Naughty little adder bit my dog!!!

[Colinn]

Just back from the New Forest - great weekend away until my Border Collie sniffed an adder and as a result has spent the last 48 hours on a drip!! Feeling very sorry for himself right now...

Hopefully, no long term damage (except for my bank balance!!) but it all came as a shock even though we were aware of the possibility and had mentally prepared ourselves for such an eventuality.

Anyway, we don't hold it against the New Forest or even the snake (!), but this is just to warn others that it could (probably won't) happen to your dog.

Do not think it will sort itself out on its own. You MUST get to a vet quickly and move the dog as little as pos in the interim.

Because the immediate symptoms were minimal, we were tempted (stupidly, we realise now) to "wait and see" how he was. Glad we checked with the vet, because they took him in hand immediately - shortly afterwards his face had swollen so much his eyes had closed...

Lots of people ask: what should I do if my dog gets bitten. Make no mistake, there's only one thing to do - get to the vet straight away!!

My thanks to the Forest Lodge Veterinary Practice in New Milton - they were fantastic, out of hours too!!

 

[gypsy]

Thanks for the warning, it's things like this that we don't normally think about, so it is good to have it brought to our attention, I hope that your Dog is going to be ok, and well done to the Vets for helping you out so quickly and out of hours too.

Shiba.

 

[Darce]

Likewise glad your dog is OK.

As we have two dogs one of the first things we do on a new site is to gather the local information leaflets which usually have the GP Surgery, Chemist and Vet surgery.

So far never needed to use any - but sods law dictates that the one time we don't do this!

 

[Colinn]

Having now trawled the net for information on adder bites to dogs, it seems there is one first aid precaution to take which might help on your way to the vet - and that is carrying Piriton anti-histamine tablets, one of which can be given to a dog immediately to reduce effects, especially if you are a long way from your car.

There is also a pump extraction product called Aspivenin (http://healthcheckpharmacy.com/shop/customer/product.php?productid=587) but I'm not sure whether it would be any good on a dog!!

Darce - don't just collect the phone numbers, be sure to put them on your mobile...

 

[Pat_374304630]

We don't always take our Heinz dog with us but reading this topic I will ensure we always have the phone number of the local vet before we go to the area.

 

[MikeJE]

The Aspivenin device mentioned by Colinn above works by using suction to extract the venom and needs to be in firm contact with the skin in the bite area. This would probably require the bite area to be shaved of fur if used on a dog. It is still a handy bit of kit to have for treating insect bites on humans.