How I saved my pet (a Rottweiler ) from a powerful Russell’s Viper bite.

Those who are looking for ‘First aid for snakebite’ or the ‘Initial steps to take for a Snake’s bite on your pet’, ‘Veterinary Doctors in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu’ or ‘Do you know any doctor who can come home and treat’ or ‘A snake bit my dog. I don’t know what to do’.

Please scroll down to the end of this page. I have the details attached over there.

I woke up on March 1st, Sunday at 4.30 am at Coimbatore to a clamour at Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. I rushed to my front door and I saw my Mom shouting in a frenzied voice to lock the door and my dad outside trying to shoo away something. I remember hearing Rex, my pet, a Rottweiler’s dismal voice when I woke up and I turned to my Mom to ask what happened?

My Mom replied that a snake had entered and the first thing that crossed my mind to check Rex, my dog. I was sure he would have fought it or made an attempt to scare it. I checked my dog and he was standing cornered at the hall. He was alright and excited. So we took the initial step for moving the snake away from our home. We took help from the watchman at the school nearby and was able to get rid of the snake, which unfortunately led to the snake’s death. I took photos of the snake and informed my sister to check further information on what should I proceed with.

Moments later, when I was scrolling through the symptoms of snakebite and I saw my dog performing the same symptoms like vomiting, loose motion and his body shivering. I confirmed that the snake had bit but was not able to find the mark on its legs or body. That first flush of the morning me and my sister Googled all the vets around and called all the very help we wanted. No one picked up as it was early — roughly 5 am in the morning and its been an hour already. I was scared as well as squirming with a little confidence that Rex was all still good and strongly handing the situation. A vet had taken the call in deep sleep and told not to disturb or he could come only after 8 pm and he confirmed it. I called him, again and again, explaining to him the urgency and he was able to suggest another doctor far away near R.S Puram namely JSR Pet Multi Speciality Hospital. We called the doctor and he told us to come to his clinic as soon as possible.

Here comes the big problem. Our dog had never driven in the car and he refused to come inside the car. He started feeling scared and weak and that hit my heart first.

Myself and my dad took all the struggles to lift him into the car. But we couldn’t. He went far away to the upstairs after giving a small threatening growl. He usually does that when he doesn’t like anything. He is a Rottweiler and you know even if it’s your dog and you had taken care of him from its birth, his characteristics are different from other breeds and he could oppose the owner when he is very uncomfortable. So we had a small fear of that. Meanwhile we found the snake was a Russell’s Viper (Kannadi -veriyan)and I read people/pets can’t stand 3 hours of its poison and would eventually die.

Image of the snake- Russell’s Viper

The doctor who told would come home had asked for an Antivenom injection (It can be an injection or a powder mixed with water )and NS drips bottle as he didn’t have them him him.

So I rushed to a hospital to get the things he asked for and while returning I realized it will be too late by the time he comes in. I am usually a person who would think all the different possibilities that I can take at that moment starting from the worst case to the best. But it had always cost me some loss as its due. So this time I decided to act and stick to one plan. I rushed back home and took help from Dad and Mom and helped lift and somehow push Rex into the car. We did it. Poof! I drove as quickly as I can to the JSR hospital. Rex had become very weak and scared by then. We were able to lift him now.

We tied him up and gave the first 10 ml Antivenom injection. We weren’t able to find the snake bite. When I asked the doctor if he will be alright. He said with an uncertainty that Rex is in observation and I can’t confirm it. There are chances you need to bring him back again if he is not alright or if you find any changes. My dad was in a huge relief that this injection is good enough to save him.

I was on my way back home. I still had a pure insanity that the doctor was very uncertain about his health, something is not right and he had just consoled us. We came back and I started asking second opinions from other doctors. I had a different opinion from different doctors. I was clear on one thing from all the discussions:

A single dose of 10 ml Antivenom for a Russel’s Viper bite will not work and it needs more continuous attention and care.

So I took my scooter prowling around to different Vets asking doubts and clarifications and convincing them to come home for treating my dog. Most of them refused to come home and everyone had that strike in my mind when I said ‘My pet, A Rottweiler’. I recalled my old dog’s doctor area who was very courageous and I started knocking every door in every street targeting houses who have dogs to ask them if they know any Vet. around the area he used to live here. After major ‘No’s’ and some people declining thinking I am here to advertise some product, I finally got some clues from some good helpful listeners and was able to find the doctor’s home. I found the doctor. His name was Dr.Varadarajan and stayed near Indumanagar, Coimbatore. To our bad luck, he wasn’t at home and had just left the house 5 mins back. Also he had forgot his phone at home. We gave our phone numbers and details and I came back losing little hope to find most doctor’s not responding and some big hospitals asking appointments and entry like its some business.

