Author Topic: Snake bite?  (Read 1569 times)

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Offline pibbo1968

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Snake bite?
« on: April 02, 2020, 09:51:14 PM »
Jura has been antibiotics for a week due to an ear infection.We've been keeping him away from water so walking him in a local park instead of the woods.Monday afternoon my daughter noticed a small lump on his right shoulder.By evening it was about the size of an egg so I phoned the Vet.I was advised it could be a reaction to the antibiotic injection a week earlier.We booked him in to see the vet on Tuesday anyway.By the time we got to the vets Tuesday the lump was Tennis ball sized and although he wasn't in pain he was walking differently.
The vet knew straight away it wasn't a reaction to the injection and decided to drain it.He took out five syringes of puss :'( :o. He concluded it was from an infected puncture wound which he thought was possibly a snake bite :o There had been a confirmed snake bite in the same park last week(the owner saw the snake,probably a grass snake).
You can see the lump highlighted here:-


Jura is on antibiotics and the lump has now gone down a bit but is harder.We assumed this happened Monday,the day we found the lump,but saw nothing and he didn't squeal or yelp so can't be sure!! Whether it was a snake or insect the reaction was fast and not nice to witness!

Offline Mari

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Re: Snake bite?
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2020, 11:25:01 PM »
Aww poor Jura! Grass snakes very rarely bite so that was unlucky! I have heard that they have a lot of bacteria in their bites so it makes sense that there would be an abscess. Reminds me of cat bites, they are full of bacteria too and abscesses develop really quickly after a good chomp from a cat. Good to hear that the antibiotics are working. Hope he feels better!

Offline bizzylizzy

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Re: Snake bite?
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2020, 07:26:19 AM »
I‘ve never heard of grass snakes biting, but I suppose if they feel threatened they‘d be like any other creature and use whatever means available to defend themselves. Thanks for posting, its useful to know. Hope poor Jura‘s feeling better soon! He certainly looks very sorry for himself (but then cockers are masters at that!  :lol2: )
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Offline PennyB

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Re: Snake bite?
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2020, 08:24:19 AM »
Grass snakes at least don't have toxic venom. But yes when I saw it my 1st thought was a cat bite.

Mind you one of mine had a grass seed in his paw a couple of months ago at a time of year I wouldn't expect one and his paw swelled up immensely

Hope it resolves really quickly
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Offline Jaysmumagain

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Re: Snake bite?
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2020, 10:33:27 AM »
Oh goodness poor Jura and you must have been so painful for him and upsetting for you.

Glad he is on the mend.

I too had never heard of grass snakes biting - thank you for posting this.
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Offline pibbo1968

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Re: Snake bite?
« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2020, 10:17:14 AM »
Thanks to everyone :luv:

Jura is much better Back to himself and the lump has now all but disappeared :shades:
Having done  a lot of internet searching snake bites in the UK are very rare and grass snake bites rarer.Looking at Adder bites it almost definitely wasn't that as the symptoms and consequences are much worse :o

I suppose we'll never know 100% what it was.The joys of having a WCS :luv: My wife is (understandably) worried about letting him off his lead now but IMO it would be unfair not to.I think we'll keep him on a lead until the antibiotics are done.


Offline Mari

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Re: Snake bite?
« Reply #6 on: April 04, 2020, 01:13:58 PM »
Yes, adders are much scarier, an adder bite requires immediate veterinary care. Intravenous fluids, pain meds and in some cases antivenom is necessary. We have a lot of adders in my area so we all know to look out for signs of that and contact emergency vets asap if we suspect a bite from an adder. Luckily most dogs are ok if they receive veterinary care quickly. And even adders are not very aggressive, you pretty much have to step on them to get bitten. I only put my dog on the leash if we are walking through tall grass. When the snakes are out enjoying the sun you can usually spot them and call the dog away before the dog disturbs their sunbathing :)

They do give us grey hair these dogs. Running around getting themselves into trouble. Hopefully whatever caused the infection is not going to bother Jura again, grass snake or not  :luv: