Originally Posted by goodman_hunter
Originally Posted by RidgeRanger
Originally Posted by Rockstar007
Damn I Hate the Vet Charged you that much. Hope the Dogs Pull Through Though.

Yeah, its a racket. When they first got tagged the momma dog had some swelling so I knew she got a dose of venom. The other pup wasn't swollen at that time. Wife wanted to take them to the vet so I told her to take them to our vet in Cullman. On the way she called and the vet told her that they don't stock anti-venom and told her to go to Birmingham... I had to go to work so I was on the outside looking in until I finally got to talk to the vet in Hoover at about 2PM. She said we had 3 options. Of course, option number 1 was leave the dogs and a blank check, number 3 was take them home and monitor them. They had them hydrated, medicated and the venomization was "mild to moderate" so I said bring them home. Their bill was around $1870 plus 10% for the worthless state. Probably could have gotten the same treatment at my vet for a few hundred bucks.

My question is, if the dogs needed anti-venom why wasn't that suggested early on? I know they were running blood tests at first, but suspect that early on they knew anti-venom probably wasn't required and still ran up a big bill. In the end though, the pups got treated and are doing ok.

PS, I look forward to every dang pit viper I can draw a bead on in the future.
Well antivenom is about $600 a vial. There can be secondary effects due to swelling and rotting flesh. Don't feel bad about carrying your dog to the vet. It's worth it to me. People recommend all kinds of home remedies for dogs but I guarantee none of them folks would pop a Benny and a bacon grease biscuit and call it good if they got bit by a rattlesnake.

Hard to buy a new person for a couple hundred bucks. My dogs get Benadryl

You're only as good as your worst shot-