Snake Tales – Miley Had Stopped Breathing - Treendale Vet Medical Centre

Snake Tales – Miley Had Stopped Breathing

The Tragedy

Miley had been bitten by a Tiger Snake. Her owners had found her in the yard and she wasn’t breathing. They rushed her to Treendale Pet Medical. Miley presented in a desperate situation. She was blue. She couldn’t breathe. Miley’s loving owners were very distressed and things did not look good for Miley

The Prognosis

There is a rule of thumb in the veterinary industry that if the dog has stopped breathing, they are going to be pretty hard to save. Dr Rob was very worried. We weren’t sure if we could save Miley but her loving mum and day were desperate to try.

With the help of our trained veterinary nurses we intubated here and started positive pressure ventilation, we placed and IV and started fluid therapy and intravenous antivenene. We had to breathe for Miley for a long time.

The Miracle

As the toxins slowly neutralised we could see Miley start to move her little eyes to look at us. We kept ventilating her and after an hour or so she started to take breaths on her own. Her colour had returned to normal. There was no side of deadly side effects like clotting problems and bleeding which we sometimes see when dog’s go into DIC after snake envenomation.

Miley kept improving and was able to sit up and breathe on her own. We were able to remove her endotracheal tube and she was ALIVE. Miley stayed in hospital that night on an IV to keep her kidneys working and help remove toxins from her body. The next day there was a tearful reunion with her loving family and she was able to return home.