Copperhead troubles...

Mere hours before she got bit

Things come in sets of threes for me (and for lots of people it seems). Last night early on, my friend from Tennessee had to put her dog I knew from college down from advancing bone cancer, sad sad times. And as you know from previous posts, Gypsy, one of the dogs on this property is not doing very well either. So I was sitting pondering who was the third dog that I knew that was going to get an ailment or in some trouble... never in a million years did I think it was going to be my own baby Cheyenne!

At first it was her upper jowls on the right side that swelled up

Last night Cheyenne and I were outside, then we came in and started to watch TV, after a while, she lets out this high pitched shriek like someone stepped on her tail (around 11pm). I looked over at her and noticed her upper jaw on the right hand side was swelling up like a balloon! At first I was thinking it was an abscessed tooth, or maybe she got nailed by a scorpion or a tarantula... but when I bent down and put ice on it, I noticed that there was two blood dots on the ice pack... puncture wounds. She reallllly didn't want me near her face for a while, and showed her teeth quite a bit, but she was a good girl and didn't bite me. I was definitely thinking allergic reaction to something, so I went and gave her a peanut butter covered Benadryl and continued to apply ice on her cheek. I only thought about it being a snake bite in the back of my head because of the two blood dots, but had my doubts because I didn't know about the encounter. I would have thought Cheyenne would have alerted me to the snake like she did before, or yelp when she got bit, so I kept doubting the snake theory.

If this is not a sad looking dog, I don't know what is.

Needless to say, I stayed up for a long time with her,  and then was waking up every hour on the hour to check on her and make sure she was still alright. Living out in the country has the ups and downs. Upside, wide open spaces, downside... no such thing as an emergency vet office. So I researched the crap out of it online and was comforted knowing I was doing what I could for a home remedy until I could get her in to be seen by a veterinarian. First thing this morning when the local vet opened, I took Cheyenne right in and was the first one through the door. At that time my snakebite theory was confirmed by the Vet. Looks like a copperhead bit my poor baby Cheyenne on the FACE! Lucky for her and myself it was there and not lower. If the snake bit Cheyenne on her throat, chances are this story wouldn't be so cheerful, if at all even being posted, because I would still be grieving like crazy. So I thank the Lord for showing her mercy and letting her stay with me for hopefully many more years to come. But still, I was one heck of a nervous wreck all night and half of this morning. When I was in the vet office this morning, I had them also give her fluids just in case she wasn't going to drink, plus they gave me medication for the swelling and antibiotics for the chance of it getting infected.

If the camera was reversed you would see a sad and stressed out Dave!

As of now, it looks like we are in the clear. Just taking it really easy today, the swelling has gone down a bit on her face and has moved further down to the loose skin of her neck. Her breathing has returned to normal and she has started to eat and drink again. She has become attached to my hip, even if I move just five feet, she gets up and comes closer to me, I will miss that when she gets better...lol. For all of the Cheyenne fans out there, she says hello and will always appreciate a little doggy prayer in her honor! The vet and sources online, say that dogs learn from experiences like this, I sure hope so, for I never want to go through this ordeal again!

Today after two rounds of anti-inflammatory and an anti-biotic

Hope to get better soon! Dr states it might be a few more days of swelling, but should be in the clear now! :( Never seen my dog so depressed. Has not wagged her tail once today. :(

~~**UPDATE**~~

Cheyenne has started to wag her tail again, and also has eaten an entire bowl of food. Plus when I let her outside, she demanded I throw the ball a few times, which I did, then decided to stop just in case I flame up any of the swelling, but promised her to make it up to her soon when she gets better and play fetch till she drops. The swelling has decreased some more, now it just looks like she has a turkey waddle in her neck, like Droopy, but it doesn't seem to be affecting her too much.