Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Pore ol' Patches.....

just never seems to learn. Rode down to Michael's this afternoon and Patches showed up with a couple of spots of blood on top of her head and her head was beginning to swell. I have her inside now in the recliner with her eyes swollen shut and she's in misery. Called the vet after hours and got the phone number for the vet on call. Called her and got voice mail. Why be on call if they don't answer calls?

Would y'all please say a little prayer for Peaches tonight? This is the third time she's been bitten and all three times were around her face. You'd think she'd learn after a time.

I looked for the snake, any snake but no luck. The next rattling snake I see DIES!

Poor dog. Wishing her a speedy recovery.

Kill 'em all Mickey. Prayers on the way for Patches. Might be a long night for both of you. God bless.

Good Luck Mickey and Patches.

Thanks, guys. I'll let y'all know in the morning if she makes it. I had Lucy to get bitten on the left back thigh and carried her to the vet and got some shots. She died at daylight the following morning. I pray Patches pulls through this time.

Good luck Mickey and to her also. Keep calling the vet. Did you leave a message?

What size/kind of dog is patches and was Lucy.

I have always killed every rattler I could.

Mickey,

I hope Patches pulls through. I lost a good Brittany several years ago to a rattler. He died within a few hours. I've had other dogs get bit by copperheads and they swell up but are okay within a week or so.

Positive thoughts for Peaches, negative thoughts for the snakes. Hope to hear a good report in the morning.

Dang Mickey, best of luck to the pooch. I hope she pulls through.

Sorry to hear, hope Patches pulls through.

Hopefully everyone can take this as a timely warning: It's definitely that snakey time of year... be careful out there.

Mickey,

I'm sorry to hear about Patches! If you have any, give Patches a Benadryl tablet and get some "Ester-C" vitamin C capsules. Open the Vitamin-C capsules up and sprinkle the contents on a piece of cheese or a bit of meat. This came from our Vet after my dog, lady got her latest snakebite.

Both of those things will help reduce the effects of the snake venom.

Ed

Pull in' for your both!!!!

Done

As you requested Mickey - for Patches and her master - and hoping for good news tomorrow. Hope you can try what Ed suggests, and hope it helps.

Turkey season just started here. Interestingly, I was out for the first time today, and the afternoon got warm - working across and around some logs from a downed oak I just about stepped on a Prairie Rattler. It was sunning and did not make rattle one. Good thing it is still mostly chilly here as it moved very slowly - for a few seconds.

Hang in there Patches.

Sucks watching em swell up but hopefully she'll pull through.
There's not really much a Vet can do. You might give her some antibotics if you have any on hand. That's all a Vet would do anyway. My bird hunting pard is a Vet. He says it's a 50/50 chance with smaller or older dogs being on the wrong side of the 50%. I know it doesn't seen like it, but the further from the heart the better, and the head's pretty far away long as the throat doesn't swell to badly.

I've said it before on here and I'll say it again. Rattle Snakes and P-Pines are the only critters I kill on sight and without remorse due to the pain they've inflicted on my dogs and wallet over the years.

Good luck buddy.

Hope she pulls through.

Aww Mickey . Hope she makes it. I'll say a prayer for her.

Praying for your buddy and you, Mickey. Sure hope all is well.

I've heard my Vet's phone ring while she was on the middle of drawing blood from a horse.
She didn't stop to answer it

On call doesn't mean "not too busy to answer"

I hope she's OK

Hope she's better in the morning, Mickey

Prayers for you both Mickey. I lost my Lucy a couple years ago to a rattler.

I was live and let live with rattlers unless they were up around the house, the key word is was.

Patches will be in my heart tonight. Godspeed.

Denny.

On the way from S.E. Az., Mickey.

...you hang in there, Patches.

GTC

Prayers sent Mickey!

Mickey, no word from the vet?

Was just thinking the other day how amazing it is that the human hand is perfectly designed to fit affectionately on top of a pups head !!!!

I hate them sumbitches . . . . .I hope your dog makes it through this.

Prayers sent Mickey. It could be a long night.

And choke a cat for tamales.

Please try and leave a message with the on-call vet. We have to do that here in our town. The local vets rotate for on-call and they call back within 10 minutes. I am praying for Patches!

I watched my mom kill a snake with a garden ho. She left it in about a 100 pieces. ... served it right for slithering around her collie dog and kids.

Mickey - prayers sent for you and Patches (Peaches).
I've lost calves to snakebite, and consider it my job to remove every poisonous snake I come across from the living category!
A bullsnake does everything beneficial that a venomous snake can do, anyway.

Mark

For sure.

The setter crew and I are pulling for Patches and for her complete recovery.

Hey Mickey, hoping for some positive news this morning.

Bob

Left a message last evening. Still no call.

Patches is a mongrel that my son rescued from a drainage ditch behind his church. She had gotten in the ditch and was hanging on to a stick just trying to keep from drowning. She was a little puppy when he got her.

She slept inside with me last night. Her eyes are swollen shut and she looks like a pit bull because of all the swelling. She made it through the night and is asleep on the floor beside me now. She drank a lot of water through the night but can't eat because of the swelling and pain.

I believe the old girl is gonna make it.

That's good to hear. Hope she continues to improve.

Great news Mickey, I hope she has learned her lesson and doesn't go through this again.

Very happy to hear this.

Glad to hear that she made it through the night, Mickey. Hope she pulls through all the way.

Get her somewhere cool. When our lab took a copperhead bite to the face she got shots from the vet within an hour. Nothing happened[swelling remained]. I put her in the basement where it was very cool the next afternoon and within a couple of hours the swelling was gone.

Yep.

Mickey, any dog in snake country that helps keep Dimocraps off your property at night deserves the inoculations for bites.

