Dogs – Our Allies in the Coming Snakepocalypse
Man saves dog from rattlesnake bite
This hero of a man, Bobby Jenkins of Wyoming, saved his lab, Tanker Truck aka Tank, by sucking the snake venom from the bitten dogs nose.
Story from the Casper Star-Tribune Online
Tank’s head had ballooned to three times its normal size. The vet at the Goshen County veterinary clinic, Jenkins said, was surprised the dog was still alive.
After his dog received an anti-venom shot, Jenkins and his mother shopped for groceries to take back to the ranch.
“My heart started beating really, really fast and I had a cold sweat,” he said. He and his mother headed for the hospital emergency room.
“It was awful,” Pat Shimic said Thursday. “I could tell he was ready to pass out. He was turning white.”
At the emergency room, a nurse told them sucking out the venom was the wrong thing to do.
Jenkins received four vials of anti-venom medication.
Jenkins and his mother were stunned at the cost — $3,500 per vial.
“I thought they were joking,” his mother said.”I thought they meant $35.”
Apparently the health care system is on the side of the snakes. Yikes.
Ominous Signs
The hospital said that was the second snake bite treatment this year.
Jenkins said there appear to be more rattlesnakes out this year than before.
Of course there are; the snakepocalypse is coming. But in addition to that the warm weather has snakes leaving their dens.
Apparently Jenkins’ case is unusual.
“I have never heard of this happening to a dog owner,” Dr. Tim Hackett, a veterinarian and associate professor of emergency and critical care service at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, said in an e-mail.
“I have heard stories about the dangers of sucking venom into your mouth but am not aware of any published cases,” he wrote.
“No first aid is generally recommended. Just get to a vet/physician as soon as possible,” Hackett added.
Dogs will be our allies
Zach Walker, a herpetologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said only a handful of people die from snake bites every year.
The prairie rattlesnake, he said, is not as poisonous as other types such as the cottonmouth.
Moreover, a lot of snakes don’t give a full dose of venom.
“They save it for use on prey,” Walker said.”Some people get dry bites.”
Harassing a large snake is really dangerous, he said.
He said he also has heard that when a dog gets bitten by a rattlesnake and survives, the dog is henceforth immune to the venom.
And this is why dogs will be our allies when the snakepocalypse comes. We will have a race of venom immune uber dogs to fight at our sides.
