Post by free4rms on Feb 16, 2013 17:47:39 GMT -5
A couple of days ago, I noticed that my dog Holly (see my avatar photo) had a spot on her right hip where the fur was missing. I thought she might have been chewing at an irritated spot, so I didn't pay that much attention to it. But the next day a friend was petting Holly while she was laying in a recliner chair, and she told me to come over and take a look at Holly's bare fur spot. When I took a closer look, here is what I saw:
As soon as I saw the two tell-tale spots, I knew exactly what had happened. She had been bitten by a venomous snake. There was some circular swelling around the bite, but there was no pain sensitivity when I touched it gently, and Holly was not in any obvious discomfort. I think this was probably a "dry bite" without any venom being injected, or very little. I took her to the vet's anyway, and she prescribed some antibiotics and said she would be just fine. I live in S.C., so I suspect it was most likely a copperhead. We have rattlesnakes here, but in developed areas like mine, they are rarely seen. And we are quite a distance away from any moist environments where water moccasins might be found. And coral snakes are rarely seen here and are mostly nocturnal and subterranean. At any rate it is.... Holly: 1 and snake:0 She was really lucky since I know of at least two people who have lost dogs to snake bites in my area, one to a canebrake rattler and the other to a diamondback.
As soon as I saw the two tell-tale spots, I knew exactly what had happened. She had been bitten by a venomous snake. There was some circular swelling around the bite, but there was no pain sensitivity when I touched it gently, and Holly was not in any obvious discomfort. I think this was probably a "dry bite" without any venom being injected, or very little. I took her to the vet's anyway, and she prescribed some antibiotics and said she would be just fine. I live in S.C., so I suspect it was most likely a copperhead. We have rattlesnakes here, but in developed areas like mine, they are rarely seen. And we are quite a distance away from any moist environments where water moccasins might be found. And coral snakes are rarely seen here and are mostly nocturnal and subterranean. At any rate it is.... Holly: 1 and snake:0 She was really lucky since I know of at least two people who have lost dogs to snake bites in my area, one to a canebrake rattler and the other to a diamondback.
