My dog was once bitten by a Copperhead.

[tiffany73]

25. Copperhead sake

I had two of my Shih Tzu's bitten by a copperhead. My dog Bradley got the first bite and was loaded up with venom the second Shih Tzu Kinley received a dry bite because all the venom went in Bradley. We jumped in the car and headed to their vet. We went to his house because his office was closed, he met us at his vet office and gave him a shot like Benadryl . He could not give Kinley a shot because she was 8 weeks pregnant so he told me to give her a third of a Benadryl pill when we got home but she was the one who received the second bite the dry bite. Kinley had minimum swelling on the leg she was bitten on and we did find the fang marks. After about 10 hours she pretty much returned back to normal. However, Bradley who received all the venom could barley walk because he was bitten on his leg and he was very swollen on that leg and all through the front of his breast bone-upper chest area. His skin was black and it looked very bad, very scary. He was in a lot of pain, I mean a lot. He whimpered all night and cried. He still kept his appetite throughout the whole ordeal up until about 40 hours later when he started throwing up like crazy, He vomited pretty much everything we had given him after the snake bite. Then I started calling around for emergency vets since my vet is closed on Sundays and he had just seen him that Friday evening and he only gave him the one shot with no after treatment, I wanted to take him to an emergency clinic that was able to provide more services. We ended up driving almost 2 hours to an emergency hospital in Greensboro NC. They took him in and checked his blood and done X-Rays. All of his blood work was pretty good considering he had been bitten by a venous snake. He was given an antibiotic to take home, a pill to settle his stomach, and pain killers. What makes me so mad is my own hometown vet did not give him any pills for pain or any antibiotics to take home when we rushed him there on Friday. One thing to do that helps a snake bitten victim is to give them pedeilyte constantly and keep them hydrated after a snake bite. The emergency vet told me that most time the typical copperhead will not kill your dog but it is always best to take your dog to an emergency animal hospital right away because they need to check his blood and do labs to make sure his kidneys, liver, blood cells are in a normal range. That is how they can tell if your dog is in any organ failure due to the potion of the snake. Their life depends on the age of your pet and how well you keep them hydrated through the ordeal. He still feels bad and it has been over 50 hours. He had muscle tremors, very weak, and all he wants to do is sleep. The first night he was bitten he cried all night from the pain. He was agitated all night and was very restless. It is a very scary ordeal and makes your dog very sick if they get the venom. I do know if it were a puppy or an older dog they may not have made it. Mine is still not out of the woods yet and he is four years old. Keep some Benadryl on hand and if they are small dogs give them a third of a pill right away if they are bitten. Make sure they have plenty of fluids and get them to an animal emergency hospital. The cost was 700 dollars but if it will help it is worth it and I know I have done all I can to help him.