Dr. Varadharajan had called back and told me to get some things from the hospital immediately and he was coming over to home. I was gloomed with hope back again and luckily I had brought few items in the morning for safety as mentioned before. I went to get the rest of the things and ended with walking 10 med stores+ to find amoxicillin with sulbactam combination and Avil 10mg. I was able to find Avil but I heard all over Coimbatore that Amoxicillin with sulbactam production had been stopped. So got only Amoxicillin back.

In the evening the second dose of Antivenom injection with NS drips went on. We understood that drips need to be done for some days and the venom has nicely spread throughout the body and it has just begun to amortise slowly.

We were told to notice few things and the major things were:

1. Check his urine. He needs to urinate and there shouldn't be any blood in the urine. (Blood in urine is dangerous. It might lead to surgery or to worse things.)
2. Make him drink something. He shouldn’t dehydrate. Preferably Coconut water as it 5.45 calories, 1.3 grams of sugar, 61 milligrams of potassium, and 5.45 milligrams of sodium which is nearly a substitute for NS , DNS or RL . (Note: NS, DNS , RL are different drips with each having its own content like sugar, sodium less or more)

Face Swell after 2 days

Seeing my Rex in drips almost got me in tears. He is such a happy dog ;kid that I haven’t seen him so scared and depressed even. It was done for the day. The next day I woke up having my mind bombed with a huge concern. I found the snake bite spot. It was in the nose. Since we had it covered with a mouth mask we weren’t unable to find it when we led to the first doctor. Then I saw a droplet of blood and I saw his face swollen like a Watermelon by the afternoon. Doctor had come twice that day and told that

Just a drop of blood in the nose is good and not an issue. This was satisfactory but he told more than the venom itself its side effects are very harmful. This swelling you see is the begining and you need to take care of him till his liver, kidney and digestive tract is alright.

I was worried. I had full hope on him that he would come up daily and help us. First thing I worried about was for Rex to urinate.

The first thing I anticipated in 2020 was for my Rex to urinate. He urinated after 2 days and on seeing it clear and white without any traces of blood that I was on the seventh heaven.

There are two types of snakebite:

One, the snake would have bitten in the blood cells which caused the swellings in his face. If the bite was in the blood tissues the time for the venom to spread across the body is slow and it depends on the dog’s weight and age.

Second, the snake would have bitten in its nerve. If it had bitten in the nerves then the spread would have been fast and it wouldn’t survive if we hadn’t treated him within the Golden Hour. The Golden hour is usually 2–3 hrs for a pet and 7 for a human.

Luckily, ours was first.

His face had swelled well enough and the doctor had given drips for the morning and evening on the third day. Now came the sad thing, the doctor had an emergency and he informed us he wouldn’t make it on the following Wednesday and Thursday. The search quest continued again and I had to find one stable doctor who would come up every day to take care of Rex. After a long struggle, I was able to find Saran’s pet hospital.

I went to the hospital and found a lady doctor. My first thought was that they wouldn’t come home to take care of Rex as most of the doctors denied for a Rottweiler and denied more for a home treatment. We had no choice as it wasn’t trained to go inside a car and by now he completely hates the car. But surprisingly they had agreed and came to our home to check our dog. My dog cooperated well. Every day our heart shook whenever any doctor had to find our dogs’ nerves in the leg and inject him for the drips. You could imagine how hard it would have been. Every day they would inject into his nerves 7–8 times in the nerves at different legs as it would shake off his legs in the middle or uncomfortable. Initial days it was not able to sense the pain as its swelling and internal pain were more severe than the injection.

We still didn’t have full confidence because whatever it drank it vomited and whatever we fed it vomited. Be it lemon juice or Coconut water or just water. So we were worried about his dehydration.

At initial stages we also figured out that when we gave NS/DNS drips it vomited but when we give RL it was better. Rex vomited for about the next one week and the same cycle of Injection, Antibiotics, Emiset tablet (for vomit was given some days), Avil and drips. It slowly started drinking only coconut water and orange juice. Vitamin C is always a good intake in these cases as suggested by doctors. Slowly it increased its intake in the next week and it started to piss for 40 sec+ which is a good sign for his kidney. He took initial tests where the creatinine in the kidney was high and the BUN (Blood urea nitrogen) was a bit more than normal. This was scary and we were more panicked. But with Rex’s strong mind and positive vibes we witnessed the swollen area flattening along with the regular cycle of treatment. His stomach had become very flat by the third week.

