Snake Bite

I haven't posted about this until now because quite honestly it was too fresh and it was a very traumatic experience but our sweet Harper was bitten buy a water moccasin over Labor Day weekend. He is TOTALLY fine now but it definitely was a big scare and something we will never forget for better or worse.

Dave and my dad had been hunting and we decided to go down to the river to clean the birds. We had Harper and my parent's dog Scout with us and then it was me, my dad and Dave. Once we got down to the bank the dogs went ahead and started into the water when my dad saw this HUGE snake with it's mouth open ready to strike. We called the dogs, both heeled, and then Dave shot. It happened very quickly and the snake was blown in half. What we didn't anticipate is that Harper would go to retrieve the snake because that is what he has been trained to do...retrieve what Dave has shot. At just the moment we realized what he was doing he had already been bit buy the top half which was still alive. His whole face was immediately bloodied and he looked confused and stunned. I was already crying at this point.

We rushed up to the house, got Harper into the back of the truck and then my dad and Dave went to go call the local Llano vet, which happens to be my Dad's best friend from high school. I stayed with Harper out in the truck, which is when it went from bad to really horrible. I kept yelling for help but they couldn't hear me, Harper had started vomiting blood, defecating himself, and was laboring very hard to breath. He was bleeding EVERY WHERE and i was just holding him and praying. There was no doubt in my mind that he was dying and I was just trying to comfort him, as he was in a lot of pain and suffering to fight the venom. I was a total wreck. Finally Dave came out of the house and saw how bad things had gotten and we immediately rushed to the vet's office.

At first when they had called Harper hadn't looked too bad so there was some question as to whether the vet needed to see him because he had the snake vaccine, but once he heard what new symptoms he had there was no doubt he needed to come in. The next question was whether or not he would need the anti-venom, which is a last resort because of the risks associated with administering this foreign substance into his body.

Dave rode in the back of the truck with Harper and my Dad and I were up front. We flew into to town and once we got there he had at least stopped vomiting. He was still having a hard time breathing and he was still bleeding like crazy. We had to carry him into the office, and he checked all his vitals which looked good...it turned out that the vaccine had finally kicked in and Harper's body was beginning to win the fight. He gave him pain meds, steroids and sent us home with antibiotics.

He was VERY swollen for days and bled for a couple of days after, but in the end, he was fine. He is a big strong boy and that snake was on the loosing end. We are very grateful to have him with us. He is a joy, a family member, and a great dog. We love him very much and he is truly a blessing to this family. In fact Fay can say his name now! She knows mama, dada, bye bye, and Harper! I even got it on video.

Here is a pic of from Labor day. Everyone was dressed to hunt, but Harper couldn't go...he was still recovering. You can kind of see the wound on the side of his snout.