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Copperhead Encounter

1K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  Mufar42 
#1 ·
I live in the woods on 6 acres. While I am not inundated with snakes - it is not uncommon to see them from time to time. I keep the area around the house mowed and cleared. For many years I had Jack Russells who are excellent snake dogs. I keep an emergency kit on the ready especially in the late summer when snakes are most active. Twizzler was bitten when he was a puppy - it was not serious but it was scary. He swole up but had no infection or ill effects. He has kept his distance and everything has been fine - until a couple weeks ago when he encountered a snake in the yard. I heard the bark - it is very different than a normal bark - the dogs have this thing cornered and that is not going to be good. I ran outside to see that the snake had already been dispatched.

I got rid of it and brought the pups inside. Twiz was swelling up pretty quickly. I gave him Benadryl and Rimadryl - but I had no antibiotics. My vet has given me spare doses in the past in case something like this happens. In 12 hour he was feeling fine but still swollen, in 24 the swelling going down. At 48 hours it was like it never happened. I thought this was a typical bite and we were done.
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Twiz 24 hours out. Playful and bright but with a swollen cheek.

Thank goodness I had a grooming appointment two days later. Twiz was behaving normally and all seemed well. The groomer called me and told me to call the Vet right away - he has a quarter sized hole in his cheek and she found it when she was doing her quick clip before bathing. I rushed him to the vet and he had to be put under to remove the necrotizing flesh around the wound. He stayed with the vet for several days to insure wound care was optimal. While he was there he got bored and managed to steal a collar off of hook while no one was looking and ate it so he had to stay a few more days until he passed that but that is another story.

His heavy coat hid the damage. I had noticed his eyes were a bit gunky but that always happens as his coat grows. I was leaving on vacation the day after the grooming appointment. I completely missed it and if not for that grooming appointment I could very well have lost my boy.

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Here he is now - recovered and scarred - still needing to get back to that grooming appointment.

Bottom line - I have had lots of snakebites over the years. I have only had two that were serious. I average 1-2 a year and typically my pups feel great in the morning and have no issues. I am just so grateful to my groomer and to my vet who took great care of my boy. He's so smart I was stunned that he ever got close to a snake again - hopefully he won't again any time soon. For now he only goes out after dark for a very brief time with me watching - I have typically let the dogs run and play outside until bedtime so they are settled and ready to sleep. He woke me up 4 times last night completely full of energy but his play routine will have to wait until fall.
 
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#3 ·
I am glad he is okay now, but boy that is one more reason I like where we live. We have no indigenous venomous (or even large) snakes here. Mostly garter snakes and little brown snakes, very gentle and pretty cryptic in their habits.
 
#4 ·
They are a fact of life here in the Ozarks. I use deterrents and keep brush clear and do my best but it happens - mostly in July and August. It's interesting because the Poodles are retrievers so they do have a prey drive of sorts. My Goldendoodles is obsessed with squirrels and snakes - he would sit for hours under a tree waiting to catch a squirrel (which will never happen but a boy can dream).
 
#6 ·
Really happy to hear he's recovering. We have copperheads here, as well as non-venomous snakes (although fewer and fewer as forests are razed for housing developments), and my dogs ignore them. This can lead to close calls, times when the dogs walk dangerously close to a copperhead or even step on a snake (both have happened this year). Your post reminds me just how lucky we've been.
 
#8 ·
That is very scary, then the boy had to go and swallow the collar! Sheesh! Glad he is recovering well. Here in Colorado we have rattle snakes. Many folks take their sogs to "snake averstion " training. And it is very successful...they really learn to leave snakes alone. You might check with trainers in your area to see if they do that in your area.
 
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