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SATURDAY ARGUS (Cape Town, S Africa) 20 January 07 Frickie saved after boomslang bite (Helen Bamford)
A dog, bitten by a 1,2m boomslang in the garden of its Camps Bay home, nearly bled to death before being saved by an anti-venom from Tygerberg Hospital.
The Labrador, called Frickie, was bitten on the ear by the snake which slithered into the garden of owner Kurt Pershak's Theresa Avenue home, which backs on to the mountain.
Frickie had killed the snake but Pershak only noticed the bite on the dog's ear the following day when the wound would not stop bleeding.
City Bowl vet Cathy Wahl contacted ecologist Braam Malherbe to positively identify the snake before performing a blood transfusion with blood she took from her own dog.
The following day Frickie's ear was still bleeding, despite being covered in pressure bandages.
Wahl got hold of Dr Gerbus Muller, head of the Poison Information Unit at Tygerberg Hospital, to try to secure one of the only vials of boomslang anti-venom in the Western Cape.
She said a boomslang's venom was haemotoxic, which meant it stopped the blood from clotting.
But the anti-venom, given intravenously to Frickie, worked beautifully.
Wahl said by the third day the bleeding had stopped and Frickie appeared to have made a full recovery, much to the relief of his owner.
She said the boomslang, Dispholidus typus, had its fangs far back in its mouth which made it quite difficult for it to bite - which is why it probably went for the dog's ear.
Muller said Tygerberg Hospital saw about one boomslang bite a year in humans and occasionally in animals.
"Boomslangs don't bite readily - they need a lot of provocation," he said.
He said the anti-venom was difficult to manufacture as it was hard to milk boomslange because their fangs were so far back and they had small venom glands.
Muller added that the anti-venom was usually kept in Johannesburg and flown here when necessary.
"We keep a small emergency supply in Cape Town - enough for one treatment."
Symptoms normally take between 12 and 24 hours to set in and can include bleeding not only from the puncture wound but from other orifices, as well as on the brain.
Frickie saved after boomslang bite

"Wahl got hold of Dr Gerbus Muller, head of the Poison Information Unit at Tygerberg Hospital, to try to secure one of the only vials of boomslang anti-venom in the Western Cape."

"We keep a small emergency supply in Cape Town - enough for one treatment."

I'm glad the dog survived, but was it really wise to use their only anti-venom on a dog? I sure hope no humans get bitten before they are able to restock.

On the other hand, perhaps increased use will lead to increased profit for the anti-venom producers, and increased availability in the future.

>>"...one of the only vials of boomslang anti-venom in the Western Cape."
>>
>>"We keep a small emergency supply in Cape Town - enough for one treatment."
>>
>>I'm glad the dog survived, but was it really wise to use their only anti-venom on a dog?

That's what I kept thinkingthe whole time I was reading it. On first read is sounds a lot like they only had one vial and used that. If you read very carefully, it doesn't actually say that.

Add to that that if their expert is right (I don't know much abou treating boomslang bites), they should have plenty of time to fly more in if they need it...
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

I am still trying to get over the reporter's implication that the snake knows that it is rear-fanged & intentionally went for the dog's ear. Now that is laughable, guys.

~~Greg~~