Dennis left for the air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin last Sunday so the dogs and I were here by ourselves. On Wednesday afternoon, I was playing fetch with Jake and he reached for the ball among some plants and got totally ambushed by a fairly good sized rattlesnake. I checked him over about the head and snout and he didn't seem to have been bitten. After a few phone calls and a lot of stress on my part, a lovely gentlemen from the Phoenix Herpetological Society came and lifted the hideous creature into a large bucket and took it away. I had managed to irritate it enough that it rattled for a solid 40 minutes while I sat on the patio keeping a wary eye on it. After the whole hoary episode, Jake came over and put his head on my knee and I discovered a big swelling and then found puncture marks in his big thick neck ruff. I loaded him up and made an agonizingly slow and frustrating trip to the animal emergency hospital. They were wonderful.
Jake had an IV drip going the entire time he was there. Not sure if his leg is swollen from an IV infiltrate or snake venom.
The puncture. When the snake removal man got the snake in his tongs, it released it's jaw hinges and those things can open their mouths big enough to eat a watermelon. It was an ugly creature. Thankfully, Jake came through the episode okay. Is still fairly swollen and a little droopy. I'm a little droopy,too.
1 comment:
my amazing mama. you handled this crummy situation beautifully. pet good boy jake for me. see you soon.
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