may be harboring this year the prairie dog holes are also places rattlers like to hang out in the heat of the days. In the winters around here I would be leery of letting the boys run off lead (not they rally get to any way) since we have adult bald eagles that like to fly over our open space looking for an easy meal.

Tell Wotan to return to the wood rat patrol if the rat population goes down perhaps the snakes wont's be as attracted to the area.

Tom, Frank, and Tanner

[Mark]

Hi Sonja,

I'm so glad Wotan is OK . . . I don't blame you for being scared . . . who among us wouldn't be?

Mark

[Mrs.F]

Wotan - big hunter,

You need to go back to other, safer pastimes! We might be able to send you a nice big package of moose poop, or perhaps some of those annoying grasshoppers that bounce up and bop us on the bottom when we're trying to go ...... ahem.... Anyway, all of us up here in Maine are REALLY glad that you are OK!

Maggie & Penny

[Penny's Aunt]

I have heard that people who have cats usually don't have rattlesnakes. I don't know if it is true or not. I know our cats are constantly after the little garter snakes around here. Of course, they consider them as play-toys.

Snakebites do usually swell quite fast. How fast the venom affects the dog often depends on where they are hit. A dog bitten on the tongue just doesn't have much of a chance. Being bitten directly into a vein I heard is usually fatal within 15 minutes. In a bite in the muscle (the usual), the venom is not transported by the blood vessels but the lymph system, which moves more slowly.

One thing that aggrevates me considerably is seen on TV & put in books: about putting a tourniquet on the arm or leg after a snakebite. The snakebite tourniquet is NOT THE SAME as a severed-artery tourniquet.

The snakebite tourniquet is just to slow the venom from moving through the lymph system. You place it between the bite & the heart. The major difference is that a snakebite tourniquet needs to be loose enough to slide a finger under -- much looser than a blood tourniquet.

If you live in rattlesnake country, talk to your vet about it.

p.s. The smaller the body, the more antivenin they need, so don't think your vet is doing something wrong if he gives two doses.

p.p.s. It is a fallacy that cats can't be treated for snakebite.

<font color="#00FFFF" font size="1">[This message has been edited by Penny's Aunt (edited August 24, 2000).]</font>

[WOTANSMUTTI]

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Thanks all for your kind words and imput.A couple of years ago the neighbor's dog, a big huskey got dinged on the head by a snake. This guy didn't believe in taking the poor dog to the vet and her head swelled up something fierce. She was a half grown pup at the time- but still big enough to survive it.

With a dachsie or cat I would be afraid-especially if a hatchling or baby snake bit. They shoot their whole wad of venom at a go and they are just as toxic. We had a cat for 6 years and had more rattlers than these last two that KeeKee has been gone. We did have fewer woodrats...

The big dogs and the cat knew enough to stay clear of snakes-the cat liked to chew on lizards. Diva, the lab, will actually jump up in the air 3 feet backwards if she even sees a garden hose move. I told you she's smart. <IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm13.gif" border=0>

Wotan, on the other paw, would think snakes are another source of amusement put on this earth just for him to enjoy!

Dutchman! I feel sure that the prairie dog warren would be a wonderful place for dachsies to get into all sorts of trouble that would make their Hoomans crazy and eventually land us in the poor house from vet bills. Yes, I will pay whatever for any of my animals. Heck- I even took my lizard in when he was feeling punk. I had 4 months of vet bills to pay for my old gander that died of some sort of a liver dysfunction. They autopsied him and still never found out why he died. I used to call that bill "Revenge of the Muck".

What we've noticed here is that when other snakes move in rattlers usually move out.The competition for food is too much for them. They are actually more delicate than we think. If it hadn't been night and Frank would have been home, we would have caught him and hauled him up the road to the forest and dumped him. As it was, rattlers are pretty territorial and I knew this one wasn't going anywhere and might get Wo some other time. I popped him and then shoveled him over the fence. Wotan wants him baaaaaad. Snake Jerky, anyone? http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/facelick.gif

[wireweiners]

Hi Sonja

Pippin has stuck to king snakes and the occasional garter snake. We have never faced a poisonous snake, thank goodness.<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm24.gif" border=0> When Katie was younger, I dabbled a little with search and rescue until the job got in the way. We had to take 1st aid for both humans and k9's. The guy that taught the 1st aid course said that about 80% of snake bites on larger animals including humans are "dry" bites, little or no venom. On humans, he said to draw a circle around the bite with a pen to help guage the swelling. The vet that taught the k9 1st aid said that most dogs will survive snake bites unless it is a large snake and a small dog. The most dangerous part of the bite is the risk of infection. Benedryl is the 1st aid agent as it will help control the swelling. Many vets do not keep antivenom on hand as it is expensive and does not keep long so they have to get it from a human hospital. It is important to identify the snake as different snake venoms have different effects on different body systems.

Glad Wotan the Terrible is fine. <IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm35.gif" border=0>