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CORTEZ JOURNAL (Colorado) 16 July 05 Rattlesnake bite indicates dog owners might want to get antivenom for pets
Photo at URL below: Libby, the 11-year-old companion of Butch Shumway and Sara Kimball, will recover from her encounter with a rattlesnake Wednesday morning while on a walk near Jackson Gulch Dam, but only because she was able to receive immediate attention. A puncture wound from the bite is just to the right of veterinarian Don Schwartz's finger as he points to the large area discolored by the venom. The silver-dollar-sized dark area just ahead of his finger is flesh that, according to the Mancos Valley Veterinary Hospital owner, will probably slough off and remain hairless.
A rattlesnake? At 8,000 feet above sea level?
Yes, that's what Libby, an 11-year-old border collie encountered when she was out on a field trip near Jackson Gulch Dam on Wednesday morning with her owners, Butch Shumway and Sara Kimball.
Libby met the snake in some bushes, Kimball said, and when the dog emerged from the bushes, she was already limping. They immediately took Libby to the Mancos Valley Veterinary Hospital, where Dr. Don Schwartz treated her for shock and kept her fluids up.
In addition to the venom injected by the bite, a snake's mouth is dirty, Schwartz told The Mancos Times Monday, and is a source of clostridial bacteria, which causes gangrene and tetanus, so he also treated the wound with antibiotics.
While shaving the dog's leg to expose the area, Schwartz first found a puncture wound on the foot, then another on the hock. The upper wound, he surmises, was probably the first bite, which injects the most venom - that puncture is near the center of a large area of discoloration. The toe bite may have a been a second, less poisonous wound, inflicted as the dog was already leaving the vicinity of the snake.
Libby will live, and she won't lose her leg, but a small area of surface tissue is already beginning to slough off. This, Schwartz said, may become scar tissue, where the hair doesn't grow back.
There is an antivenin available. Advances in production have made it possible to use the same antivenin for dogs as is used on humans. It costs $1,800 for a two-shot dose.
Dog-owners in and around the Mancos Valley may want to consider a preventive measure that's considerably less expensive - vaccination. Though not abundant, rattlesnakes are found throughout the valley, on Mesa Verde and on sunny summer slopes at 8,000 feet and higher, so the risk of a canine's hostile encounter with a poisonous reptile is widely present.
Vaccinations cost $16 per dose, Schwartz said.
"The initial vaccination sequence is two doses, spaced one month apart, and is recommended for dogs 4 months of age and older," Schwartz said. "Annual boosters are recommended."
Rattlesnake bite indicates dog owners might want to get antivenom for pets

hmmm . missed the URL codes twice now ... must be getting old. Photo at:

http://www.cortezjournal.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/05/news050716_11.htm