What to do in the event of a snake bite?

Snakes pose a serious danger to dogs. When the animals are lucky enough to be able to wander through the woods, they stick their faces in the ravines and in the bushes where these reptilians usually hide. As well as poisonous, the viper’s bite is very painful. The animal, if it does not die instantly, it begins to moan, and wail desperately.

The severity of the bite depends on the affected site, where blood circulation may be more or less abundant, the amount of inoculated poison, the species to which the viper belongs, the season, the individual hypersensitivity to the poison and the age and size of the dog.

The affected area appears swollen, hot, painful and there can be two small holes left by the teeth of the reptile, surrounded by small haemorrhages. Once the bite site was identified, prompt action must be taken to prevent the poison from spreading into the body. Applying a 5-centimetre lace over the wound without squeezing it much so as not to stop arterial circulation and loosening every 5 minutes or so.

At this point remove as much of the poison as possible by sucking it. With great caution so as not to injure the large blood vessels, a 2-3 mm deep crosscut on the wound and crushing the part with your fingers so as to cause the wound to bleed.

The lesion should then be washed and disinfected with plenty of hydrogen peroxide. At this point, if it is available, you should inject the antiophidic serum half around the wound and, after 10 minutes if no allergic reactions occurred, the other half intramuscularly. Then remove the lace and give an injection of corticosteroids intramuscularly to fight the shock. However, the dog should be transported to the veterinarian as soon as possible.