Adder's bite, please excuse the spelling

Just thought I'd let you guy's know. I was speaking to a local lady, she was telling me about her friend. Sadly, her dog has lost his life this week. If you live in south wales, and you walk your dog at Clydach lakes, please be carefull. The owner didnt know about the snake bite until it was too late. Whilst on a walk there this week, her dog had got spooked by something, and was acting strange, she went home and kept any eye on him. The next day the dog had a nose bleed so she toke him straight to the vet. They couldnt find the cause so kept him in over night. The dog then developed blisters and all sorts of things went wrong. By the time they discovered it was a snake bite, it was to late. Apparently, this is the 4th dog in 2years to lose their life after walking there because of an Adders Bite

Poor dog!

Strangely, though, adder bites are rarely fatal to either humans or dogs, although in both cases you should get medical help.

Thanks for letting us know, i actually didn't know..

As caryll said they are rarely fatal, and the bite sight would be VERY obvious.

I was planning on taking the dogs to Hamsterley Forest when I go to see my brother at xmas and they have adders there

Ahh poor dog, thats very sad, thanks for bringing it to our attention

This might be useful...

http://www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/article591.html

well a bit goodish news on this matter aus members may be able to back this up sbt are used as snake dogs over there as they have a better resistance to snake venom than most dogs and are very good at spotting and dispatching of snakes before they can strike.

I remember a story on here about a pit bull that died saving its owner from a big nasty snake (cobra or python or something , escaped pet if I remeber rightly)

found it

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t15533-4-yr-old-chief-a-pitbull-dashed-in-front-of-a-venomous-snake-which-was-poised-to-strike-at-87-yr-old?highlight=snake

Wazza,

I'm not sure of the snakes you have over there but black or brown snake bites here have around 80% fatality rate in dogs, including Staffs But I'm sure they are quite resistant to a lot of other snakes bites.. All our wildlife wonderers like Steve Irwin (RIP) etc have Staffies so maybe there is some truth to it.. I know of 4 dogs within 5kms of my house that have died already this year from brown snake bites and 3 of these were sadly Staffies That's why Steffi lives inside and when she is out the back I keep an eye on her and the yard all the time..

we lucky we only got 3 and they nothing like your kat.

Lucky for you When I win Lotto, I'll buy a place over there and spend Oz snake season over there

i wont let you do that > you need to post on facebook only joking

Even if i do stuff it up sometimes

this snake bite thing has been a worry for me> i live in South Africa and we always go to the Transkei now called the Wild Coast for our December holidays. as the name suggests most of it is wild and remote and there are plenty venomous snakes, Night and puff adders, cobras(more south) and mambas(north), we often see them washed up on the beach after floods and then they are really cranky and will go for anything that moves. i was wondering if dogs have a built in fear of snakes that will keep them a safe distance away or is it a learnt fear. Will a young pup be curious and go and sniff a snake, cos there's plenty bite potential there. and i don't want to lose my baby boy.

My sister lost one of her dogs due to Adder bite a couple of years ago, it was a border collie aged about 18 months, the vet didn't find out it was a snake bite until it was too late and the dog had organ failure.
She walked it in Thetford forest and on the heaths around Thetford. I have seen adders in the fenlands around King's Lynn and I did have to grab Charlie about 6 weeks ago when he spotted one on a local path, luckily his recall is great so he was back with me and the snake went on its way.

It's not always easy to spot the bite site depending on the type of dog you have or where the bite is. Our vet always has anti venom in stock and when I asked her about frequency of bites she said they usually get 4 or 5 a year but some years they see more.
This is the time of year I am always more alert for snakes as they are grumpy and getting ready to hibernate and may bite first and leave after rather than hide when they spot the dogs.