Adder's !

[carly]

Hi

We were very lucky whilst out walking Logan at the weekend in a Local forest.

Whilst walking down a track my daughter spotted a female Adder crossing the path in front of them

She ran back to my husband screaming, and my husband went forward to confirm what she had seen, before it disappearded into the undergrowth, hissing very loadly.

Luckily Logan was engrossed in trying to find his ball behind them, so OH was able to turn around and grab him before he even knew what was happening.

BUT, I just wandered what we should do, other than getting straight to a vet I presume, if the dog does get bitten????

any Adder advise greatly recieved
Thanks

[MrsAdmin]

Thankfully we haven't found any here but I am sure they are about, especially lying in the sun on paths.

I read that you must try to keep your dog as still as possible (easier said than done with a Doodle ), preferably carry it and get to a vet immediately. If you can take a photo of the snake with your mobile then that will help identify the poison antidote needed but it's mostly adders here in the UK anyway.

I think Bid recommended giving Piriton at once to try to dull any reaction but I'm not sure if that's vet advice or not

A reminder to put your vet's phone number in your mobile everyone, and look up local vets if you are away on holiday as it's when we are relaxed that accidents happen.

I found this on a BBC website:

Adders and dogs are a bad mix, don't be worried every time your dog starts sniffing in the bushes, but be ready to act and recognise the symptoms. If your dog gives out a yelp, check his nose and face for a bite. A bite can be hard to see as a dogs face is covered in hair.

Also check its legs and the area where the dog has come from, the snake may still be in the vicinity or it may have just been a harmless gorse bush.

If you do see a snake don't kill it, remember a snake will only strike as a form of self-defence and as a last resort.

If you suspect a snake's bite is responsible or you are not sure, take your dog to the nearest vet's immediately.

Sometimes dogs are bitten but do not react, if this happens your dog's first symptoms will be fatigue, shallow breath, whimpering and even bleeding from the nose and mouth in smaller dogs.

Adder bites can be fatal in dogs, so be prepared to act fast

[Adam Lindley]

As said, DON'T PANIC....

Keep your dog quiet and get to a vet promptly if your dog is poorly.

Wasp & bee stings are going to be more of a problem.

The joys of summer

[linny]

As said, DON'T PANIC....

Keep your dog quiet and get to a vet promptly if your dog is poorly.

Wasp & bee stings are going to be more of a problem.

The joys of summer

At least we don't have all those horrible spiders that you have to put up with....my idea of hell
Do you have much of a problem with dogs and spider bites?......my two love catching a playing with the big garden spiders.....yuk

[watto]

Oh Linny, they're not so bad, only a few of them are very venomous It's the crocs that give me the yips!!

Jo

[linny]

Oh Linny, they're not so bad, only a few of them are very venomous It's the crocs that give me the yips!!

Jo

Ok you win.....but I think I prefer the crocs.......you can see them..... unlike those horrible eight legged monsters,.
What have you got out there? funnel webs, red backs, ....I can't stand money spiders

[KateW]

Hi

We were very lucky whilst out walking Logan at the weekend in a Local forest.

Whilst walking down a track my daughter spotted a female Adder crossing the path in front of them

She ran back to my husband screaming, and my husband went forward to confirm what she had seen, before it disappearded into the undergrowth, hissing very loadly.

Luckily Logan was engrossed in trying to find his ball behind them, so OH was able to turn around and grab him before he even knew what was happening.

BUT, I just wandered what we should do, other than getting straight to a vet I presume, if the dog does get bitten????

any Adder advise greatly recieved
Thanks

I am glad Logan had a lucky escape, Carly Both Linda and I have started threads on adders over the years but the search function is not producing them

Adders are the only venomous snakes in the UK and do not normally bite if they are left alone so of course it is usually dogs who are bitten if they come across one and examine it.....The venom is at its most powerful in late Spring after the hibernation period. Piriton is not effective against venom but if the dog has been bitten in the nose/mouth area it may reduce the swelling. As has been said it is very important to get the dog to a vets asap and if you can carry the dog- or improvise a stretcher- that will help stop the venom circulating so quickly.

The best thing is to be prepared and know if you have many adders locally. Your local Wildlife group should be able to advise or your vets; here there are adders on the sand dunes at Gwithian and you can also see them basking in the sun on the coast path. I have often seen them at Perranuthnoe. In other areas there are large populations in woods and on moorland. Dogs are best kept on the lead in such areas and keep to the paths.

Here is a link which may be useful
http://www.northdownsvets.co.uk/post/Adder-bites.aspx

Katherine

[Liz!]