That's one tough old gal.

Happily smiling here my friend.

Poor ol patches. Hope she heals up quick.

Glad she is making it Mickey!

I thought of Patches this morning when one of our dogs was laying beside me. It's great to hear she is pulling through.

chicken broth and some white rice will get her to eat a little bit when she's able.

How is she doing now? I hope she is fully out of the woods (figuratively speaking) and hopefully perhaps a bit more comfortable.

It GREAT to read that she's improving a little.

If she made it this far she's outta the woods.

Thanks for the good news, Mickey - hope that Patches continues to get better.

Mickey,

I'm glad to hear the good news. There's nothing that I hate more than to see an animal suffer.

You and me both, Bob. Thanks to all of you. I'm going in to check on her in about 30 minutes. Here's what she looked like before we went to the vet.

Glad to hear she has done well so far!

Jeff

So glad we don't have to deal with those suckers this far north. On the other hand, I will trade you: our politicians for your snakes.

Whoooo son. She is all kinds of swelled up.

Is that red spot on her fore head where she got tagged? Right between the eyes?
Lucky girl. Heck, she may be developing an immunity. I think there was some crazy snake doc that used to inject a little venom into himself on a regular basis to build immunity in case one of his serpents got hold of him.

As far as learning her lesson.....well, I have a little 18-20# terrier that has tangled with a few coons. Got tore up good once. That just lit the fires. Little dummy lives for attacking raccoons now. Ain't fully whooped one yet but he's put the run on a couple and been saved from a couple more.

Good luck Peaches! We're pulling for ya!

Now why would I want to trade down? I have it best because I can shoot the snakes without going to prison. So far.

Yep, that's where one fang got her. The other is over an inch from that one. Thank Goodness she is hard headed.

Very happy to hear that Peaches is going to make it, now you've got to teach her to stay away from those danged snakes. Peaches is one tough pup for sure!

Not that size matters with regard to venom, but I think that fangs sitting more than an inch apart would indicate a fairly big viper out this way. Do you have bigguns' there? What brand are they?

Sure glad tha Patches is still getting better.

We have some big rattlers. The one that got Lucy on her left thigh had fangs over an inch apart. They are predominately Canebrake Ratters in this area but if you get down into the Florida panhandle there are some huge rattlers. Not canebrakes but not sure of the variety.

I'd be putting some snake traps around the place, especially if that dog usually stays around the house, Mickey.

Probably eastern diamondbacks over there. Species doesn't matter much to me. I hate 'em all. If it rattles, I kill it... with extreme prejudice... and then I kill 'em a couple of more times for good measure. Did I mention I hate rattlers?

glad to hear Patches pulled through Mickey, was on the road so missed this


I figure all any of us really need in this world is for someone to dote upon us like Mickey does with his dogs. be a pretty good way to live I reckon.

Prayers for your pup. Had one of my Shepherds bit once, but he is over 100 lbs, so pulled through fine.

Hoping the same for you.

No idea, but perhaps a benadryl in that situation might help??? However little.

That's the truth, those pups sure are loved! Glad to hear she is going to be ok!

I'm at the age that I don't care much for killin anymore.. but a rattlesnake is not much different from a land mine.. If you step on one it will get you.

I will kill every rattlesnake I encounter.

Hope all is well Mickey.

Geo

The picture you posted of her made me so sad. Vey, very glad she's doing better. Maybe an enclosure for her ?

Denny.

Jeez, poor lass. Looks like a boxer that lost big in a 15 rounder... Hope she's well on her way to back to normal. She's got a good master to be thankful for anyway.

She's much better today, Leighton. Thanks.

I have a fenced in back yard but snakes crawl through the chain link fence like it was not even there. I killed a rattler on my front patio a couple of years back. It was under my rocker where I was going to sit and read. The front yard is fenced as well.

Was out prairie grouse hunting middle of October more than a few years back and the rattlers were migrating to their winter den sites. Got by the first we saw and the hunt pard shot it after I called my Gordon to me, all ok .Next one he just walked by, swung around and didn't aim just pointed the 12 at it and pissed it off. Yeah my dog went for the retrieve before I could get to her. She got hit low on the left jowl flap and agin on the left leg. At that point she quit on the snake as I had got to her and got her away almost getting it myself. Hunting pard then pulled his head out and took the snakes off with a load of 4's. Immobilizing the dog at that point and sending the "pard" after his pickup was the best plan I could come up with at that time. He got the truck to us and I put her in the dog box. both leg and jowl flap starting swell. Kadoka SD was 25 miles away and the vet was in when we got there to call him. He told me to take her to my regular vet in Rapid City and not waste much time. Called them and told them we would be there in a little over an hr. They gave the dog a painkiller and antibiotics(snakes got a dirty mouth). She said most make it, depends on the dogs age, general health, where they got bit. a hit that swells their nasal passages can suffocate them, they pant but don't breath thru their mouth. They are one of the bigger vet outfits in the area they don't stock a anti-venom because it has a very short effective shelf life and is expensive as hell. My dog was down for a couple of days and recovered good enuf she could have hunted next week end but I gave her 3 weeks to recover, she did. You learn somethings in life easy and some damn hard. She left the snakes alone after that and lived to 15.5 yrs old. Going thru that and the decision to put her down Im sure will cost me a few off the end of mine. Part of having and loving a dog. Good luck Mickey.
Magnum Man

Twenty years ago we stumbled on them frequently down here in SWFL. I was always worried my Golden would get bit. He never did. He somehow developed a healthy fear of snakes and would cower and move away from one if he saw or smelled one. We don't see many mocs or diamond backs anymore. Been years actually. We think the hogs eat them. Our hunting land hasn't changed any just more hogs. I hope your dog is feeling better.

Thank you. She is getting better.