Snake Bite

This is a cross post from another Forum from a hunting vet. The snake proofing is from bird dogs but very good info on the subject from a vet with lots of experience.

First, let me say that I have been a vet for 23 years in N Florida. We treat probably an average of 15 snake bites a year. that would translate to over 300 snake bite cases I have treated, or been involved in. So my opinions are not based on what happened to one dog, or my neighbor's dog or even the 2 dogs that have been bitten that I personally owned. So not only have I treated a lot, but since I do treat so many, I stay current with current treatment options and what works best (based on data, not stories).

So, here goes with some absolutes about snakes. The things that follow are facts that I have either observed or read or both.
-There is no magic time for how long until treatment. get them there as soon as you safely can. I have saved dogs that were bitten 24 hours prior and had patients die that I saw within 30 minutes. The exception is if there is a bite to the tongue or inside of mouth that may cause breathing issues. I have never seen a bite to the nose cause life threatening breathing issues.

-you do not need to make any effort whatsover to "get the snake" to take it to the vet. If it is poisonous and causes swelling, we know what to do. The only other poisonous snake in FL is the coral and it does not cause swelling. Unless it is some released species and we will not have antivenin anyways.

-antivenin (antivenom) is NOT an antidote (meaning it cures). I rarely give it anymore. There are situations where I think it is best to give it. but I have found very little prediction of survival based on antivenin administration. There are some cases that are so bad, you had better use everything you have (bites to the trunk (body) of small dogs or cats).

-Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) is NEVER wrong to give and almost always, if not always, will help the patient. The liquid is nearly as fast as an injection. 1mg per pound of body weight.

-treatment by a veterinarian will ALWAYS result in less disease for the patient, in spite of what anyone says. Absolutely, many patients will survive without veterinary treatment. But snake venom is a huge protein and huge proteins are deposited on the basement membrane of the kidneys when filtered. This leads to immune related injury to the kidneys from snake bites that may not be clinically relevant, but could lead to permanent kidney damage that could affect them later in life. Intravenous fluids reduces this risk as well as keeps the patient well hydrated to get rid of the venom and reduce the toxins built up from necrotic (dead) tissue resulting from snake bites. Simply put, if you want to increase the dogs chances of survival and less long term disease, take them to the vet. If the dog is not worth that much to you, then take your chances, plenty of dogs survive with no treatment. But that means nothing for what will happen with YOUR dog (there are so many factors to consider)

-Moccasins are the least toxic, copperheads next (we have tons of them around here) and rattlesnakes are the worst. Moccasins may have more tissue toxicity-damage local tissue and pain-but they are the least toxic of the snakes. But they can still kill a dog.

-a lot of factors play a role in the odds for the dog:
*Location of bite-nose, face, head, legs, trunk of body (best to worst)
*time of year-fall snakes have been actively feeding and have less stored venom, spring snakes have more likelihood of having stored venom from less recent feeding
*amount of injection - a miss or an oblique bite that does not get full injection
*species of snake
*size of snake (more venom = more serious)
*prior history of bites improves patients odds (more immune response to the venom)
*vaccination (just don't know enough to know if this helps or not, not sure anyone can yet answer that question with anything other than a story)
*electroshock-worthless or less-may actually harm tissue, no one is really doing this anymore, but I still get asked this occassionally

-anyone, vet or otherwise, can NOT predict which dog will live and which will survive by looking at them, or even by running tests. there are just so many variables. I can often tell someone that the odds are bad or that the odds are good, but sometimes I am wrong. I still get surprised. If you have a 99% chance of survival-that means 1 in 100 die of the disease. good odds unless you are the 1.

My opinions are that antivenom is overused (easier to defend yourself in court-I gave the dog antivenin, so I did everything-but it is expensive and we probably grossly underdose it-a 12 year old human near me treated by people vets () was given 110 vials -at around $3000 per vial in humans-in dogs it is between 700-1000 each and we typically give one-they probably need many many more-I am NOT saying don't give it, I am just saying it should be decided on a case by case basis). IV fluids are the single most important factor that we can control in helping a snake bite victim recover with the minimal amount of disease, with benadryl being second. Some patients are going to die, no matter if they were in a veterinary University Teaching Hospital at the time of the bite and there is NOTHING that could have been done to save them. I have had patients die with 30 minutes of the bite (one was a Jack Russel bit in the side of the chest, the other was an American Bulldog bit between 5-10 times all over the body).

If you ask me, "What can I do to make the odds the best in my dog's favor that it will not die from a snake bite?", I would say;

a) Get your dog Snake proofed (or better yet, Snake Trained)-a defanged snake is released and the dog is taken near them and an Ecollar is used to make them want to stay the H away from snakes. It needs to be done more than once to make sure the dog is a believer. there are plenty of folks around the state that do this and it is relatively inexpensive and is well worth the effort. Should probably be repeated yearly to every other year.

b)keep benadryl in your dog first aid kit-Children's Liquid, generic is fine. Give them 1 tsp for every 12.5 pounds of body weight if they are bitten.

c)get your dog to a vet if they are bitten as soon as reasonably possible-do not be overdramatic and get in a car accident to get there, but do not stop at the dry cleaners on the way either. Proceed with due haste.

Sorry for such a long post, but I have strong opinions, based on a lot of experience, on this subject.