Snake Bites and Pets: Acting Fast

Dogs meet the world nose first, which is why most bites land on the muzzle, lips or front legs. Cats are more often bitten on a paw, because they strike with a foot before anything else gets close.

Outcome depends mostly on two things you can influence: how quickly the animal reaches treatment, and whether anybody makes it worse in the meantime.

Signs

You will often not have seen the snake. Suspect a bite if you see:

• Sudden, rapid swelling, usually of the face, muzzle or a limb
• Puncture marks, sometimes two, often hidden by swelling and fur
• Bleeding that does not clot, or oozing from the puncture site
• Severe pain, yelping when the area is touched
• Drooling, vomiting, trembling
• Weakness, wobbliness or collapse
• Pale gums, fast breathing, a racing heart
• Dilated pupils, or difficulty blinking or swallowing with some venoms

Signs can appear within minutes or be delayed for hours, so an animal that seems fine shortly after a suspected bite is not necessarily safe.

What to do

1. Move the animal away from the snake. Do not attempt to catch or kill it. People get bitten doing this, and it does not change treatment.
2. Keep the animal as still as possible. Movement moves venom. Carry it rather than letting it walk, even if it seems able to.
3. Keep the bitten area below heart level where you can do so without struggling with the animal.
4. Go to a vet immediately. Call ahead so they can prepare and confirm they hold antivenom, since not every clinic does.
5. Note the time, and the snake's appearance if you saw it. A description or a photograph taken from a safe distance can help; getting close for a better photograph is not worth it.
6. Remove collars and harnesses if the bite is on the head or neck, before swelling makes them constricting.

What never to do

Nearly all the traditional first aid for snake bite is harmful, and that is worth saying plainly, because these remedies are widely trusted and are almost always offered by people genuinely trying to help.

• Do not apply a tourniquet. It concentrates venom in a limb, causing severe local tissue death, and can cost the leg.
• Do not cut the wound.
• Do not attempt to suck out venom, by mouth or with a device. It does not work and wastes time.
• Do not apply ice. It worsens local tissue damage.
• Do not give any medication, human or veterinary, without instruction. Some painkillers worsen bleeding, which is a serious problem with venoms that affect clotting.
• Do not use black stones, herbs, kerosene or petrol. None of these draw venom out, and the delay while trying them is the harm.
• Do not wait to see whether it swells. Travel while you are watching.

Why time governs everything

Antivenom neutralises venom that has not yet bound to tissue. Once binding has occurred, that damage is done and cannot be reversed, which is why antivenom given early achieves far more than the same dose given later.

Everything else, fluids, pain relief, wound care, monitoring for clotting problems and organ damage, supports the animal while the body deals with what is already done.

Cats

Cats often fare worse and may present later, because a cat bitten outdoors may hide and not be found for hours. A cat that comes home suddenly swollen, weak or wobbly, especially on one paw or the face, should be treated as a possible bite.

Reducing the risk

• Cut grass short and clear undergrowth around the house
• Remove rubbish, woodpiles and rubble, which shelter snakes and the rodents that attract them
• Control rodents, though avoid poisons where pets can reach either the bait or a poisoned rodent
• Keep dogs on a lead in long grass and bush, particularly at dusk
• Do not let dogs investigate holes, drains or piles of debris
• Use a torch at night and take the dog out on a lead rather than letting it run ahead
• Seal gaps under doors and around drainage where snakes enter buildings

Know this before you need it

Find out now which clinic near you keeps antivenom, and what happens after hours. This is a call worth making on an ordinary afternoon, because the alternative is ringing round while carrying a swelling dog.

Our free pet emergency and first-aid checklist is printable and gives you somewhere to write those numbers down before they are needed.

Snake bite is the clearest case where the expensive part is not the treatment but the delay, and where the delay is usually caused by trying something cheaper first. Antivenom is costly, and owners hesitate over it in the exact hour when hesitation costs the most.

Emergency treatment is covered on Skeepy Pet HMO plans at any vet clinic in Nigeria, which takes that hesitation out of the only part of this that you control.