Rattlesnake vaccine:

[DLCTEX]

Went to the Vet today to pick up meds for my dog and saw an ad for rattlesnake bite vaccination for dogs. It seems that 2 initial vaccinations then a yearly booster at about $15 each gives dogs resistence to snakebite. They still have a reaction, but it is much less. Sounds like a good investment if you live or hunt in snake country. Dale:-D

[Ranch Dog]

Interesting... I've never heard of this either.

[longhorn]

Available a couple of years now--pretty cheap bit of insurance if you live amongst the rattlers.

[ron brooks]

I have neveer uderstood why their is a rabies vaccine for dogs and cats and now a rattlesnake vaccine for dogs, why not for people?

Ron

[boogerred]

weve been using the vaccine on our cow dogs and hi-dollar hunting dogs for a while now. it does seem to work although they do need the booster every year. they do get kinda sick after the first two shots but its like a bad hangover. we had a cow dog that got bit hard on the shoulder. she was sick for a coupla days and limped for a week but after that she was fine. i dont know either,ron. maybe because A&M is in east TEXAS?

[carpetman]

Ron Brooks---A rattlesnake vaccine for dogs and cats,why not for people? Except for postmen not many people bite dogs and cats.

[Lightning Ross]

There is a dog trainer here in SE AZ that will put a dog in a room with a rattle snake that has been defanged. The dog has a shock collar on if he when he aproaches the snake he gets zapped.learns to stay away from snakes perty quick after one training sesion of over five hundred dogs not one reported snake bite.HE charges 25 dollars last I heard.

[omgb]

Quail Unlimited, of which I am a member, sponsors Snake Break clinics several times a year. We use live snakes and aversion training using shock collars to teach dogs to leave snakes alone. We also sponsor vaccination clinics. We heartily recommend rattlesnake vaccinations for all dogs who run in snake country. Out here we have the Mojave Green, it combines a neurotoxin with the usual flesh destroying venom to give you a nearly 100% fatal bite. Vaccination is THE ONLY way to go with this monster. Steve Erwin aside, I kill each and every one of these things I find. In my book, that's room for one more King Snake or Gopher Snake.

[ron brooks]

Carpetman,

One of these days we are going to catch up with you and you will be pun-ished for you crimes. :)

Ron

[9.3X62AL]

OMGB--

HEAR HEAR regarding the Mojave Green and the rest of the rattlesnake clan. "Full protection" of these species by law in The People's Republic is completely consistent with California's politically liberal catch-and-release criminal justice system......to nurture and protect mindless predators at the expense and to the disadvantage of the system that supports them.

I try to do my part by LIGHTING UP every one of these things I encounter. Crows (also protected, go figure) get the same processing. Snakes and crows have fewer lawyers tending to their upkeep (unlike pedophiles and carjackers), since they aren't nearly so lucrative to represent--so it's a relatively low-hazard pursuit from the standpoint of possible legal sanctions.

OK--this metaphor is strained enough.

[omgb]

Al, did you hear about the recall of Steve Erwin's famous Sun Block? It seems it fails to protect from harmful rays.

[ron brooks]

Ouch!!:-D


Al, did you hear about the recall of Steve Erwin's famous Sun Block? It seems it fails to protect from harmful rays.

[C1PNR]

About all I can add to the rattlesnake issue is: They are very tasty when panfried in butter!:-D

But I can't speak to the Mojave Green, just the run of the mill Diamondback and Timber varity.:roll:

Skins make a decent pool cue grip decoration, too. Not to mention hat bands.[smilie=1:

[Blackwater]

I don 't know about that "aversion therapy" when it comes to long legged, faster species like my Lewellyn. She's just to darn fast to ALWAYS smell a rattler, and the treatment seems like a good idea down here in Ga.

Thanks for the tip. I didn't know about it. Lost my Boykin to a couple of snake bites. She's the only "snake dog" I've ever owned, though I've known several along the way. She ab-so-lutely HATED snakes, and even backed a 20 lb. snapping turtle against the wall of the house once, for good measure. I simply could NOT hold that dog back from that snapper, and I've never seen anything like her! She'd dance around in front of the snapper like Ali in his prime, and in the literal twinkling of an eye, she'd dart in and, despite her smallish size, open those jaws of hers wide enough to bite the turtle's head, teeth on the top of the turtle's head, and on the bottom of it's throat, AND back off before the turtle could snap its maw shut! I think she had a mongoose in her ancestry somewhere!

She killed at least 3 rattlers that I know of, one of which is the first one that bit her. The other two were clean kills on her part, with no damage inflicted on her. the 4th got her good, near the juglar, and she was dead in less than 5 minutes. Don't know if the previous bite sensitized her, or what, but it really doesn't matter once they're gone. I loved that dog mightily, though she was gunshy, and not worth a spit as a bird dog.

As she lay in the vet's after being bitten the first time, she was laboring to breathe, and the vet advised putting her to sleep. A lump welled up in my throat, and I just HAD to look into her eyes before making that decision. She was as fierce a warrior as any who've walked the earth when it came to snakes, and I know her well enough, I think, to see the sheer and total defiance in her eyes as I looked down on her. I saw she had MUCH fight left in her, and I looked at her dew claws, which fit the old wive's tale about dogs being resistant to snakebite, and albeit reluctantly, I told the vet that I just HAD to give her a chance to make it. She survived, and after about 10 days, she was ready to do battle with the next slithery creature she found. She just didn't win the next round, and I miss her tremendously, gunshyness and all.

I've got to look into this. Thanks for the info. Losing a good dog, hunting type or not, ain't for the faint of heart, or the weak of will! I don't want to have to make that decision ever again, even though it worked for her that time.

[Slowpoke]

Quail Unlimited, of which I am a member, sponsors Snake Break clinics several times a year. We use live snakes and aversion training using shock collars to teach dogs to leave snakes alone. We also sponsor vaccination clinics. We heartily recommend rattlesnake vaccinations for all dogs who run in snake country. Out here we have the Mojave Green, it combines a neurotoxin with the usual flesh destroying venom to give you a nearly 100% fatal bite. Vaccination is THE ONLY way to go with this monster. Steve Erwin aside, I kill each and every one of these things I find. In my book, that's room for one more King Snake or Gopher Snake.


My brother survived a Mohave Green bite, spent a week in a Hospital in Las Vegas.

No permanant damage.

My best friend got bit by a coontail, his leg was never right afterwards, he wore a cast for more days during high school than not.

Had three dogs bit by Coontails over the years, none died, seen the skin split from swelling from the shoulder to the toes.

Won a male Bluetick in a poker game once that was sure death to rattlers, same dog traveled cross country 35 miles in one night to get back home, his feet were a mess.

I gave up the early season bowhunting because of Rattlers when I turned 40, to many close calls.

good luck

[omgb]

Your brother was a blessed man indeed. The mortality rate is VERY VERY high. I try not to hunt in areas where I'm likely to get tagged by a rattler. I've come real close, had them hit my boot and the cuff of my pants on two different occasions. Each time I figured I'd bought the farm until I saw that there was no puncture mark.