Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss I HATE COPPERHEADS!

I don't mind the black snakes, king snakes, garter snakes and ring neck snakes but it is now officially war on anything with venom! There is a rock cave up on the mountain in PA that seems to be a favorite wintering hole for many of the local snakes... This winter I will pay them a visit and remove those I deem undesirable.

Well sure, it's only fair, CJ. The PA venomous snakes must pay for the transgressions of the VA venomous snakes.

OH NO, Serpent Genocide
Glad to hear the pup is doing ok.

I will certainly be on the hunt for the VA ones as well... And will my dog hunting a lot in PA, the less venomous ones up there, the less I have to worry about her being bit again.

I did check on snake breaking classes with the vet today. He said snake bites are so rare on dogs in VA he doesn't know of any in the area. He did say they came out with a new "vaccine" for rattle snake venom you actually can give to a dog. He wasn't sure if it would work for copperheads and didn't know of any vets in my area who had been using it yet. He said it was a western thing mostly.

Glad to hear your dog is ok. We just killed two copperheads near our house. 32 and 39 inches respectivly. To close to my house, kids and dogs, otherwise I leave them alone. But my oldest now has a nice mounted snake skin hanging on his wall.

CJ: Is she still doing better? Thinking on the snake breaking courses, I don't know if it'll work if they don't use snakes that are common to your area. I know that they have to use live defanged snakes because dead ones smell different to the dogs. I don't know if different snakes smell differently to a dog.

With an sensitive as a dog's nose is, I suspect they do smell different, dead and different species...

She is doing better than I thought to be honest. She's bringing toys and wanting to retrieve. I have to keep her on a leash when doing up an down stairs as she just wants to tear up and down them. I'd say the swelling is down to maybe 50% of normal. She also seems to be putting more weight on the leg as well. All very good signs! Only time will tell how much skin and flesh dies due to necrosis. Then what is anything will be the long term affects? That is going to be the big question....

She's young, and I'm amazed at how resilent the dogs are. One of my Springers dislocated her hip and I about had to keep her tied down the next day because she didn't show any ill effects from popping the bone out of her hip, and chipping the socket in the process. I took her out to the trap range one night, and before I could stop her, she took off after the "birds" that were being shot. She ran right past the trap house just as a bird was thrown. She caught it full in her side, and I don't think she even broke her stride. I haven't seen another dog with as much drive to retrieve something, not even Field Trial Labs. She'd even dive down to retrieve stuff that sank. I really miss her!

Yeah, my lab is pretty wild when it comes to retrieving... It is amazing the drive dogs have to do what they were bred to do. This is the first lab I have had and first dog I bought for hunting. I had two golden retrievers and an Irish setter growing up. They were bred as family dogs, but the setter and one of the goldens did do some hunting. But my dog now is just so birdy with such desire compared to them. I am really look forward to getting her out in the field this fall for some hunting. Tonight, I am going to give her a luke warm shower and clean her leg more. She seems like like the warm water on it...

The warm water might stimulate some blood flow and help it heal faster. If you don't have her on any, you might want to get her on vitamins during this time of stress. My vet said those Pet Tabs were just fine. I don't know if there is anything better on the market, Anna should know.

Thanks for the idea... We'll check into that pronto!

Sorry I am late to the party. You definitely want to get her on an immune supporting supplement. Pet Tabs are OK, but not my favorite. If you will PM me with your address I will send you some of my super secret immune boosting formula. It's a combination of several things and works like a charm. In the meantime start her on Vitamin C. I'd give 500 mg twice a day and work up to 3000 mg a day for at least a month. It can be hard on the stomach so get a buffered type and increase the dose every 3-4 days until you get up to 3000 mg total.

Also, get lots of fresh protein into her diet and lay off anything with grains. Cereal grains actually add to inflammation. Check the ingredients on your dog food. Right now she needs good anti inflammatory foods like fats and proteins. Easy additions are cottage cheese, yogurt and eggs as well as any raw meat and or canned fish like sardines or mackerel packed in water. I can do up a homemade EASY diet for you and email it to you if you would like.

