Few months back in June this year, I rushed my 8-year-old dog ‘Tinkle’ to the 24-hour Emergency Veterinary Hospital. While the vet was treating my dog, another dog arrived in the wee hours of the morning.
It was a 2-year-old Wire Jack Russell with a handsome face and beautiful coat. He belonged to a Caucasian couple who was staying in a landed house nearby in Orchard. They placed him down gently right beside where my dog was. Panic was written all over both faces.
The dog had been bitten by a cobra that entered their house. While trying to defend the family members, it got nipped at its front leg. It was a punctured wound. Even though the family took only 15 minutes to reach the hospital, from the trembling of the dog it was obvious that the snake had injected its venom into the dog’s bloodstream.
By the time he was laid on the table, the dog appeared paralyzed in much of its movement. The only thing he could still control was his vocal chords; he whined in pain. Tears flowed down from the sides of his eyes though he could not even blink them.
The couple was devastated. After some checks, the lady vet told them gently that it is too late to save him and advised them to make the decision to euthanize him immediately so as to lessen his suffering. But they felt strongly that they had to go back and get the two young children to say the proper goodbye to their beloved pooch. The parents were worried that the children would not be able to understand why their dog was taken away from them without a reason.
However, in the next few minutes, I witnessed the poor dog went into seizures, cardiac arrest, had his 4 legs flunked into the air uncontrollably and was just shaking non-stop. By now, he could not even whine. He was just in a lot of pain. It was a terrible scene to watch. My heart sunk. The vet again pleaded with the couple to make the decision. The lady owner cried and quickly signed the papers. The vet proceeded with the euthanization …. It was done. Within a minute or so, he was gone.
This is a sad account to share, I know …. However, the experience made me recall of an encounter with an uncle I met just two months ago while distributing some tracts to the houses along Jervois Road.
He has 5 big dogs in his huge landed house. A few of the dogs are Rottweilers. He told me that there are a lot of snakes within his compound. Then, he pointed to one of his Rottweilers and said. “This one was bitten by a cobra few months back. She survived because my helper shoved a glass of special drink down his throat before we rushed him to the hospital.”
I recalled him saying something about Vitamin C. Back then, I was skeptical about his story. I felt that he was just talking nonsense. But after witnessing such an unfortunate scene at the Emergency Hospital, I decided that there is no harm doing some checks on the internet about his claims and who knows … it may turn out to be useful one day.
Below is the information I gathered from a few related websites.
Important: Please note that the usage of Vitamin C as an antidote for poison is not something that has been proven medically thus far, so I will leave it to the readers’ own discretion whether to believe it or not.
ADMINISTRATION OF VITAMIN C AGAINST SNAKE VENOM
(while on the way to the vet)
Vitamin C works as a natural antidote to poison. It is completely non-toxic, so it cannot harm your pet if you give him more than he needs. Moreover, Vitamin C overdose results in nothing worse than diarrhea and anaphylaxis cannot occur.
Should a poisonous snake bite your dog, if you have Vitamin C powder at home, then administer it immediately to your dog every 15 minutes. You can give it to the dog either orally crushed or dissolved in water.
Dr Glen Dettman, a retired pathologist, said that he has used Vitamin C on many situations. A dog in a tick coma, spider bites, dogs with Parvo, Tetanus following a terrible injury from a car, and in cases of shock - all with unfailing success. Vitamin C can be used as crushed tablets or powder straight into the mouth in cases of sickness.
Vets like him feel that the Vitamin C substance will boost a dog’s resistance and also slow down the absorption of toxins in the blood. Nonetheless, other vets are of the opinion that while an administration of Vitamin C is unlikely to do a dog any harm, it probably won’t do any good either.
General Dosage Guideline:
a) Big Dog – Dissolve 5 teaspoons in 1 cup of filtered water, feed via oral syringe approximately 15ml in every 15 minutes
b) Small Dog – Dissolve 3 teaspoons in 1 cup of filtered water, feed via oral
syringe approximately 10ml every 15 minutes
Continue to do so until you reach the vet and receive veterinary treatment.
GENERAL VETERINARY ADVICE ON WHAT TO DO IF A SNAKE BITES YOUR DOG:
1) Do not take a knife and cut over the fang marks! Do not attempt to suck venom through those marks. Do not apply ice or clean the area as it can increase the venom absorption.
2) Try to identify the snake by taking note of its size, color patterns and tail. If the snake has been killed, take it with you for identification.
3) Rush and be on your way to the vet because the best solution to snake bite is still anti-venom & vet care. The further you have to travel to a vet, the more venom is injected into your dog and thus, the worse your dog's chances of survival become.
However you can help prolong your dog's chances of survival by some basic treatment especially during the car trip to the vet.
4) Check if there is more than one bite wound on your dog. The surroundings of the fang marks are usually damp. (Get on the car first. Do not waste time finding them as they are usually quite hard to locate immediately.)
5) Apply a pressure bandage if it is a limb bite. But do not bandage the wound too tightly, as the blood flow must not be impeded. Apply hand pressure to a body bite, that is, areas like dog’s face and jaw.
6) Restrict the movement of the pet. Keep it as still as possible. Keep talking to your dog & stroking it to calm and reassure it. Carry your dog at all times because letting the dog walk will only speed up the spread of the venom.