Before you buy pet insurance, MAKE SURE that it covers snakebites. In writing. And, as long as you're checking, ask what other things it DOESN'T cover, and/or under what circumstances.
I worked for a vet in SoCal for 12 years. We got quite a few snakebite cases. The ones that were bitten in the leg usually survived with treatment, the ones bitton on the nose, tongue, or throat usually didn't. Sometimes we got two in one day.
Just to show you how much things have gone up in price: in 1975, a single dose of rattlesnake antivenin cost $19 from the local pharmacist. According to an article from the Washington Post (2015), the current cost is now $2,300 per vial.
HOWEVER.... you can get the same antivenin, from the same manufacturer, for $100 to $200 in Mexico.
And IF you could keep it refrigerated -- 100% of the time w/no excuses -- you could buy one or two and keep it handy. I don't know the length of expiration from mfg. date. But if you had it, and your dog got bitten, you could give it to the vet for administration. THIS IS NOT A DO-IT-YOURSELF PROJECT! For those of you who have never had this experience, please understand that it is NOT just giving the antivenin and that's it, like a tetanus shot. The skin is going to turn red and black. The black part is going to slough off, and the muscle will likely be exposed. This is all an OPEN WOUND, so the dog is going to need continuing care. Ask the vet if you can camp in his parking lot.
:heart:
Also, most people know to use a tourniquet if a human limb is hemorrhaging, but they
assume that a major-bleeding tourniquet and a snakebite tourniquet are the same thing. THEY AREN'T. If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it. And do not
-- DO NOT -- try to go by what someone on a YouTube video tells you to do!!! Some of those people don't have a clue, and are trying to follow the written word, and are misunderstanding it.
One thing about the dog training (which I am glad to know about) is that some dogs/breeds aren't all that trainable when it comes to something like this. I know one Doberman that had matching rattlesnake damage on both forelegs, and a happy Pit Bull that got a mouth and faceful of porcupine quills (I mean hundreds) not just once, not just twice, but three times. Then they moved. If they moved to a place with porcupines, I have the feeling that he didn't stop with three. IOW, the predatory drive sometimes overrides training.
And for those who refuse to take the time to actually train a dog, just yelling NO! forty times doesn't cut it, so prepare to get a shock to your credit card.
