Cody got bitten by a snake on his right rear paw!

[nowwown]

Well, we got Cody from our friend's horse farm after four days vacationing in sunny Cancun (luckily we didn't choose THIS week to go with Hurricane Dean coming straight through there!). He had had a blast, lots of running, kids to play with, a pond to jump in, etc. He was pretty well supervised and slept indoors at night in their house, with no problems whatsoever. He did try to herd the horses though but our friends nipped that one in the bud.

 

We noticed last Thursday night when we got him back he was pretty subdued and lethargic, and we attributed that to the "change" of coming home. By Friday morning, he was extremely lethargic, limping badly and stepping only on his tippy toes on that paw. Nothing seemed broken to us when we felt his leg, hip, etc. but when we touched him near that paw he whipped his head around to lick us...so obviously that area hurt him.

 

We decided to get him into the vet for a check. Turns out the vet thinks he stepped on a snake, which bit him on the paw, between the toes, and it got terribly infected. He said whether it was poisonous or not, snake bites create bad infections due to the incredible amount of bacteria in snakes' mouths.

 

The vet felt it was pretty quick that we had gotten him in, as the infection hadn't spread up his leg or anything. So now he's on antibiotics, a benadryl-type medication, and some awful-tasting spray that also contains some painkiller. $135 for all that.

 

Within a day he seemed like his old self, just a little more tired and lethargic. The doctor, however, said TWO WEEKS of rest. But that's nearly impossible with a BC as we all know. Yesterday we took him for several short walks and although he was very tired out after each, he did fine. I stopped running with him for the next week or so though.

 

Any other suggestions? Thanks!

[WyoBC]

That's scary. I hate snakes. I'm glad poor Cody is ok though. It's a good thing you caught it in time before it started to go up his leg. Give him a big hug for me.

[IronHorse]

My Jasmine experinced a similiar incident this spring,,she was snake bitten on her muzzle which became infected and called for a trip to the vet,,a weeks worth of antibiotics and she was fine.She was never really lethargic from the bite but it was obious that it was causing her a conciderable amount of discomfort. I know that it was a Northern watersnake that bit her so venom was never an issue.

I think what your doing is the best course of action,cut back on the execise abit and let him come back up to speed on his own time schedule.

[Tassie]

Ow - poor Cody. Glad he's feeling better - and it is possible to restrict activity, even in a BC!

 

Your title struck chills into me - here in Tasmania, all our snakes are seriously dangerous - fatal for dogs if not treated within half an hour - and sometimes even then. Most of the snakes in the rest of Australia are also lethal.

 

Luckily, my dogs are scared of snakes. I was tracking with Kirra on Sunday, and when the lead caught on some rushes and made them rustle, she leapt 3 feet into the air - I'm sure she thought it was a snake. So she had to track with half her mind on looking out for snakes - she doesn't know it's winter here and they're all hibernating, thank goodness.

[sweet_ceana]

poor cody

[Allie Oop]

Oh no! Sorry to hear that. I hope Cody heals quickly.