Dogs and Snakes Don't Mix

Dogs and Snakes (link to video here)

DENVER — A little dog attacked by a rattlesnake serves as a warning to pet owners in metro Denver that we’re in an active snake season.  Vets have already seen a number of cases of pets bitten by rattlesnakes.

Annie is a 4-year-old poodle-dachshund mix. She’s doing just fine, but that’s because she’s one lucky dog.
“I came home on Father’s Day. We let her out to go to the bathroom in the yard and she was just out in our backyard snooping around,” says Annie’s owner Valan Cover.  He says it was nothing new for the curious dog, who loves to chase mice and rabbits around the yard. But her curiosity nearly killed her this time.

“She was digging and poking and there was a rattler in that hole and [she was bitten] three times right around the eye. The second or third time she was bit she leaped back twice her height,” Cover says.

Her eye was bleeding and her face was quickly swelling from the venom. Her owner rushed her to the Veterinary Referral Center of Colorado in Englewood.  By the time she reached the vet, she had already stopped breathing.

“That was probably the thing that saved her life, they brought her here real quick,” says veterinarian Dr. Luke Rump.

The emergency team at VRCC revived the little dog and she received a dose of anti-venom.
But her case has vets warning pet owners about an active snake season this year and the summer time danger it presents.  VRCC has seen five cases of pets bitten by rattlesnakes.

Dr. Luke Rump says they’ve seen more cases that are more severe so far this summer than in recent years.
Annie spent two days in the Intensive Care Unit, and then she had another week of round-the-clock care. That’s when she finally got to go home. Vets saved her but she lost her sight in it.

“Annie is doing great. She’s back to herself, out wanting to chase stuff,” her owner says.

But now her family keeps a much closer watch on her when she ventures into the backyard.