Rattlesanake vaccine

[Geri]

I've been seeing signs at local veterinarians that it is time to vaccinate your dogs against rattlesnake bites. Anyone had any experience with doing this? Known anyone who has had a dog bitten afterwards and how they did? We had a bumper crop of them this year and have been very lucky.

 

[beenthere]

Bumper crop of dogs? or rattlesnakes?

 

[Jimbrown]

Well we got as many rattle snakes here in Cochise County Az as any place in the world. I do not give my dogs the prevetive shots for the following reasons. They are only good for about 90 days or so and you need another one. I never lost a dog to a snake bite. It makes them sick for sure. Once they have been bitten they seem to learn to stay away and have some if not a lot of immunity to the next bite. I have given anti venem (sp) to a a dog that I really liked it was $450 a pop. You just have to make the choice.

 

[Geri]

Thanks Jim. Appreciate your response

 

[midlf]

There was a thread on this a while ago on countrybynet under the pets forum.

 

[Gringo_Viejo]

We live on a ranch in deep South Texas, and our veterinarians in both San Antonio and Mission strongly recomended the preventative vaccine for our three dogs (German Shepard, Lab, and Maltese). We were told that the vaccine is equal to three vials of antivenin, although the dog still must be taken to the vet if it gets hit. The vaccine is administered in two doses 30 days apart and is good for a year. The price was very reasonable considering the suffering that it is reported to ameliorate and the cost of antivenin.

We went ahead with the shots for all three dogs and hopefully will never find out how effective it is. None of the dogs suffered any adverse reaction to the shots.

 

[3RRL]

Geri,

Going along the lines of Jimbrown's post, the dog learning to stay away from rattlers. I took my dog to a rattlesnake awareness training class. There's a guy that travels around from city to city and does clinics. He uses live rattlers that are defanged and mouth taped shut and an electric training collar for the dog. There are 3 stages he introduces to the dog.

Fist snake has no rattles and he walks the dog by it on a leash. My dog walked right over it and the snake struck her. At that moment, he activates the collar. He does that several times until the dog reacts by avoiding the snake.

Next snake has rattlers and is sounding off. Again he walks the dog by it and activates the collar if she gets too close.

Last stage he releases the dog from leash on other side of you and your family with a snake between. He lets the dog go and she avoids the snake when you call her. He said for the family to ALWAYS follow to the same direction as the dog goes in case there are other snakes. She will know by smell and sight which way to avoid snakes.

He recommends an annual refresher. Cost is $75 and was worth it so far. My dog runs around our property and has not been bitten in 2 years so far.

 

[MadDog]

Hi 3R: Bet you have Western Diamondbacks out your way. That is one formidable snake to encounter in the bush; I've had two fairly close encounters over the years, while hiking in the Sierra and Chiracawas, but luckily never got bit.

There are only timbler rattlers where I live and they are much less dangerous than either Eastern or Western Diamondbacks, although you're better off not tangling with them, either. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[3RRL]

We have lots of them here MadDog.

I know those Western and Eastern Diamondbacks get HUGE, maybe bigger than the Timber rattlesnake, but I wouldn't want any rattler to get me or my dog. We have several species out here in California that overlap territory. Diamondbacks, Mojave Greens, Souther Pacific rattlers, Sidewinders and a couple others I can't remember. I've had to kill several 5' to 6' ones on my property. Can't risk having them around to get my wife, dog or 9 year old son. (Yes I have a 9 year old...2nd marriage surprise and I should be his grandpa) /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

There's a program on called Venom ER on animal planet. It's all about snake bites here in So CA. The doctor in it can recognize what snake bit you by the symptoms of the poison. They have different effects. It's scary to think about but we watch it all the time.

I contacted my local Vet here and he could not get me any rattlesnake vaccine for my dog, so I took her to the training program. Learn something new everyday. Here's a picture of a pretty big diamondback. This is not me, it's a picture I found on the net from some guy in Texas, I think. How would you like to run into THAT one?

 

[MadDog]

Whew!! Depending on the guy's height, that's got to be between 8 1/2 and 11' long. Probably packs enough venom to kill a grizzly.

BTW: I can relate to having kids that your own oldest kids could have been the parents. Mine and my wife's (4 are mine and 2 hers, both from previous marriages) range from forty-three to twenty-one. ...could have had still more 16 years ago when my wife and I first got together, but we figured 6 between the two of us was enough