We had stopped drips and he slowly started drinking without any vomiting. We gave kanji (Tamil word — usually blending of rice and curd in grinder) initially in small amounts like 4–5 hands. We also fed him with coconut water for every 3–4 hours. We took shifts at night to feed him. We again sent its blood for lab tests and we found satisfactory results on creatinine and kidney finding its way to normal. We stopped the medications with the final supplement for Haemoglobin drips and other syrups for liver and kidney. We understood that the doctor’s part is normal and it’s our turn to save him by keeping a caring, positive and happy feeling around him. I could see felicity in myself and Rex with his side effects vanishing. After a week, we got his brisk and barking activities back. I was sure that we mentally alright at least. His mouth was the last thing to get to normal. So it faced the struggle of eating without spilling it. So we had fed him till he got back normal.

Now. Its’s already been a month and a half. It took all this time back for him to get to normal brisk and happy behaviour with complete recovery of stomach, liver and kidney.

With the end of this, the pandemic Corona-virus (aka Covid-19) had begun. So I had extended by lock-down at home eventually writing this post. This is to help anyone out there who is facing struggles similar to my Rex. If such a powerful venom can be healed then so will the pandemic.

“ Hard Truth. Things take time to heal. “

My heartful thanks to Saran’s Pet who were courageous and constantly treated our pet and consoled us for weeks, JSR Pet Multi-Speciality Hospital and Dr.Varadharaj for fighting for my dog’s life.

First- Aid and Steps to take for a Snake’s bite on your pet:

1. Don’t let your dog move. Make him stay in one place without any activity.
2. Locate the snake bite. If it’s in the legs — tie them with clothes tightly to reduce the venom movement.
3. Take a picture of the snake or find out what snake it is. Green thin/fat snakes are less of poison compared to snakes with patterns. The more the age of the snake the more venomous it is. The more the length and width the more is its age.
4. If you don’t know if the snake had bit or not. Monitor its activity, if it vomits or shivers or having a loose motion or it looks weak with ears closed and drooling around then the snake had hit him for sure.
5. Don’t wait or Google search for doctors first. Try to get your dog to your car and then decide where to go. One of you google and find if the nearest doctors are available. Call all of them. Even if you find a doctor call and have a backup of 2–3 doctors. Sometimes some hospitals cant understand the emergency, sometimes we have to follow the procedure like Appointments. So in case of emergency have a backup of 2–3 doctors
6. Rush to the hospital . Give them the first Antivenom. If you have your doctor coming home ask him if he wants us to get anything from the hospital. Some doctors prefer us to get things for drips, Antivenom injections and kits. So ask them and confirm it.
7. Monitor its Urine. If there is blood takes then the venom has affected the kidney and needs treatment.
8. It CANNOT be healed in one injection if it’s a venomous snake. It needs observations and continuous monitoring. So please find a home doctor or a place where you can take your pet to the hospital for the next week.

Things you should note:

1. It takes time for him to eat and drink. Feed him with Coconut water and Citrus juices like Orange/Lemon till you will it got back to normal. They contain enough supplements for a drips like NS, DNS, RL.
2. Don’t try to overfeed him in recovery. He will have more sensation and hunger to drink water. If you feed him more he will vomit. So initial days measure 100ml -150ml Coconut water/ water and feed him every 2 hours.
3. Hard truth. Drinking water will cause him to vomit and reduce his health. So if the doctor says no to water. It is STRICTLY NO. He might tend to find water all over the house. It’s hard to see. But its for his health. He wouldn’t get dehydrated if there are giving drips. But stick to coconut water instead of water.
4. If you find him not drinking or eating tablets, mix it in water and take in in syringe and push it into his tongue slowly.
5. NEVER BE WORRIED IN FRONT OF THE DOG. If you are sad it discourages him. Always talk to him. Take special care of him. Talk in a very happy mood to him. Dogs would think of us more than himself and its essential for us to be happy to him feel comfortable and safe.
6. Don’t tempt him with his favorite food or toy till he is alright. Make sure you don’t cook his favorite food.

Nothing will happen to your pet if you give the needful courage and support. It will be alright in a week or month. Believe and act . No negative vibes. The world is what you chose to be !

Please hit the claps. This might be helpful to anyone who is facing the situation. Let’s help each other. Thanks

Doctors who helped me and the Veterinary doctors i recommend in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India are

1. Saran’s Pet Hospital — Ph.No: +91 9894078785 (Home doctor)
2. JSR Pet Multi Speciality Hospital — Ph.No: +91 9152462606
3. Dr. Varadharaj — Ph.No: +91 9952519528 (Home doctor)

Regards,
Vigneshwar Ilango

Mail me @ mr.vigneshwarilango@gmail.com