Also start her on Fish Oil Capsules. 1000 mg per ten pounds of body weight daily or I can shoot you out some in a pump bottle if she is not good at taking pills.

A friend recently sent me a list of homeopathic remedies for snake bites. I will see if I can dig it up and will post it here if I find it tonight. Homeopathy is not my forte but I have seen it do some amazing things. I've also seen it do nothing, so it's a crap shoot. When it works it WORKS when it doesn't...

Sorry I am late in getting here. I am glad she is recovering and if you need anything for her please do not hesitate to ask.

Hugs to both of you.

So how is the dog, CJ?

Thanks for asking...

She is doing VERY good! Just a couple small scabs left and everywhere else has healed up nicely. Looks like all that will be left is a nasty 3/8" by 4" scar with a couple little off shoots. I guess the areas that died are those that got the higher amounts of venom...

I was up at the hunting land and trout creek in PA on Thursdays scouting for the upcoming archery season. Covered 7 miles according to my GPS and she was tagging along the whole time. Never showed a sign of limping nor any pain. She was swimming around in the creek with my buddy's lab who was also along for the trip.

I guess I really lucked out! Duck season starts next week. I am hoping to get out and let her do what she loves to do most and that is hunt birds.

Thanks for the advice Anna. I'll send you a PM.

Anna, That is some great information!!! Are those home remedies???

Hang, these are home remedies to use after you seek veterinary treatment. I've heard of people using as much as 30,000 mg of injectable Vitamin C immediately after the bite. Most of the evidence on this modality is anecdotal but it does seem to work. However, I'd seek veterinary intervention first.

This same formula is good to use after any stress, surgery or injury or for a dog with a chronic illness like tick disease or arthritis.

The better the food you feed the better your dog will do. Food is the most healing substance we can offer our dogs and making sure that they get good quality, high protein and low carbohydrate foods is key. Thankfully CJ had already been doing this. This is the main reason Shanny has had such a good recovery.

The products I like best are Bertes Immune Blend
Immune Blend

And the Ultra Probiotic Powder
Probiotic Powder

Both these products were developed by a dear friend of mine Lew Olson. She has a PhD in Natural Health and is a wealth of information.

But I sometimes add Nupro to the mix as well.

Nupro

Of course other supplements can be added for specific conditions. However, this is a good foundation to start with and add to as needed.

CJ, PM sent and care package will go out tomorrow.

Good to hear she bounced back CJ. Scary when something like this happens to your pup and you feel helpless to make her feel better. Glad we don't have to worry about those buggers up here.

Jeesh, sorry Travis, I just caught this. Glad to hear everything turned out okay...I'm glad we don't have venomous snakes in NE with the exception of Western Diamondbacks out West.

I've already privately thanked Anna for her kindness but I wanted to thank her publicly as well...

She sent me a care package a couple days ago for Shanny my dog which was bit by the copperhead and it was quite impressive! Her generosity, genuine kindness and caring is a true sentiment to her character!

If you have a dog, I would highly recommend you check out her website. It is top notch with many great items for dogs. http://wholesomehound.com/

I just wanted to openly thank Anna for her kindness even as she is going through a tough time herself...

Oh my gosh:
What happens when a dog gets bit by a copperhead? He lives?
I wouldn't have thought so. I'm thinking of Anna too.

Yup, Shanny survived... Just a nasty little scar on her leg. You can read the prior posts. Most of the details are in them. She is all healed up now and doing quite well. We got lucky!

Aww shucks CJ! It was my pleasure and I'm so glad that Shanny liked her duck and chicken feet and that you got one over on Sarah with the Bully stick. You've got to send me a picture of Shanny when she has her spa day. I can see her now, relaxed in the bubble filled, lavendar scented tub, soft jazz playing in the background, candlelight, and a nice fat steak! LOL!

Anna kind caring people are always entitled to more praise than they get. That surely includes you. Thanks for helping CJ's pup and for sharing the info with us.

I read back on this thread, and learned a lot. I'm happy it worked out - and I think everyone can conclude that the dog world is really better off with Anna in it.

Here is a pic of a "copperhead" taken last weekend. If it wasn't for the neighbor's dog alerting us to this snake, my wife would probabaly have been bitten by it.