Lovely Zoey the six-year-old Jack Russell Terrier was playing her favourite game of chasing mice in her garage a few weeks ago when things took a very nasty turn. Her owners quickly new something was horribly wrong when she suddenly vomited and collapsed, rushing her straight to Casey Pet Emergency on a Sunday afternoon. Whilst enroute to the hospital, Zoey started tremoring and was quite unresponsive, panicking her poor parents even further.
Once she arrived and a thorough examination and diagnostic testing began to take place, it was looking more and more likely that Zoey wasn’t the only one chasing those mice and she had in fact been bitten by a snake. Her urine was full of blood, her clotting factors were off scale, her heart was racing with her blood pressure through the roof, and she had dilated pupils that were no longer responding to light. With wasting any time, the team at Casey Pet Emergency set about to save Zoey’s life with snake antivenom, fluid and oxygen therapy, pain relief, and further intensive supportive care.
Snake bites in dogs and cats can be a serious and potentially life-threatening situation. Understanding the signs, immediate actions to take, and seeking prompt veterinary attention are crucial. Here’s a general overview of what a snake bite might look like in your loved one:
- Sudden Pain and Swelling: You may notice rapid swelling around the bite area. It’s often accompanied by pain, and your pet may react by crying out or whimpering.
- Bruising and Discoloration: The affected area may become bruised or discoloured.
- Lethargy and Weakness: You pet may become lethargic, weak, or collapse. Painful muscles are caused by the increasing muscle enzymes (creatinine kinase or CK), which leads to a reluctance to walk or stiff muscles.
- Loss of Pupillary Light Response: Dilated or pinpoint pupils that don’t respond to light.
- Vomiting and Drooling: Some dogs may experience vomiting and excessive drooling.
- Difficulty Breathing and Eating: This is caused by the paralysis of nerves in the oesophagus (which may cause regurgitation of food and inability to eat), and the diaphragm, which can interfere with breathing and cause the animal to go into respiratory distress.
- Discoloured Urine: Often animals will suffer from haematuria (blood in the urine) and this may appear pink tinged, brick red or be frank blood.
A snake bite is a veterinary emergency. Take your animal to the CLOSEST veterinary clinic or emergency facility as quickly as possible, ensuring to handle your pet gently and keep them as confined and still as you can whilst in transport.
80% of dogs treated quickly with antivenom survive, whereas less than 50% will survive without it. Cats are more resistant to the effects of snake envenomation, however if they are showing clinical signs, they still recover better with antivenom being administered. The antivenom can cause an anaphylactic response in an animal’s body, so a premedication with antihistamines and steroids is commonly given. Once the venom is neutralized, some cases may still need a plasma transfusion to replace clotting factors, or in Zoey’s case may require a full blood transfusion if they have suffered from a bleed due to prolonged clotting times. Intravenous fluids to support the kidneys are required as the enzyme released from the damaged muscles (CK), is very damaging to an animal’s kidneys and can send them into renal failure.
The antivenom can only bind to and remove the venom that is in the bloodstream, that which is yet to bind to the body’s tissues. This means that the earlier antivenom is received, the more venom that is trapped and removed before it can bind to tissues and cause further damage. Once the venom is bound, it can take several days to lift back off the receptors of the muscles and nerves in the animal’s body. Hence why prompt treatment significantly improves the chances of a positive outcome for the affected animal.
Over the course of five long days, both at Casey and with our team at Narre Warren, little Zoey very slowly started to stabilise, began to eat little by little, and her blood tests started to show positive signs that she was headed in the right direction, her body finally healing after THREE bottles of antivenom! Whilst her family visited her often and she received lots of love from the teams at both hospitals, she was very happy to finally go home.
Zoey and her parents still must put some extra measures in place at home to keep her calm and confined for the next few weeks so as not to put any further strain on her muscles and kidneys. However, during her recent revisit, Zoey’s test results looked fantastic and all going well, she should be able to run around like her usual self very soon! We are just hoping that it won’t be after any snakes, young lady! Zoey’s survival is a true testament to her own grit and determination, and her parent’s utter devotion to her through it all. We are so happy for this happy ending, you did it Zoey!