Robert Johnson
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Dec 2006
Location: Springfield, Ga.
Posts: 4254 |
In short, the vaccine does work, for some. It has been out for around ten years now, maybe more. When it first became available I researched it heavily being I live in an area that is full of rattlesnakes. That research, and help from my vet concluded it isn't worth risking not getting the shots for your dog. They are cheap now, but ten years ago was a different story. As for the effectiveness, the vaccine is made from a western diamondback venom. This snake is a different species from the canebrake and eastern. The vaccine carries about a 65-80% effectiveness rate on bites from the canebrake. Both canebrake and western have a single system venom that works on the circulatory system. The eastern is a much more nasty snake, with venom working on the circulatory and nervous systems. The company that makes the stuff stated they have no way of knowing how effective it would be for an eastern bite, but would put it at around 20-30% chance of working. That's way better than 0% if you don't give it to them. I live in the deep south, square in the heart of the domain of a lot of nasty creatures. I have witnessed dogs bitten by every pit viper we have down here, both vaccine and not, and the ones that have had the vaccine seem to fair much better with any of the bites, with exception of the eastern. Canebrakes, cottonmouths and copperheads have all struck dogs and they hardly swell up when vaccinated, and they do not tend to lay around for several days as others have that survived but wasn't vaccinated. The Eastern Diamondback is a much different story. I know of only one that survived the bite and it was vaccinated, but almost died at the vet's office. Every other time I have found the bite to be fatal. An Eastern is something that is better left alone, by both humans and hounds. They normally will not bite if not provoked, and will look for an escape route away from you. They are a deadly snake, and most cases of human death here in the south comes from the bite of the eastern. I think the vaccine is well worth the price but if you go by odds, there is a better chance of your hound being eaten by an alligator than killed by a rattlesnake down here. To my knowledge, no hound has ever survived the bout with the American alligator, and the gator looks at them as a delicacy. We have been in the swamp at night and looked across the lake and seen nothing but eyes reflecting back at us. That's when you know the hunt has lasted to long in that area. Those lizards will grab a hound off a tree and never to be found again the hound. I will take my chances with the snakes.
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Robert " Rock" Johnson
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