Practice News
Jack Johnson survives snake attack!!Friday 11th July, 2008
Jack is a two year old Jack Russell Terrier who had been running around Chobham Common one Saturday morning. Little did he know the next 48 hours were possibly going to be the worst in his life! He explored and ran around happily in his little adventure when all of a sudden he felt a stinging pain in his foot. Later we would find out this was from an adder bite.
Jacks owners were concerned due to the fast swelling of his leg and the puncture wounds left in his foot from the snake. They brought him straight to the hospital and Katy the vet examined him thoroughly.
He was quite subdued and incredibly sore around his poisoned foot. Katy was highly suspicious that an adder was behind this. The best way to treat him at this point was to give him fluids by a drip, plenty of pain relief, antibiotic cover and some steroids to help prevent the venom making Jack really sick.
He was then monitored very closely by the nurse who constantly checked his heart and respiratory rate and temperature. Small changes in these could indicate Jack either getting better or deteriorating. Jack didn’t really mind being poked and prodded every hour because he quite liked the fuss but he didn’t really like having his temperature being taken! He was very good though and let the nurse do it anyway.
After 24 hours of intensive monitoring he seemed to be improving. He seemed brighter than he had the day before although he wasn’t keen on the nurses cooked chicken. This was still early days for young Jack who still had a long way to go before he recovered.
Day 3 in the hospital, Bank Holiday Monday, Jack should’ve been playing in the common again but instead he would spend the day fighting for his life. He had deteriorated through the course of the morning and after 48 hours of constant care and monitoring he had taken a turn for the worse. His temperature had dropped he was incredibly pale and was very lethargic. He wouldn’t eat and would just sleep on his bed. This really gave Jon the vet a dilemma.
We have anti-venom for adder bites but they have a bad press for causing adverse reactions. Jon very much between a rock and a hard place spoke to the poisons unit. After long discussions with the poisons unit and then Jacks owners it was decided that we would give the anti-venom. Due to his very serious anaemia and the fact that snake venom had caused Jacks immune system to attack his own red blood cells, Jon thought the best thing he could do for him would be to give him a blood transfusion. Jack wouldn’t be out of the woods yet. He would need even more intensive care and monitoring as he could have a reaction to the anti venom or to the transfusion.
Throughout the night jack seemed to become more stable his temperature became normal and he gained a little bit of colour. Two days later after a lot of TLC and constant monitoring, blood tests and poking and prodding jack really started to improve. He was no longer anaemic his foot started to look better too and he’d started eating again which is always a good sign.
After 6 days of very intense hospitalisation Jack was allowed to go home to his very relieved owners. His foot is now fine and he’s back to his cheeky little self. Jack had a very worrying time in the hospital and if you look at him now you’d never know. That’s why he is our brave heart.
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