Adder Bite in February

[Karen Richardson]

Just a word of warning to other setter owners, my nine year old Irish was bitten by an Adder last weekend. She spent several hours at the vets, fighting for her life. It has taken a week for the swelling to disappear & she still has a slight cough.
Take care whilst out walking in this changeable weather.

[Carmel Murphy]

Glad to hear your girl is recovering! I didnt know that adders were such a problem! Thank goodness we dont have snakes here!

[Susan Stone]

Hi Karen,
sounds as if you were lucky and she has got over it! It seems very eraly in the year - wherabouts are you and where did it happen? a sunny spell and warm spring weather?
no danger where I live luckily

[yvonne]

Luckely overhere also not so many adders , you can find some in the forest but not as many as in France , big hug for your girl!

[Myra Thomas-Rhodes]

Very scary - glad to hear she has survived.

[Kristina Brannlund Westin]

Hi Karen!

I have been there believe me and it wasn´t nice! Where I live we have a lot of those Adders, one of my boys got very bad bitten in his feet, Luckily I had cortison with me at the walk and in just one minute he was very affected from the bite. A terrible story because he was to heavy to carrie, and I had no car so I had to leave him and run home to get my car, When I came back my dog was gone!!!
I was so scared, and than I met a women walking with her retriverdog and luckily he was trained on tracks so he found him quite fast, long way in to some bushes,
quick drive to the vet and giving him even more cortison, and fluids. The dogs have big problems of breeding right. And in a terrible pain. We took him home and nursed him at home with fluids, painkillers, antibiotic and so on, First night he cryed all night because of the pain. Then he was okey for some day, but later the night after he started to puke and all the time, so back to the vet again who treated him with some special fluids, my poor boy was so sick so we could´t make some contact with him, Bloodtests shows that inner organs are affektet of this poison,Liver, kidneys and even the heart and lungs. So first five weeks we have to keep him in a leash for shorts walks, The Cardiogram shows us that the heart was affected too. Terrible time for us and now you,
After this I trye to walk cooler days, or rainy days. Where it is a lot of shadow, and often we go to a lake to let them excercise in the water.

Wishing you good luck and hope your nineyearold will get well soon!
Best wishes, Kristina

[Angela Roberts]

Hi Karen, thank you for inviting me to be your friend. I had a horse once who was bitten by an adder on his nose. The whole of his head swelled up and he couldn't bend his neck. His head resembled a hippo. We cut grass for him and put it up high so that he could eat it but he had difficulty chewing it for a few days. We also had to use a squeezy bottle to give him water to drink. When the swelling started to subside we could see the v shaped bite on his nose. It took a long time for the swelling to go down completely and when he felt better I had to ride him for a few weeks without a bit in his mouth. Thankfully he made a full recovery and lived to nearly 32 years. Hope Lola is now fully recovered. Crufts is looming, see you there.

[Sharyn Latchford]

Oh how awful, glad to hear your Lola is improving....thank goodness we don't have snakes down this way

[Kristina Brannlund Westin]

I just can imagine Susan!
Sounds very scary and snakes in south Africa is far more toxic than ours here in Sweden.

[Melinda Auld]

Hope your dog is okay! We have some awful snakes here too in Australia. I am lucky in that my dogs are complete cowards. Fionni once screamed and tried to climb up onto my HEAD...all because he saw a snake skin lying on a path lol... Still, I'd rather have him afraid of snakes than curious.