Most of you know, our God-doggy Butkus was
bit by a rattlesnake this week. It's been my worst fear since moving to
AZ 3 years ago. My husband had already gone through a rattlesnake bite
with one of his dogs years ago (when we were still dating), so he was a
little (okay a lot) less frantic than I, that night. But for those who
haven't gone through the ordeal yet, I figured I would chronicle our
process to help you prepare in case the dreaded deed ever happens to
your pets (kitties included).
About 7:30pm, my
husband and I returned home from dinner and let the dogs outside to go
use the bathroom, around 7:45pm he went to let them in and found Butkus
throwing a baby snake up in the air, playing with it. Turns out it was a
(now dead) baby western diamondback rattler - very small, about 8"
long. I closely inspected all the dogs faces, as that's where they are
almost always bitten. Butkus was the only one with a slobbery mouth
with dirt. After a few more minutes, I inspected them again, looking
under their chins, flipping their lips up and looking inside. Sure
enough, Butkus had a tiny little puncture that oozed clear fluid when
squeezed - within a few minutes, localized swelling around the puncture
started to occur. It was almost 8pm at that time. All of our local
animal hospital were closed so my husband and I headed to Tucson with
extra blankets (for the excessive drool to come) and a headlamp (to
visually monitor the swelling progress while we were in the car). I
called the animal ER in Tucson to let them know we were coming and when
to expect us.
Upon arriving at the ER, a tech
quickly came out to ask questions and whisk Butkus away to take vitals.
It was a busy night so we had to wait around 90 minutes to meet the
doctor. They ran a test to confirm Butkus had venom in his system
(25-33% of snake bites are 'dry' .. meaning no venom) and sure enough he
did, so we left him there for the night with the authorization to do
everything/anything needed. The following morning, I spoke with the
Doctor on the phone who said he was doing so well clinically, he was
safe to go home (after only being there 12 hours) and I was on my way to
pick him up.
So important things to know if you ever find yourself and your furry loved ones in this situation:
*Do
your best to find out what kind of venomous snake it was. In our area,
the western diamondback seems to be the most prevalent biter, but we
also have the green mojave's which have a different type of venom. A
mojave snake bite is EXTREMELY urgent as they also contain neurotoxins
which makes it the most deadly of the North American snakes.
*Get your pet to the hospital as soon as possible! And call them to let them know you're on your way, so they can prepare.
*Try
to prepare yourself for the estimate. A bottle of anti-venom is around
$800. Then there are hospitalization costs (this is pretty much
covering the cost of a tech being available to your pet at all times,
and monitoring vitals throughout the night). Then there are IV fluids
which need to be administered throughout the stay, as well as bloodwork
to monitor platelet counts and blood clotting times throughout the
hospitalization. As well as pain medications. I always tell people to
prepare for a $2,000 bill. Sometimes more, and seldomly less.
*Once
discharged and sent home, your pet will be put on antibiotics (because
snake fangs aren't the cleanest things in the world) and oral pain
medications. Swelling from the bite/venom will go down in time. Your
pet will continue to be at a 'bleeding' risk for a few days. In some
cases, skin around the bite site will start to slough off days to weeks
after the bite, but new healthy skin will start to come in again.
*To
help prevent this from ever happening, recruit a reputable snake
avoidance trainer and make sure they do the three-fold training: scent
training, silent rattlesnake training, and audible rattlesnake training.
This is important as not all rattlers actually 'rattle', but just sit
their quietly with no audible cue that they may strike.
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