Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Rattlesnake bites dog on Proctor

Snake’s location unusual, vets say


By KATHERINE WUTZ
Express Staff Writer

Courtesy photo. Rattlesnakes gather at a rocky den.

An English setter puppy was bitten by a rattlesnake on Proctor Ridge near Sun Valley last week, an incident veterinarians are calling unusual due to the location of the snake.

Veterinarian Karsten Fostvedt of St. Francis Pet Clinic in Ketchum said the puppy was brought into his office last Tuesday by a woman who said she had been hiking with her dog when he suddenly collapsed.

Fostvedt said the owner acknowledged that the dog typically runs far afield of the trail and likely encountered a snake there.

"[The owner] didn't hear any trauma whatsoever," Fostvedt said.

The dog was bitten in the chest, with a cantaloupe-sized swelling punctuated by fang marks that Fostvedt said was purple, nearly black, by the time the dog arrived at the clinic. The dog also had a rapid heartbeat, fluid around his heart and lungs, and was foaming at the mouth.

"The dog was very close to death," Fostvedt said.

Fostvedt treated the dog with anti-venom, but he said that this option is pricey—running around $4,000—and that not every dog owner would have been able to afford it. The dog had not been dosed with a toxoid, a vaccine-like injection that decreases the severity of snake bite symptoms. It costs $25 to $30.

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Fostvedt said the case was only unusual because of the location the dog was when bitten. Proctor Ridge—east of Sun Valley Resort above Trail Creek Cabin—has been widely considered as too far north for rattlesnakes to inhabit.

"We typically do not get rattlesnakes in the north valley," he said.

Sun Valley Animal Center veterinarian Randy Acker said the last snake he heard about in the north valley was in Hulen Meadows, when a load of hay brought up from the south valley was found to have had a snake stowaway. Sawtooth Animal Center veterinarian Mark Acker said he's seen several rattlesnake bites over the past few weeks, but none from the north valley.

"Most of the time, when I see snake bites, they are from East Fork south," he said.

Mark Acker said the snake likely was affected by the extremely hot dry weather, which may have encouraged it to head for higher ground.

Sawtooth National Recreation Area wildlife biologist Robin Garwood said it's not impossible that there are rattlesnakes in that area.

"Anything is possible, but that's the first I have heard of it," she said.

Fostvedt said that the best way to protect dogs from rattlesnakes is to keep them on a leash while hiking, have the dogs dosed with the toxoid injection and, if bitten, get the dog to the veterinarian as soon as possible.

Kate Wutz: kwutz@mtexpress.com




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