Rattlesnake

The top two craziest snake bites I’ve seen ( both rattlers) were early on in my career when I started shifting to ER only .

One was a blue heeler in July . Lady and dog were jogging when they came across the Timber in the trail . Dog started barking at it and subsequently was bitten .
When the dog showed up at the clinic he was non-responsive had a bunch of micro bruising showing up on the ears and gums and leaking what can only be described as strawberry jelly out of its ass. .. dog had no visible puncture wounds or swelling anywhere.
Dog presented more like a heatstroke than a snakebite . I asked the lady if she was 100% sure he was bitten vs just seeing a snake as a coincidence to heatstroke. She swore dog was bitten .
We bloused him a dose of antivenin and as soon as that first vial finished it was about like a boxer getting ammonia salts up the nose .
Dog stayed with us a view days developed a baseball sized necrotic area right over the jugular. Makes me assume the way he presented and how bad his labs were that he got a direct injection of venom IV


Second one was a Jack Russell died as soon ad we got him on the triage table. Had 2 oozing fang marks that measured 2.75 apart right over the apex of the heart (bit in the ribcage) . You could just watch that whole area turn purple all the way up to his shoulder blade .
I suspect that big rattler was trying to make that Jack Russell a meal vs a defensive bite
 
Just one of the many joys of a July Alabama night about two to three days after a heavy rain.

We do average about two bites a night routinely
Holy cow! You have more experience treating snake bites in dogs than anyone I've ever heard discuss the subject. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing but I'm positive it has been educational. Thanks for doing what you do. Sometimes dogs deserve better than their owners.
 
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