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Need Some Reassurance - My Dog Was Bitten By A Tiger Snake Yesterday&a


beenie
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HI,

haven't been here for ages, but need some friendly reassurance today!

My 19mth old Wheaten Terrier was bitten by a tiger snake yesterday morning! Thankfully I was home at the time as was able to rush her to the vet within 10 mins of the bite (after having to blast her with the hose to get her to leave the bloody snake alone and stop playing with it :rolleyes: ) and she had anti-venine straight away. She was responding well by yesterday afternoon, but has some blood in her urine. She spent the night at Advanced Vet Care in Kensington, and I took her back to my vet this morning where she'll stay for another 24-36 hours on the drip and having tests done. The vets all seem pretty confident she'll recover well, and they're running CK, kidney, urine tests today so I'm pretty sure they're doing all they should/can (given my complete ignorance of these things)....but you know, I still worry!! :laugh: The vet commented that they don't usually find a puncture site, and he'd never actually found one on a dog....but they did yesterday!

For what it's worth she was bitten in our backyard, we live in Greensborough near the Plenty River, but not in a rural area, actually less than 1km from the main shopping plaza - so if you live in the area please be aware that snakes are on the move!

Fingers crossed for my baby!!

Edited by beenie
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A dog I bred was bitten by a brown snake a couple of years ago and survived with no ill effects. She was at the vet within 15 minutes of being bitten and after treatment was kept on a drip for a couple of days. Her owner was instructed to keep her very quiet for a month once she returned home.

ETA she was bitten on one of her flews.

Edited by Miranda
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sounds as though you were 'lucky' though you probably dont feel like it right now! Honestly, with the bites we treat if the pet is alive when it arrives and owners consent to treatment as needed, they generally go home again. I can recall only 1 lovely siamese that we pts after days of battling, after 4 vials of antivenom we just werent getting a response. Compare him to the dozens we treated every year, odds are excellent.

The biggest thing I always stress is following aftercare instructions. We once hospitalised an Akita that was successfully treated following tiger snake bite at the owners local vet and discharged. Owners took it out for a run = massive myolosis = 6 weeks at an emergency centre and $20,000 bill (we stopped billing them after 4 weeks, the boss just felt too mercenary). Ouch all round..

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Thanks for all your replies, it does make it better to know others are thinking of us!

Lucknow, thanks for reinforcing that for me, she'll be kept in her crate or by my side for as long as the vet tells me to!! The LAST thing I want is for her to suffer anymore than she has already (or for us to loose her :grouphug: don't even want to think of it) Waiting to hear from the vet this afternoon with an update, hopefully all is well and she'll be home tomorrow :D

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Thanks for all your replies, it does make it better to know others are thinking of us!

Lucknow, thanks for reinforcing that for me, she'll be kept in her crate or by my side for as long as the vet tells me to!! The LAST thing I want is for her to suffer anymore than she has already (or for us to loose her :eek: don't even want to think of it) Waiting to hear from the vet this afternoon with an update, hopefully all is well and she'll be home tomorrow :laugh:

How is your girl today, Beenie? I hope that the news is good for you both.

I don't live too far from you so I'm doubly concerned.

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Hope you have good news Beenie. My girl was bitten by a 2 metre brown yesterday so I know how you feel. She's passed the night fine and all tests have come back 100% OK so far, so she's coming home shortly - does this sound right to others, I'm just wondering because of the comment above about being on a drip for 24-26 hours, she's only been at the vet for a bit over 12 hours.

The bite mark is apparently very obvious just below her elbow :eek:

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Hope you have good news Beenie. My girl was bitten by a 2 metre brown yesterday so I know how you feel. She's passed the night fine and all tests have come back 100% OK so far, so she's coming home shortly - does this sound right to others, I'm just wondering because of the comment above about being on a drip for 24-26 hours, she's only been at the vet for a bit over 12 hours.

The bite mark is apparently very obvious just below her elbow :thumbsup:

Depends on wheather it was just a quick strike or the snake had a good old chew.

Lovely to hear that all is well.

We all live with the fear of snake bite when we live in a rural or semi rural area.

Snakes seem to crop up in some unusual places.

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Hope you have good news Beenie. My girl was bitten by a 2 metre brown yesterday so I know how you feel. She's passed the night fine and all tests have come back 100% OK so far, so she's coming home shortly - does this sound right to others, I'm just wondering because of the comment above about being on a drip for 24-26 hours, she's only been at the vet for a bit over 12 hours.

The bite mark is apparently very obvious just below her elbow :thumbsup:

Maybe a 'dry bite'? not all bites equal envenomation. If tests are all normal, particularly blood clotting time given type of snake, then hopefully all well and good. Was a snake bite detection kit run? If so that should tell pretty definitavely if envenomation occurred. Or of course many owners elect to monitor for symptoms closely and treat with antivenom if they occur (preferably at the vet of course, which you have already done..)Good luck!

and PS , snakes are really active atm, we had our first bite case in September and have had several already but none at all last summer (the clinic I work at has emergency on call so not a huge caseload), last night one of the local AEC's had 2 in during the evening alone..

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She collapsed and actually stopped breathing in the car and was in severe shock when she got to the vet, but antivenom given so we can only suppose it's a lucky combo of a snake that wasn't that serious and quick action.

All seems fine so far - hope the same can be said for your's Beenie

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She collapsed and actually stopped breathing in the car and was in severe shock when she got to the vet, but antivenom given so we can only suppose it's a lucky combo of a snake that wasn't that serious and quick action.

All seems fine so far - hope the same can be said for your's Beenie

....and she's already coming home???

I've never heard of any snake bite victim with those symptoms recovering so quickly.

maybe she's just exceptionally lucky :(

Hope she continues to improve for you.

This is amazing but AWESOME :(

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Wow Sandra! I hope your dog is ok!! Given what we've just been through it seems very early to be going home??? :o Did they run urine tests or muscle tests???

Willow is still at the vet on the drip - looking MUCH happier today and yesterday when I went in for some cuddles :-) She's been reluctant to eat, they've offered her everything they have - wet, dry, puppy, cat, and I even took some bbq chicken which she ate half a handfull of then refused! We're hoping she'll eat some more through the day. She still has moderate protiens in the urine today and the vet is keen to keep her there another day or so on the drip - mainly as I have two young kids and it is easier to keep her quiet and calm at the vets, and the more fluids she has the better protected her kindneys will be :-)

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China is absolutely fine today Went out for a pee yesterday arvo, strutted across to the scene of the crime, hackles up,, tail up - peed, scratched her back feet, strutted around, pooped, scratched her back feet then stalked up and down the fence where the snake went back through as if she was saying ''come out and fight like a man you cowardly &^%!!"

I have nothing to compare it too but if she hadn't collapsed you would swear she'd never actually got bitten the way she's acting, and it wasn't the excitement of the 'chase' or anything like that, she's always been a hunter. It is seriously weird and I really hope it means she is OK.

The vet did urine and clotting tests, all normal.

Reluctant to eat - nope, not China :o

(obviously we're keeping her quiet and doing as we were told regardless of how she says she feels!)

Edited by Sandra777
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How scary for you!!! Glad she seems ok and I hope she starts eating soon! I am sure she will, she probably feels a bit off colour though and sad not to be home with her Mummy.

Gosh this is worst nightmare especially if it happens when I am not home. Luckily we don't get lots of venomous snakes around our area although we are not far from the bush. We do get pythons though :o

ETA - Glad your baby is fine too Sandra, brown snakes are scary scary!

Edited by Keira&Phoenix
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