LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In dollar and cents, how much do you love your dog?
Fifteen hundred dollars' worth?
In the cold light of cash, that’s the standard fee you’d have to pay for treatment if your “best friend” – or, if you prefer, canine member of your family – is bitten by a rattlesnake in Lake County.
Upper Lake, Middletown. Doesn’t matter where you go; the cost will be the same. Or higher, depending on what it takes to restore your dog’s health.
“Just the cost of the antivenom itself is about $700,” said Dr. Lisa Takesue, owner of Main Street Veterinary Clinic in downtown Lakeport. “But we need other things for the dog. We like to treat them for shock. We like to give them antibiotics and anti-fluids. So the cost is usually around $1,500.”
Susan Cannon, a veteran animal doctor for Wasson Memorial Veterinary Clinic in Lakeport, talked about a dog whose treatment at her clinic recently ran to $8,000. The dog required eight vials of antivenom, Cannon explained.
“But the average (snake-bit dog), which we treat with one vial – at least at this clinic – runs between $1,200 to $1,500,” she added. “It depends on what time of day they come in and how sick they are.”
The issue of snake bite arises at this time because, with ever hotter weather, the county is about to enter the most intense period of “rattlesnake season.”
If this year follows the pro forma of the past the county’s veterinary clinics will each treat between 10 and 20 dogs for snakebite.
There are places in the country where the threat of rattlesnakes biting dogs is much more prevalent.
“I've been a veterinarian for 22 years and started out in Texas where most of the rattlesnake bites are fatal,” said Dr. Helen Sharp of the Clearlake Veterinary Clinic.
“This year so far there have been relatively few rattlesnake-bite victims,” said Joanna Holt, a veterinarian at Middletown Animal Hospital. “They tend to come in waves. Sometimes we’ll see three or four a week and then we won’t see one for a couple of weeks. It varies every year.”
On average, one of 20 dogs will die after being bitten by a rattlesnake, said Cannon.
“It would depend on how big the dog is, how much venom the snake actually injects into the dog and how quickly they are treated,” she said.
There are scarcely few ways to reduce the vulnerability of dogs from being bitten by a rattlesnake and only limited ways to avoid a major cash outlay to treat them.
For the forward-thinking, there are insurance policies. Middletown Animal Hospital, for instance, offers insurance from a Brea, Calif.-based agency called Veterans Pet Insurance, which covers rattlesnake bites.
“But (snake bite) is impossible to prevent,” said Sharp. “Our dogs need to run and play in the fields so they are exposed to rattlesnakes.”
In terms of preventative medicine, there are mixed reviews for a rattlesnake poison vaccine manufactured by Red Rock Biologics of Woodland.
“It’s been out for about five years and it costs between $20 and $30, but it’s controversial,” said Sharp. “Here at the Clearlake (Veterinary) Clinic there is no (vaccination) service that we offer. Our clinic policy is that we do not support vaccine.”
But Sharp added: “I have some friends who believe the vaccination helps their pets. I’m on the fence about it. For the clients who request vaccine, I am able to administer it on my own. However, for myself I haven’t seen that it helps and I have not seen that it hurts.”
The vaccine is supposed to reduce the impact of snake bite venom, reduce or eliminate the need for costly antivenom, decrease other treatment and help create an immunity that will protect dogs against rattlesnake venom.
Whether it does all that is uncertain because there are no animal models, only lab tests.
“They (Redrock) are not using animal models. That’s the downside. But there are studies that show that it works,” said Takesue. “I have seen vaccinated dogs who have a much, much milder response (from snakebite) than those who have not been vaccinated.”
The vaccine does have a side effect, according to veterinarian Dr. Glenn Benjamin of the SPCA of Clear Lake.
“It’s a little rugged on the dog,” he said. “Quite often they have a reaction to it. I’ve never seen a dog get deathly ill from it, but they sometimes don’t want to eat and go around sorely depressed. Some dogs get aggressive when they’re in pain. Most want to just lie around and be still.”
Rattlesnake bites are not all fatal. And apparently the snakes don’t intend them to be.
“They can control how much they hiss,” said Takesue. “An adult will use only enough venom to disable their prey or for defense, which is not always the same amount. But the baby snakes don’t do that, so baby bites are worse than adult bites.”
Holt said, “We have no idea how much venom is in a bite. It could be a huge amount, but we don’t know that until we see them.”
Holt described the process for treating the dogs believed to have been bitten by a rattlesnake.
“We’ll test them, see how feeble they are,” she said. “Then we’ll see if their vital signs are normal or abnormal. If they’re abnormal we treat them immediately – usually for shock if they were recently bit.
“Then we evaluate the dog to see that it was actually a rattlesnake bite,” she added. “We check the area where the puncture is. You'll usually see teeth marks and bruising. There most probably will be swelling if it’s a rattlesnake bite.”
But most experts say that even bites by nonvenomous snakes can lead to serious infections and antibiotic treatment may be needed.
The veterinarians offered these precautions to avoiding rattlesnake bites:
Cannon: “Rattlesnakes tend to prey on rodents. Especially ground squirrels. So if you have a lot of ground squirrels and rocky area where rodents can hide the more likely you are to have rattlesnakes. You can find them anywhere, but most often where they can hunt for rodents.”
Holt: “The biggest precaution is to keep your property cleared of brush and you want to keep an eye on your pet and keep him from running into the brush.”
Sharp: “I think the best protection is to have an obedient dog who comes away from danger when you call him.”
A final precaution: Even after a dog is vaccinated against rattlesnake venom, it should be taken to one of the county’s veterinary clinics for evaluation and care as soon as possible following snake bite.
Email John Lindblom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Correction: This article originally misattributed Dr. Sharp's quotes to Dr. Sally of the Clearlake Veterinary Clinic.