I am so very sorry for your loss. I lost all three of my dogs the last few years so I know the deep pain and grief involved. I still miss all three of them.

My heart is broken and I could care less about the bill

Prescott’s mom

I have a $950 bill that I could care less about and pay anyway but my girl is DEAD OVER THEIR MONEY GRUBBING STUPIDITY.

Our Vizsla did not have any side effects from the antivenin but we were told that anaphylactic shock was a possibility. I hope your dog gets better… sorry to hear about your experience

Our dog, a Vizsla (Pointer) was bitten by an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake on Nov 12/19 in Central Florida. We immediately drove 45 minutes to a Tampa Emergency vet where he received painkillers through IV, fluids through IV and 6 vials of antivenin. It took 6 vials to get his blood coagulating properly. They kept him in the hospital 24 hrs and we took him home to Ft Lauderdale afterwards. We took him to local vet every two days to check his blood. First 5 days were rough… swelling started coming down but he was lethargic, not eating much, vomiting, unable to hold his urine and then not being able to urinate. He got antibiotics for a urinary infection and started feeling better after 5 days. Every day his strength came back, his appetite was excellent and no vomiting. He did have some inflammation on the pancreas and liver from the venom and maybe the antivenin in his body. Blood work wasn’t terrible but not ok until 4 weeks later when everything went back to normal. At first vets thought he was bitten on the face (muzzle) because he had a cut there but when swelling came down from his neck the bites were clearly visible there. We got very lucky…. he’s a young dog (not quite 2 yrs old), was very healthy prior to the bite, larger size (70 lbs) and most importantly we got him to a clinic with antivenin quickly and he received aggressive treatment. Hang in there… it will take some time but you have to be optimistic! You can check out his story, progress and photos at http://www.ArgoTheVizsla.com

Update on Achak: He is now completely blind in his left eye (cannot even see shadows), because of the snake bite. And he is still showing signs of pain. Our vet wants him to wait until August before removing a couple of skin tags on his snout, because I suppose he deems Achak to not be over the snake bite before then. Because he said, “Let’s see if he lives first.” We are giving him Rymadil for the pain, at this point.

I enjoyed your pictures of your 3 babies. They are all beautiful.

Thank you for letting us know what happened. Glad to hear that Achak is home. Give him a big hug from me.

Yeah, I know all about crazy vet bills. Even though we didn’t do the antivenom, our bill was also really high because Shania stayed over for several days for observation. She didn’t want to eat the first couple of days, so they wanted to keep her until she started eating again. I am currently doing the rattlesnake vaccine with my other Sibe. It is supposed to reduce the effects of the poison some (not fully, so emergency visit is still necessary). But the hope is that it will increase chances of recovery.

Thank you so much for your prayers. We had a bunch of people praying for Achak (pronounced ah-chahk), even the vet staff prayed for him. It took 6 units of serum @ $560 per unit for the first 5, and the 6th unit came from a vet across town who uses a different brand of serum which costs $805.19 per unit. So, I paid a total of $3,605.19 for the Antivenin. The 5 blood tests “PT/aPTT” totaled $498.75. The grand total for the billing was $5,056.73.
He was admitted on Saturday, 5/18/19 at 6:45 PM.
He was released to come home on Sunday, 5/19/19 at 7:30 PM.
On Monday, 5/20/19 he saw his regular vet, who told me “Achak is still not out of the woods yet, he could still die. He still has a lot of venom in his body and it is still having the anticoagulating effects.” His left eyeball was not visible, his inner eyelid could not move because there was so much swelling. All I can see is the bloodshot white of the eye.
His vet gave me a tube of antibiotic for his eye (administer 4 X per day). That antibiotic was “Vetropolycin” which is bacitracin-neomycin-polymyxin and cost $25.06 for 1/8 oz tube. I have sticker shock over these medications. Today (Tuesday 5/21/19) both vets have called to check on Achak. Tomorrow I will be taking him back to see his regular vet. I am hoping and praying the best for his eye.

I am so sorry to hear this Betty. Our prayers are with you and your brave boy.