Good advice, Danny. My comments are applicable only to rattlesnakes, which are the only ones I have any experience with and have a hemotoxic venom, I believe.

Antivenin is used in only a minority of cases since it is most effective if administered rather quickly and many people are alergic to it since it is made from horse blood. Also, many bites do not result in significant envenomation, so the serum is not indicated.

All of the dogs I have had or known of being treated by veterinarians have been treated only with antibiotics to guard against secondary infection. Steroids may help reduce swelling, which can be life-threatening if it occurs near the windpipe (causing suffocation).

I have never known of a medium-size or larger dog to die of snakebite (rattler), but I am suspcious that that was the cause with a couple of little guys. By the same token, I've never seen a cow die of snakebite, but for some reason bites to the legs seem worse on them than bites to the head (nose). I've never known of anyone having a cow treated for snakebite as that would just be stressing the cow and adding monetary damages for the owner. Sometimes a post-bite treatment in the extreme case of infection or gangrene (rare) might be needed.

Electroshock seems to be just about as much hokem as ice treatment or the old "cut and suck" routine.

I don't know much about neurotoxic venoms and don't want to find out, either!

[ 09-18-2003, 23:03: Message edited by: Stonecreek ]

Thanks Danny for your comments. I�m no snake expert, just reproduced parts of an article I�ve read many years ago. I know two or three cases of snake bites, one going though a common rubber boot which gave a bad time to a friend, who eventually recovered. I understand that properly treated, no deaths have been recorded in present times. By the way, there are 2 spiders which I rate more dangerous than any snake here.