Snake Bite

[guest@endurance.net]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net


Barb McCrary asked:

> Question to all of you out there:  How long would you say it will take
> for complete healing, and will this bump, about the size of a big lemon,
> reduce to anything that resembles normal.  I expect a scar, but I
> wonder about the bump.  The vet says it was fortunate that the site
> of injection was on the lateral quarter, neither front nor back, as
> either of those locations might have impacted the tendons, extensor
> or flexor.  The horse is about 99% sound, but I believe I detect a
> faint irregularity.

I had a horse that got bitten by a rattlsnake on the back of the
bulb of its heel.  Leg swelled up from hoof to hock the next day,
not a whole lot, because rattle snake venom causes tissue to swell
rather than edema (and there just isn't that much tissue below
the knee)--which is why cold therapy is counterindicated.

What I did:
1.  Clean well the puncture wound and treat for (and watch for any
signs of) tetnus.

2. Worked his butt off in order to maintain the ciruclation (since
the tissue swelling compromises circulation to the tissue and can
cause gangrene).

Horse never took a lame step, and about six weeks later a hunk of
his frog died and fell off, but was unimportant because he had grown
sufficient new frog by that time.  The puncture wound had healed up
within a week.

What you are describing has some marked differences to my own
experience which leads me to believe that either it was a different
variety of rattlesnake (possible, there are hundreds of varieties),
or that there is some other secondary something going on.

However, even so, I will give you my advice on how I would treat
the situation you have described (even though it is different from
my snake bite on the leg experience).

1. I would treat the open wound like any other open wound.

2. I would treat the lump of proud flesh like I would any other
lump of proud flesh (and accept that it might be permanent).

3. I would treat the 99% soundness like I would any other
99% soundness.  And if it were my horse that I had great
hopes for as an endurance horse, and I had a bit of lameness
that was persisting for six weeks, I would use all the
diagnostic tools available to determine the cause of the
mild unsoundness I.e. Is there some damage to some underlying
tissue...either bone, tendon or ligament...or is it just a matter
of the wound and/or lump causing a little bit of discomfort?

There has been an injury to the site, and I would want to know
(beyond just clinical signs) what the extent of that injury is.

If it was, indeed, a snake bit, the fact that the bite site was not
near tendons or ligaments, does not mean that the venom could not
have spread to these structures (or the bone for that matter) and
compromised the tissue in some way.  X-rays and Ultrasounds
would be the first things I talked with my vet about, but I would
also talk with him about any other diagnostic tools available that
might give a truer picture of the condition of the horse (other
that what can be determined by looking at it).

I might also consult a massage therapist or chiropractor that could
look over the entire horse's body to determine if either the earlier
pain from the bite has caused the horse to compensate in some way,
and the 99% soundness is caused by a mild crookedness that has
developed.

Since each of these diagnostic tools may reveal quite different
causes for the mild unsoundness, and those different causes may
have different appropriate treatments, ranging from drugs to treat
an infection or surgery to remove some dead tissue (???) through
total stall rest to consistent self-exercies, hand walking, or specific
dressage exercises to correct a muscle asymetry and doing the wrong
thing might make the matter worse; I wouldn't skimp on the diagnostic
tools that I availed myself of.

You won't be looking for the cause of the injury (a snake bite) but
rather for the cause of the unsoundness (an open wound, a lump of flesh,
a lesion on tendon or ligament, a stiff back, etc.)

kat
Orange County, Calif.

p.s.  _I_ didn't do that when my horse got bitten by a snake, but then
my horse never even showed any signs of noticing it had happened
(except that he didn't like me flushing out the puncture wounds on
the first day, and picking up his foot and poking and prodding as I
inspected it for infection until it healed....there never was any, so I
didn't have to treat that).