Bracken in particular.. adders are often in bracken. My son was bitten on a school camping trip where they were allowed to play in bracken.

[Bid]

Adders are a pain! They are everywhere atm, particularly around heathland where they lurk close to birch trees bordering areas of heath. Normally it is safest to stick to pathways because they tend to avoid regularly walked routes, however in this heat they are coming out and basking on the paths. I have been told that the safest time to walks dogs is while the dew is still on the ground, which atm means before 8.00.

I sometimes wonder why the wildlife trusts bother with all the information about walking with dogs on leads because of ground nesting birds etc, when all they need to do is put up a poster warning about the dangers of adders and dogs, and listing the local vets, and no dog walker would go near the reserves!

[Nicky]

Hi

Glad to hear everything is okay

They are a pain, especially for dogs

My husband's childhood learcher got bitten by an Adder and sadly the bite was only spotted when they got home a couple of hours later the bite was hidden under the dogs collar so always check everywhere if you think your dog may have been bitten

Sadly casper Hubby's dog died so I would avoid long grass, marshy places where they like to hide.

[Adam Lindley]

I'm with Jo on the spiders - not likely to kill people or dogs.

Snakes on the other hand... 1/2 hr to get treatment, a few hrs if you use basic first aid. As for long grass, am busy strimming acres (literally) to get parts of our block cleared before the summer.

[Freddies_mum]

Are adders everywhere in the UK? It's not something I've ever worried about, and have never seen one, but there's always a first time...

[Liz!]

There are no snakes in Northern Ireland, or Ireland at all actually! They are all over the rest of Britain.

I guess if you are out with a dog you are more likely to see one, especially this time of the year.

But in my life, I have seen one, heard of one bite which killed someone, but only because they were allergic to it, and that was 40 years ago, and had my son bitten by one, on school camp... and only because he was rolling in the bracken, at the bottom of a hill (a favourite place for them to be).

I have heard of a dog round here being quite ill with a bite, i think because the owner didn't know it had been bitten.

They run if they feel/see you. They have no ears, so tread heavily, they'll feel the vibration. Early sunny mornings they are more likely to be out sunning themselves.

In the last 20 years no person has died of an adder bite. 90 people are a year.

[Bid]

I've seen a couple so far this summer, and our vets have had a several dogs in with adder bites. The worry is that dogs sometimes go into shock which is when it becomes dangerous. The other concern is that dogs go poking about in the undergrowth with their noses, and so the most common area to get bitten is around the head, which can become nasty of the dog has a reaction and gets a swelling around the mouth/neck area - that is when the piriton can come in handy. Piriton does nothing about the actual adder bite.


Here is a UK adder distribution map . My own view is that you can't avoid them - they are everywhere, and you can't not walk your dog. What you can do is to try to make sure that you keep to areas where a lot of people walk rather than going to remote areas where they can bask in peace and you disturb them. On narrow paths I ask my dogs to walk behind me, - mainly so I don't have to keep stopping when they find a sniff, but it also means that I can scare away the little beggars with my stomping hooves. It is also worth giving a little thought about what you would if your dog was bitten when you are walking away from your usual haunts. At a pinch I know I could carry Poppy, but not Daisy so the keeping still part would not be an option for her.

http://www.searchnbn.net/gridMap/gridMa ... p#topOfMap

[MrsAdmin]

Ideally you lift a large dog by having one arm across in front of their chest, and the other arm under their tail and across the bum. The legs then dangle down between. It's like how you would carry a lamb.

This stops any compression of the rib cage or squeezing of the belly. However, if you are a distance from the car and you tried to walk too far like this you are likely to buckle at the knees and drop the dog.

It might sound off the wall but check out how to do a fireman's lift.

If you have a large dog (who is not struggling too much or is unconscious) that you need to carry in an emergency, yet still keep a hand free to control another dog on a lead or just to carry anything, then a fireman's lift can work as well as for humans. The difficult part would be getting them up on your shoulders but, if it was an emergency, then it is surprising how much inner strength you can find.

It's probably not ideal because you would have to be very careful not to compress the ribs so the dog breathed properly but in an emergency it might be a life saver.

I always remember my Dad walking back up the road with the body of our huge German Shepherd round his shoulders after he fell down a floor into a cellar on a building site following Dad

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source ... hf4yS7DgFQ

I've tried this out on Jack, who weighs about 25kg, and he was quite happy and relaxed across my shoulders but Becky wasn't having any of it I think she would need to be out for the count before she allowed me to sling her over my shoulders.