Adder bite

CinnamonChristmasCookie

CinnamonChristmasCookie

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A friend's spangle has sustained (he thinks) an adder bite to the face which swelled up. Dog is at the vets on a drip, had antihistamines, steroids, antibiotics. Any success stories, please? Owner is terrified.
 
A friends GSD was bitten by an adder, must have been over 30 years ago. It was touch and go for a few days but she pulled through and was fine. I imagine with the improvements in veterinary medicine over the years your friends dog has a good chance as long as they got the dog to the vet fairly quickly. Fingers crossed for them.
 
Have they not got anti venom or are they not sure what it was? We walk our dogs in a spot known for them and all local vets stock anti venom.
However success story- my old bernese was bitten by an adder he survived with no anti venom as was so big.
The vets at time were having regular attacks- they had lots of success cases especially if received treatment very quickly, only lost a couple who were not treated quickly as owners didn't no had been bitten.
 
I've had a JRT survive an adder bite, my friend had a teeny JRT survive one last year, size is usually a major factor, small dogs being at much higher risk
 
Purdey got bitten 3 months ago. It happened so quickly, it was fast asleep and we were right on it before ( realised. Had P not gone to sniff it I would have been bitten (cheaper I think!). She was poorly for over 2 weeks and it took her a while to get her strength back but made a full recovery. Think her size helped (Lab x Rotti).

Fingers crossed for the spangle. I think late in the season infection is a huge problem but the venom is weaker.
 
I know of three dogs that have had adder bites to the leg and chest that have all survived but they were large breed dogs two hairy's and one short coat.

Hope your friend has their luck. Lots of them about at the moment.
 
cinnamontoast said:
A friend's spangle has sustained (he thinks) an adder bite to the face which swelled up. Dog is at the vets on a drip, had antihistamines, steroids, antibiotics. Any success stories, please? Owner is terrified.
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Our lab was bitten on the nose last summer ( we saw it happen). Her head swelled to about 3 times its normal size. She spent 2 days at the vets on fluids, ABs and anti histamines. It took about a week for her head to return to normal size, and she was a bit lethargic for the same amount of time, but made a full recovery. She just had to have blood tests about 1 month after the bite to check her liver and kidney function - it was fine though.
Interestingly we were told that the anti venom isn't licensed for use on dogs, and where it has been used it has resulted in liver damage in some cases.
 
My dalmatian was bitten on the throat by an adder at the age of 9 months. She was given anti-venom and kept at the vets overnight. That was nearly 13 years ago and she's been right as rain ever since.

Fingers crossed for spangle :)
 
Great update!
The smaller the snake, the more likely it is to deliver a "full load"....this time of year is the worst time to get bitten, as the likelyhood of being bitten by a juvenile is higher.
Bigger snakes will often deliver a lesser load or a "dry bite" with almost no venom at all.
But there is not much that will keep a good spangle down!
 
Great update, so glad spangle is ok :)

A friend lost his fully grown bull to an adder bite a couple of months ago, bite on the neck effectively suffocated him, nasty horrible things :(
 
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