[mel]

Only this time it wasn't a run in with a pit bull, it was with a Copperhead. And judging by the size and spacing of the puncture marks it had to have been a big one. But it was dark and I didn't see the actual snake.

This time I did take her in to an animal hospital and she's spending the night there for monitoring. My poor dog is having a rough year.

[Wheatfield]

Oh wow. Your poor dog.

[JeffJS]

Fidette (feminine for Fido) sure does seem to be a bite cushion for other animals. I hope she's ok. I have to ask, were you walking her at the time? If so, and I hate to say this, better her than you. I mean, I love my dog and if he got bit by a snake (or other animal) while I was walking him, I would have him tended to but would be glad it wasn't me.

[mel]

Fidette (feminine for Fido) sure does seem to be a bite cushion for other animals. I hope she's ok. I have to ask, were you walking her at the time? If so, and I hate to say this, better her than you. I mean, I love my dog and if he got bit by a snake (or other animal) while I was walking him, I would have him tended to but would be glad it wasn't me.

Yeah, we were out for a run. I prefer running at night to morning and she LOVES to run with me. I live out in a woodsy area where most lots are foresty and over an acre in size. She went in to a brushy area for her constitutional, waded in, jumped, and ran back out, went on for several yards alright then started limping badly. It got worse and worse and finally I had to find a place to leave her and sprint home to get the car.

I don't go into the brushy areas where the snakes hide. I'm betting she won't any more either. Fortunately she's big and the vet said that Copperheads are rarely lethal to dogs her size.

[MRRiley]

Dang Mel... Sure hope she is OK. Keep us posted.

Mike

[RioRico]

Some years ago... it's early July, late afternoon. We're car-camping at the edge of wilderness near Lava Beds Nat'l Mon in northeastmost California. Our dobergirl Valkyrie and rotty-dober Grendel and golden Jake are playing in the rocks and shrubs. Then we hear a rattle, and a bark-cry, and Val runs out with puncturs on her snout. That thar is diamondback rattlesnake country. T'warn't nothing we could do then but feed her antibiotics and painkillers, keep her upright so she doesn't drown in mucus.

Next morning she's still alive, her head swollen to the size of a football. We tore down camp, threw everything in the back of the Land-Bruiser, drove an hour to the highway, then another hour to the nearest town in Oregon, found the only vet. He shot her full of more meds and said we'd done the right thing, we couldn't have gotten any help the night before anyway because he'd been up in Klamath Falls watching the 4th of July fireworks. And the rattler had most likely struck something not too long before; not much venom.

We camped by a cold lake east of Mt Shasta for the next week, watching Val recover as we dared the waters and listened to shortwave radio. Fearless tabby Petrushka had fun catching squirrels, and we didn't encounter any more rattlers. Just as well. But Val was goofy for the rest of her life. Years before, her mother Athena and I were fiercely stung about our heads by wasps, then Val got her snake-head -- I guess we're all ADDLED BY VENOM.

[mel]

Thanks for the story. My dog (Justice) is already pretty goofy so I can live with some additional goofiness. Copperhead venom is an anticoagulant and rarely lethal to dogs her size (labrador). The tests this morning indicated that she's clotting normally so all's well there. However, her foreleg (bit on the paw) is swollen up to the elbow joint. Hopefully I'll be able to take her home tonight. It's going to be a little while before she can go on runs with me though.

[Ratmagiclady]

*sympathetic whine.* Poor doggie!

[opfor]

Copperheads can be really nasty. It's good that the dog is OK.