I'm pleased to report that the Divine Ms. N successfully avoided a rattlesnake this week, barking and getting between me and the snake and doing everything she should have done, based on her training. Good Girl!
That said, I pulled this clip from the internet for posterity:
Blanche was bitten by an unidentified snake and rushed to the vet, who said Blanche would be at the clinic for about three days. Blanche’s vet used an aggressive intravenous (IV) fluid protocol she’s had good luck with previously for venomous bites.
“They gave Blanche a shot of some type of anti-inflammatory, a shot of pain killer, a shot of antibiotic, and then started her on an IV for fluid therapy. The drip was set pretty fast at the beginning in order to get it to the kidneys quickly, and then I suppose it was backed off after a time. They kept the fluids going for about 24 hours and then checked her blood work and level of swelling.” Blanche was very lucky and the swelling went down; she was even released from the hospital a day early. “Then she was on antibiotics (Baytril) for 10 days and pain killers (Metacam) until I could see that she wasn't in pain and the swelling was totally gone, which happened a few days after coming home.” Snake bites are quite painful.
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While antivenin is available for veterinary use, it would have cost Johnson in excess of $800 style and the veterinarian has to know what type of snake bit Blanche if the antivenin were to have a chance of doing any good. “You have 72 hours to make the decision about antivenin,” says Johnson. “If after a day or so there is no progress with fluid therapy, it might make sense to try the antivenin if you have the money to give it a try.” Since Blanche did well with fluid therapy, there was no need for antivenin.
