When I was sitting outside yesterday morning with my dogs just as I always do every morning, I thought it was strange that someone had a faucet running and that I could hear it so distinctly. After a few moments, it stopped, so I didn’t put too much thought into it. When I was ready to go back inside, the noise started again, and my dogs began barking and went to investigate.
That’s when I knew that I had not been hearing running water at all. I had been hearing a rattlesnake, and my dogs were in danger! I started shouting for them to come in, and I must have been pretty panicked, because I woke up my husband and kids. When we finally got the dogs inside and my husband was calling the fire department to come remove the snake from our yard, I looked over at my Beagle, Bender, and his face was beginning to drip blood.
I threw on clothes and raced him to the pet emergency room. Before I could even fill out the paper work, they began treating him with pain medication and conducted tests. By the time we left, his face was swelling, and his heart rate was very low. A normal dog’s hear beat is 100 beats per minute. His heart was beating at 30 beats per minute. So scary!
He would need to stay for the day and be monitored. He would also need the $700 per vial of antivenin, which to me is like liquid gold.
When we picked him up late last night, he looked awful, but he was happy to be heading home. His heart rate was up to 80 beats per minute, and he was given this patch to wear on his back filled with narcotics. The patch lasts for 3 days, which is about how long it takes for the pain of a snake bite to go away.
Check out his before and after shots to compare the swelling. Poor pup!
Before
After
I guess living in the desert has its own set of rules and obstacles, and I just feel awful that my innocent and curious doggie was the victim.
Thank you to my Facebook community for all their care and concern and positive thoughts over the last 24 hours. I know it all helped his progress. Please keep my sweet Bender in your prayers over the next couple of days as he recovers. We are praying for no complications!
My song of the day is by the 80’s hair band, Great White. “Once Bitten Twice Shy” seems like a good song for the occasion, and hopefully, this after-bite “shyness” will slowly go away as we get his old energetic personality back in no time.
